Argentina door open for Veron, Samuel, Tevez
By Brian Homewood
BUENOS AIRES, May 3 (Reuters) - The door is still open to the Argentina team for Juan Sebastian Veron, Walter Samuel and Kily Gonzalez while Carlos Tevez's recent absence is not related to his move to a Brazilian club, says coach Jose Pekerman.
Samuel appeared in Pekerman's first two games in charge last year against Uruguay and Chile while Veron and Gonzalez have yet to play under the former taxi driver who has risen to become one of international soccer's most respected coaches.
''All these players, Samuel, Kily Gonzalez, Tevez, Veron, who have been in the team are still under consideration," Pekerman told Reuters in an interview. "They all have chances to come back.
"Before every squad announcement we analyse how everyone is -- their physical condition, how much they've been playing in their teams, the match itself -- and once we've looked at all this, we choose who is going to play."
Tevez, 21, appeared to have established himself as a regular last year but has not been picked since he surprisingly left Boca Juniors to join Brazilian club Corinthians in December instead of taking the traditional route to Europe.
"Tevez has a fantastic future ahead of him," said Pekerman. "We need more time to analyse his move to Corinthians.
"Brazilian football has great prestige...and it's just as competitive as in Argentina.
"So nothing has changed with the fact that Tevez has gone to Brazil. On the contrary, it's going to be difficult for him to play in a country with so many good players.
"I want him to do well and we hope that Tevez will continue improving so he can play for his country."
JOURNEYMAN PROFESSIONAL
Pekerman, who took over last October following the surprise resignation of Marcelo Bielsa, was a journeyman professional during the 1970s until injury curtailed his career.
He then eeked out a living driving a taxi and doing other part time jobs until Argentinos Juniors, one of his former clubs, took him on to coach in their youth divisions in 1982.
After performing a similar role at Chile's Colo Colo, he got his big break in 1994 when Argentina hired him to coach the national youth teams.
He steered the under-20 team to three world youth titles between 1995 and 2001, earning enormous respect for their attacking football and fair play, and now coaches many of the players he helped develop.
His lack of experience with senior players, however, led to criticism of his appointment from figures such as Diego Maradona and 1978 World Cup-winning coach Cesar Luis Menotti -- something Pekerman shrugs off.
"They are two idols, two of the great figures in Argentine football and nothing they say upsets me," he said.
If Pekerman wanted to respond to his critics, however, he would only have to read them his record so far.
Argentina are unbeaten in his first seven games, despite his chopping and changing the team with a speed which has alarmed some commentators.
"Some people would like you to coach the team from memory because it appears this makes them feel more secure," said Pekerman.
"If we always play the same and win, everything's fine. And when we lose, they ask why we always play the same players, why didn't we try the others."
In fact, Pekerman has been so successful that he is already stirring memories of the 2002 World Cup.
On that occasion, Argentina appeared to do everything right in the run-up only to fall at the first hurdle.
Pekerman is philosophical about the fear of a repeat and refuses to use the word failure to describe the Japan/South Korea adventure.
NO FRIENDLIES
"If you interpret it that way, then we can forget all this, we won't do any preparation, we won't play any friendlies, we'll just go straight to Germany," he said.
"You have to work all the time to be the best and remember that nobody can guarantee the result, nobody can guarantee that you will be the best, that you will be champion," he said.
Whatever the results, Pekerman is convinced that the days when Argentina was divided into "Menottistas" and "Bilardistas" -- followers of the country's respective World Cup-winning coaches -- have been left behind.
Menotti favoured flowing, attacking football.
Carlos Bilardo, who emulated Menotti with Argentina's 1986 World Cup victory, was famous for a win-at-all-costs approach which, it has been widely rumoured, included offering contaminated water to Brazil during their second round match in 1990.
"Brazil won the World Cup in the United States (in 1994) where a lot of people were unhappy because they won on penalties," Pekerman said.
"But they celebrate the fact that they are five times world champions, so everything has its value.
"The Argentine thinking is that we want to play well and if we do that, we are closer to winning. But we have to be objective if we don't win and realise that it's not a tragedy.
"Bilardo and Menotti were champions and achieved important things in Argentine football and we value them both, although there are people who like one more than the other.
"Today, there is not a huge division in the way Argentine fans think. They enjoy good football but also value a team which gives everything, is tough, strong, has character, players with speed -- all part of Argentine football."
