Argentina
vs
Uruguay
Match Schedule:
Date: October 14th
Time: 22:00 (GMT)
Maradona has received a lot of criticism for the current campaign, but it is not all his own doing. The team he inherited had already suffered some poor results, drawing against Peru, Ecuador and Paraguay in games which should have seen them move towards the top of the table rather than lingering around the play-off spot, which is exactly where they are now. He could also curse the lack of variety of player in his squad. For some reason Argentina now seem to specialise in ball-winning midfielders, such as Javier Mascherano and Fernando Gago, and diminutive quick-footed forward players, such as Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero. Since Roberto Ayala retired they have failed to find a sufficient defensive lynchpin, and a successor to Gabriel Batistuta still seems a long way off.
All this makes guessing the Argentina team for tonight an impossibility. Messi is the one definite. Tevez is still flattering to deceive at national level (his record of eight goals in 51 games is roughly equivalent to Emile Heskey's for England) and Aguero's exceptionally poor form for Atletico Madrid will most likely see them both start as substitutes for this one, thus leaving the starting berth to either Gonzalo Higuain or Palermo. Higuain had an impressive debut against Peru, scoring the first goal, and would be the sensible choice, but it wouldn't be too surprising if Maradona led with his heart rather than his head and chose Palermo after his recent heroics. In midfield, Veron will most likely return and he and Mascherano could be the two players most needed to put in good performances - Mascherano to break down Uruguay's attacks and Veron to set up Argentina's - if Maradona’s side are to have any success in this game.
Argentina's main problem, as has been the entire campaign, is their defence. Gabriel Heinze (along with Messi, the only regular in Maradona's team) will most likely start. Martín Demichelis will feel he is in with a shout after putting a creditable performance as a substitute against Peru (although quite why a player of his quality is not an automatic choice is a surprise in itself), and Liverpool's Emiliano Insúa must be pleased enough with his debut in that game to feel deserving of another chance. The last spot will go to just one of the barely-capped players from the Argentinian league that seem to have been getting into the national team with alarming regularity of late.
Uruguay, in Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan, have one of the best attacks in South America. They can even call on Sebastien Abreu from the bench, who, with 27 goals in 54 caps, is a nice option to have. There are fewer thrills in the rest of the Uruguayan team, but they have a solid centre-back pairing of Diego Lugano and Martín Cácares and it will take a huge effort from Argentina to break them down, especially with over 60 000 fans in the Estadio Centenario singing them on.
The unimaginable could happen for Argentina on Wednesday. Defeat for them and victory for Ecuador would see them missing out on a World Cup for the first time since 1970. Interestingly, this seems to be the first time in quite some time in which many Argentinians believe their team won't be good enough to beat Uruguay. Possibly, this lack of pressure in that respect could push on their team to put in the kind of cohesive display they have severely lacked so far. Whatever happens, as with the whole of Maradona's tenure as national manager so far, there will surely be many more twists and turns to come.
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