Confidence is high in Madrid, and in London, and in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. They are even quite confident, surprisingly so, in Amsterdam, Rome and Lisbon.
In Buenos Aires, though, the mood could not be more different. They had a horrendous qualifying campaign, with the highlight being a 6-1 pounding at the hands of Bolivia and the manager, Maradona, needless to say was a better player than a manager. The suggestion around the Argentine camp is that the players do not like him or his tactics, while there is a conspiracy theory that he is deliberately sabotaging Lionel Messi’s career trajectory to maintain his status as Argentina’s greatest ever player.
And that, frankly, is why they will win the World Cup.
But if I must explain myself ffurther, it is a footballing truth that the team you expect to win the World Cup does not win the World Cup. The last team to win the tournament from a position of strength was Brazil in 1970.
More importantly, a team with Argentina’s strength in depth simply cannot be written off. It is mind-boggling, frankly, that Maradona has made a mess of his squad quite so well.
It does not take a genius to work out that Argentina simply need to put Higuain on the right, Messi behind behind Kun Aguero or Diego Milito and the wonderfully gifted Angel di Maria or Carlos Tevez on the left to have a frightening attacking force, covered by Javier Mascherano, the world’s best defensive midfielder, and then one of Juan Sebastian Veron or Maxi Rodriguez alongside him. It couldn’t be easier.
Perhaps, then, Maradona is not an incompetent buffoon. Maybe he is a managerial Keyser Soze. Perhaps his greatest trick is convincing the world that Argentina, as a major force, do not exist. Get the blue and white ribbons ready FIFA because Maradona has created the greatest bluff in football history and come July 12th Buenos Aires will celebrate once again.
In Buenos Aires, though, the mood could not be more different. They had a horrendous qualifying campaign, with the highlight being a 6-1 pounding at the hands of Bolivia and the manager, Maradona, needless to say was a better player than a manager. The suggestion around the Argentine camp is that the players do not like him or his tactics, while there is a conspiracy theory that he is deliberately sabotaging Lionel Messi’s career trajectory to maintain his status as Argentina’s greatest ever player.
And that, frankly, is why they will win the World Cup.
But if I must explain myself ffurther, it is a footballing truth that the team you expect to win the World Cup does not win the World Cup. The last team to win the tournament from a position of strength was Brazil in 1970.
More importantly, a team with Argentina’s strength in depth simply cannot be written off. It is mind-boggling, frankly, that Maradona has made a mess of his squad quite so well.
It does not take a genius to work out that Argentina simply need to put Higuain on the right, Messi behind behind Kun Aguero or Diego Milito and the wonderfully gifted Angel di Maria or Carlos Tevez on the left to have a frightening attacking force, covered by Javier Mascherano, the world’s best defensive midfielder, and then one of Juan Sebastian Veron or Maxi Rodriguez alongside him. It couldn’t be easier.
Perhaps, then, Maradona is not an incompetent buffoon. Maybe he is a managerial Keyser Soze. Perhaps his greatest trick is convincing the world that Argentina, as a major force, do not exist. Get the blue and white ribbons ready FIFA because Maradona has created the greatest bluff in football history and come July 12th Buenos Aires will celebrate once again.
