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.
[David ends his overview of Group 8 with a quick look at Montenegro]
Montenegro have a point less than Cyprus. The last of the Yugoslav Republics to fall off the Serbian rump have not won a game in qualifying, though they have secured four draws. Montenegro are no pushovers. The World Champions could only beat their former “protectorate” 2-1 at home. (Italy were responsible for Montenegro’s other Group 8 defeat, 2-0 in Podgorica.)
If’s not inconceivable Montenegro could win their remaining four fixtures, but even that will probably not be enough to secure a 2nd place playoff position.
Montenegro promise to be a football fairytale in future qualification campaigns or a right proper nightmare for some. It’s the sort of place England go to and loose.
Three defeats and three points behind third placed Bulgaria, Cyprus are not contenders. Yet, Cypriot footballers are a competitive bunch and cannot be dismissed just yet. What may seem as an exercise in improving their coefficient may suddenly ignite into a qualification campaign.
Cyprus have a game in hand over Ireland. They host Ireland next. The Irish are consistent and concede very little, but the Boys in Green are not so dominant that they can expect to prevail in the battle of divided European islands.
If Cyprus win, there may be more to say about them in September and October.
(This concludes our look at Group 8. Italy remain favorites to qualify. We will have more on Italy closer to the draw in Cape Town. Apparently the Antipodeans are still angry. Whatever. Fabio Grosso is a left back and a gentleman.)
In the 1960s African teams were not taken seriously by FIFA, which denied them a single guaranteed place in the World Cup finals until 1970. Yet African sides performed well in Olympic football tournaments. Ghana reached the quarterfinals in 1964 and Nigeria drew with Brazil in 1968. But most impressively, Zambia demolished Italy 4-0 in 1988. Led by Kalusha Bwalya—the greatest Zambian player ever—Chipolopolo (The Copper Bullets) proved that African national teams could hold their own on the world’s stage. Tragically, many of the stars of that game died in a plane crash on 27 April 1993.
Read the report about the plane crash here. Football historian, Paul Darby, has written about these tragic events in a book about disasters.
Italy is a country ruled by old men (over 50). The economy, the government, and, yes, the football system too. This gerontocratic culture of power is crucial to understanding why the Azzurri performed so horribly in the Confederations Cup in South Africa.
Aging world champions like Cannavaro (age 35), Toni (32), Zambrotta (32), Camoranesi (32), and Gattuso (31) lacked the enterprise, motivation, and physical attributes necessary to compete at this level. New blood is badly needed. But only New Jersey-born Giuseppe Rossi (22) was given enough playing time. Compare this inclination to avoid youthful vigor and imagination to the story of Lionel Messi — a regular for Barcelona and Argentina since age 17 and 18 respectively.
Mario Balotelli is only 18 years old and already a key player for Inter Milan in Serie A. He’s been at Inter for 3 seasons now and is a regular in Italy’s Under-21 team. And he can score great goals. Like the one against Sweden in the European U-21 Championship last Friday (above). Balotelli has not yet played in the Italian senior side, but that’s only a matter of time. Italy played with an ageing team in the Confederations Cup and its strikers, with the exception of Guiseppe Rossi, hardly found the back of the net (the US and Egypt scored more goals then the Italians in group play). So there’s bound to be changes with the World Cup in mind.
A complete player at such a young age, “Super Mario” is confident about his own abilities: he told Goal.com recently that “One day Christiano Ronaldo will ask for my shirt.” (Also watch Balotelli’s post-goal celebration, like in the video above.) Balotelli (whose parents are Ghanaian immigrants) also shrugs off racist Italian fans. One downside: he may have discipline problems: minutes after scoring the goal above, he was sent off for a rash challenge (though it can be argued the Swedish player is quite an actor).
RSS Feed
