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I just wanted to extend a big hand to gloria. Thank you for all you have done for us during the Beijing Olympics. Your selction of pictures are brilliant and your comments about the Team, the events, Shanghai and Beijing kept us so close to our players.

Really, really appreciated everything, gloria :thumbsup:
 
I just wanted to extend a big hand to gloria. Thank you for all you have done for us during the Beijing Olympics. Your selction of pictures are brilliant and your comments about the Team, the events, Shanghai and Beijing kept us so close to our players.

Really, really appreciated everything, gloria :thumbsup:
I second that... Thank you Gloria :thumbsup:
 
Old article but thought it was interesting read



Argentina face Nigeria tomorrow in the men's Olympic football final hoping to remain gold medallists. It is the third time that the countries have met in a final: in Atlanta in 1996, Nwankwo Kanu lead Nigeria to gold as they defeated Argentina 3-2. In 2005, in the Under-20 World Cup played in Holland, a young Argentine named Lionel Messi helped his side beat Nigeria, scoring two goals to Nigeria's one. In that tournament, Argentina's squad contained Sergio 'Kun' Agüero, Fernando Gago, Oscar Ustari, Pablo Zabaleta and Ezequiel Garay. All of these players are in the squad representing the nation in China this time round.

After defeating Brazil 3-0 earlier this week, the mood in Argentina is one of confidence. A correspondent of Clarín newspaper claims the true hero of the country's turn of luck (Argentina have been consistently losing to Brazil recently, with the exception of a draw in the latest World Cup qualifier) is not the sensational Agüero, who scored twice against Brazil, nor Messi, whom Pelé categorically described this week as "the next best in the world", nor Angel di María - "the revelation of the Olympics", as they call him in Argentina. It wasn't the reliable Javier Mascherano, who has made an invaluable contribution during this campaign. And not even Juan Riquelme - the much-discussed 'link-man' par excellence of modern Argentine football.

No, according to Clarin the hero of the hour is manager Sergio 'Checho' Batista. As a player he picked up the 1986 World Cup alongside Diego Maradona, and his assistants Héctor Enrique and José Luis 'Tata' Brown. As a manager, he took over the youth divisions of the Argentine FA and this is his first performance at a major tournament.

Following the motto 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it', the Argentine press are speculating that the line-up for the final will be much like the team fielded against Brazil, with the exception of Ustari, the injured goalkeeper. After the historic victory over Brazil, Batista was quoted by one paper as saying: "With these players I'd be brave enough to play anywhere" and by another as adding: "With these players I'd be brave enough to fight in Iraq."

It is clear Batista feels he has a squad ready for anything. Before the tournament started, he was already relishing the prospect of leading such a fine ensemble. There was something of a paradox, I put it to him, that in this finest exposition of the most noble aspects of sport - youth and amateurism - he was in charge of some of the world's most expensive and well-established professionals. "It's hard to think of them as children," I said, "although they're close."

Batista, straight-faced, said he could hardly feel anything but pride at being able to pick such a fine crop. But his real job for the AFA is to oversee the development of children and youth players in Argentina, and to groom the next generation of world-class teenagers. The Olympic squad, in a sense, he has inherited. He took the position looking further into the future, and wants to stage a revolution in the country's approach to football.

"In Argentina we are making some mistakes," he told me. "We are emulating things that take us further away from our football. And we are depriving children of their childhood. There is too much emphasis on work in the gym, on weight-training and speed. And too much pressure on kids as young as seven or eight to win. This is not good."

"The child is not treated as a child," Batista argues. "I believe strongly in respecting the stages - there is a time when you have to play for fun, enjoy the game. Argentina's strong point has always been technique. If you look at the best players in Europe, they are always the ones who are technically excellent. Gyms and machines can never give you what keepy-uppies and contact with the ball do for a child."

Worryingly for Argentina, the World Cup winner believes the country is losing players faster than it is producing them. We discuss the example of Gago, who left Boca Juniors for Real Madrid and was immediately replaced in Boca's midfield by Ever Banega, who was then sold to Villarreal after less than a season. "But look at Agüero" he adds with indignation. "Agüero has still not been replaced at Independiente."

For the players it is a no-brainer to go in search of riches at the bigger clubs, says Batista. The economic incentive is very real. "When I was a player I got an offer from Tenerife but is was only £100,000 more than I was making, so I could afford to stay put. Nowadays, the difference in wages is too much to ignore." He wants to implement a system that will groom even more technically gifted players so that the domestic league isn't left with gaping holes in the crucial positions.

And the key to it all is technique. "Agüero may be worth £100m. Messi may be worth £100m. Gago may be worth £100m, Banega may be worth £100m … and back home clubs and youth workers are still insisting on sending kids to the gym. They don't realise that the value of those professionals is that they are technically rich, not because they have bodies built to show off muscle on the beach. But we don't see that back home. These boys have a lot of ball training behind them as kids. That's their technical richness."

"It's not possible that if Riquelme isn't playing for Argentina, the squad has to line up completely differently because there isn't another enganche [hook]," he says with exasperation. "Why, if we have always played with an enganche are we increasingly forming 4-4-2? It is because we are emulating stuff from other places, which is not our way of playing."

If Batista returns to the AFA's headquarters with the gold medal, his chances of being given more freedom to implement his revolution will increase. We may once again see eight or nine-year-old enganches able to control the ball on the ground, caress her and treat her well. His tenure in youth development has yet to start in earnest - these Olympics are an excellent start but, Batista himself recognises, they are an exponent of established professionals rather than the fruits of his ideology.

And if Nigeria win? "Look, we have to win the Olympics. That's what we came for. But if we don't, I'm not going to stab myself. I still understand that this is a game."
 
Do you know?
Happniess increase by sharing with friends in the same camp. We are lucky, the party has a happy ending, and Champion really an excellent taste! Anyway, I love the team, always! Cheer!
 
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