Prepare Thyself To Deal With A Miracle
By: Scott | August 6th, 2008Yes, we are now a blog that pays homage not only to the delightful exploits of the boys in red and white, but also to one of the finest geniuses of jazz, Mr. Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Not only are the titles of his songs and albums ideal for blog post titles (I believe his genius was so great that he anticipated that sort of thing), but his main attributes (constant experimentation, making instruments out of household objects, continuing to play music after a paralyzing stroke) are an apt metaphor for how a small club scraps together to fight the big boys.
First, and least importantly, Diadora has replaces Signia as the maker of the kits. Here is what the current line looks like:
That’s Matías Caruzzo in the black sports jacket and some player from Tigre with a blue ball. The new Argentinos jerseys are the three on the left. I trust that the actual players will get to wear shoes and that Amnesty International is looking into the fact that these poor models are asked to work without them.
The miracle referred to in the title is actually two-fold: the current version of the squad debuts tonight (TONIGHT!) against San Lorenzo in a match for the Copa Sudamericana, the nerd sitting alone at lunch while everyone fawns over the Copa Libertadores. It’s the first international tournament for Argentinos in 12 years. Much simpler times, those. Also, the match will be televised throughout the world! If you are in the US, coverrage begins at 7pm Eastern on Fox Sports en Español; for the UK, I believe it’s Setanta Sports 1 at midnight (like you have somewhere to be or something to wake up for tomorrow…come on…watch the match).
What you can expect to see from Argentinos is a decisively risky 3-4-1-2 formation. Risky in the sense of the ability to score goals. The only new incorporation is Rodrigo “Rengo” Díaz as the attacking mid, while lanky Gabriel Peñalba moves up a bit to accompany Gabriel Hauche as a second striker. Essentially he will be replacing Alejandro Delorte as the principal recipient of passes from the back whose responsibility is to hold it and distribute to Rengo and Hauche to start the attack. However, I can’t find anyone else on the list of players who is much of a threat at this key point of the strategy. Juan Mercier is definitely capable of moving the ball forward a bit but can’t be relied on to slot one home or lay off a cheeky pass, Gonzalo Prósperi and Sergio Escudero are far from Roberto Carlos or Cafu, and Nestor Ortigoza will probably be more concerned with the critique of his latest cave painting than finding the back of the net. Defensively, they are actually quite solid. Torrico returns to adequately guard the net and the backline of Caruzzo, Scotti, and Juan Sabia, when combining with the ball-winning efforts of Ortigoza and Mercier, is a formidable obstacle for any team.
Long story short: it should be a very low-scoring affair, depending on how well Rengo has learned his new teammates’ tendencies and how well Peñalba can shift from being the main cog in the machine in the middle to focusing his efforts closer to the opponents’ goal. Over the past year, Argentinos has not lost at home in 16 matches (only 2 draws in that time) and that was the key to their success. Tonight’s match needs to be a continuation of that trend if they have any hope of progressing in this tournament.
Category: Team News
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