http://www.footballiscominghome.info Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:59:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://www.footballiscominghome.info/qualification/when-the-boot-was-on-the-other-foot/ http://www.footballiscominghome.info/qualification/when-the-boot-was-on-the-other-foot/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:16:38 +0000 David Patrick Lane http://www.footballiscominghome.net/?p=1101

Argentina losing at home to Brazil was not so extraordinary. It had happened before. It was actually more noteworthy when several months earlier Uruguay lost a World Cup qualifier at home to Brazil. That had never happened before.

South American World Cup qualifiers are ultimately predictable affairs, the current Argentine drama notwithstanding. Earlier in the qualifiers, bigger questions hung over Brazil.


After 8 qualifiers more than a few Brazilians feared this would be the year Brazil failed to qualify. Four draws, three of them 0-0, including an embarrassing night in Rio de Janeiro, when Bolivia secured their first ever World Cup point in Brazil. It was more humbling than Brazil’s earlier defeat in Asunción

Somehow Dunga survived.

If Brazil had not beaten Venezuela in San Cristóbal last October, I doubt Dunga would have found himself shaking Maradona’s hand in Rosario last Sunday night.

It’s Venezuela, Brazil’s opposition that night, that now promises to be the story of the South American qualifiers.

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Klaus Fischer’s famous bicycle kick.

Papers, podcasts and blogs are full of the demise of Argentina. Maradona makes good press. His Anglo detractors remain bitter. The Argentine domestic game is bankrupt. Yet, despite the noise, Argentina remain poised to qualify. The competition in South America is that stale. A home win against lowly Peru in October should almost certainly seal their South Atlantic passage.

Argentina’s poor form has somehow detracted attention from the failings of some of Europe’s marquee performers.


It may not be so obvious yet, except perhaps in the case of France, but Germany and Italy are also not yet assured of group success, and other notables such as Portugal have been missing in action. Germany and Italy may currently lead their respective groups, but both nations are responsible for some seriously disjointed football and a second place playoff remains a possibility for those three European football superpowers. Argentina is in good company.

Meanwhile, Africa’s Black Stars are shining bright, her Elephants are thundering South, her Indomitable Lions have been aroused and are hungry again, and her Desert Foxes are executing an cunning plan.

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