Sexual references seem to be all the rage for the Argentine coaching staff recently. When the Albiceleste secured their place in South Africa, coach Diego Maradona unleashed a foul tirade against the journalists who had doubted his ability to guide the team to qualification. “You can suck it,” he told a stunned media room. “And carry on sucking it.” A month before the finals he then declared that he would run naked through the streets of Buenos Aires should Argentina bring home the trophy.
Now, as the tournament kick-off grows ever closer, general manager Carlos Bilardo has chipped in with his own brand of bizarre rhetoric by declaring that the scorer of the goal that wins Argentina the World Cup can sodomise him. Not exactly a reward that’ll have players lining up to take a 89th minute penalty that could win them the title.
Away from the off-field oddities, Maradona’s on-field experimentation has continued as he attempts to find a way of shoehorning an in-form Carlos Tevez into his starting eleven. Following Argentina’s 1-0 friendly win over Germany in February, Maradona declared that he intended to go to the finals with a backline of four centre-backs (Nicolas Otamendi, Martin Demichelis, Walter Samuel and Gabriel Heinze), so impressed was he at his side’s ability to shutout the Germans. His tact appears to have changed since the squad touched down in South Africa, however, as he has experimented with a 3-4-1-2 formation – Otamendi dropping to the bench, Tevez joining Gonzalo Higuain up front, and Lionel Messi becoming the ‘1’ in behind the two strikers.
Whether this most recent change is designed to keep those who had assumed they were guaranteed starts on their toes, or is just the latest manifestation of Maradona’s inability to commit to a specific plan remains to the seen. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how Argentina line up for their opening game against Nigeria on 11th June.
There are no such questions being asked in the Brazilian camp. Coach Dunga is very much set in his ways and will not deviate from the lopsided 4-2-3-1 that saw them top the South American qualification group and win last year’s Confederations Cup. The only subject of debate is who will be entrusted with the role on the right of midfield, with both Elano and Ramires in contention.
As injuries to key players are steadily reducing the potency of their challengers, Brazil have thus far avoided such worries. In fact there is very little excitement coming from their base just north of Johannesburg at all, but that’s exactly how Dunga wants it. It hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm of the African people to see the Seleção in action though. 60,000 turned out to witness their 3-0 friendly victory over Zimbabwe, while 10,000 tickets to watch one of their training sessions sold out within five minutes.
Chile’s national team received just as warm a welcome when they arrived at their base in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, the locals showing their appreciation to the only team at the tournament to have based themselves in the region.
Coach Marcelo Bielsa has some tactical issues to resolve ahead of their group opener against Honduras on the 16th June, with his primary concern being the fitness of star striker Humberto Suazo. Suazo, the top scorer in South American qualifying, is likely to miss that match due to the hamstring injury he picked up in Chile’s friendly victory over Israel, and will spend the next week in a hyperbaric chamber in an attempt to speed up his recovery.
In his absence, Bielsa has been examining the alternatives available, with three likely solutions arising. The first would be to play Jorge Valdivia up front in Suazo’s absence, leaving Matias Fernandez to continue in his role behind the front three that was coming under increasing threat from Valdivia. The second would be to bring in Fabian Orellana to play on the right wing, shifting Alexis Sanchez in-field to the central striker’s role. The final option involves replacing Suazo with Esteban Parades, who scored the winner against Northern Ireland in a recent friendly. None are ideal, so Bielsa will be hoping Suazo is able to return sooner rather than later.
Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino has no such worries. His team have generally looked very strong in the run-up to the tournament, recording a draw with Ivory Coast and a victory over Greece in their two final warm-up games. Coupled with Italy’s poor performances in their own pre-tournament friendlies, there is growing optimism Paraguay could top their group should everything go their way.
Lucas Barrios has taken to international football like a duck to water, scoring in each of his three appearances since declaring for Paraguay, and the Argentine-born striker of a Paraguayan mother could well have done enough to secure himself a place in the starting eleven alongside Roque Santa Cruz, although Haedo Valdez still remains in the running. Otherwise, it’s business as usual in the Paraguay camp.
The situation is just as calm in Kimberley, Northern Cape, where Uruguay have begun preparations for their opening night encounter with France. Buoyed by a 4-1 thrashing of Israel just before they left for South Africa, coach Oscar Tabarez is confident that his team are now fully comfortable with the 3-4-1-2 formation they have used since the qualification playoff with Costa Rica last year and are ready to mount a challenge on the world stage.
He did, however, call for caution in writing off the French on the back of their 1-0 friendly loss to China, noting that warm-up games bear little relation to the tournament itself. That said, his side will be looking at expose any potential frailties by attacking their opponents from the off. “We will do everything possible to win,” he told reporters at his first press conference in South Africa. “It would be very important to us.”
