The wires are reporting Oscar “El Maestro” Tabarez has already named his Uruguay team for the opening match against France on Friday. This is a classic opening gambit designed to take advantage of current French insecurities.
The French don’t know what they are doing in South Africa. “El Maestro” has just signaled the Uruguayans do. “The system we have chosen can adapt to the different things we could face against France,” said “El Maestro”.
Mauricio Victorino who plays for Universidad de Chile and midfielder Egidio Arevalo Rios (pictured above) who enforces the midfield for Penarol in Montevideo, are solid squad players, but not stars. So what is behind El Maestro’s opening gambit? What is he really saying by including Vicotorino and Rios? What is he really up to?
The reflex among some Uruguayan commentators and bloggers is to express disbelief and sigh. But El Maestro is thinking deep here, which is what he has to do if Uruguay are going to go deep into the tournament and win the World Cup.
Uruguay do not need stars to beat France is also the message here.
The opening match of the 2002 World Cup in May 2002 in Seoul, South Korea. Defending champions France against World Cup first timers Senegal. France had a uninspiring run to the World Cup (world champions don’t qualify). Senegal has a young team–standouts: Papa Bouba Diop, Kalilou Fadiga, El Hadji Diouf. France threatens first. David Trezeguet hits the bar. Then that goal. Watch for yourself.
* Senegal finished second and France last in their group. In the round of 16 Senegal beat Sweden 2-1, then lose 0-1 to Turkey in the quarterfinals (after extra time). Most of its players moved to the English Premier League (most notably El Hadji Diouf to Liverpool), but the team declined soon after. Oh, and France they’re in the World Cup after Thierry Henry used his hands.
1. FIFA got the seedings right. Pot 1 seeds earned their ranking. France did not. France’s final appearance was four years ago.
2. Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay have come out of the pot alignment better than most. Each of the smaller South American nations will avoid the big five African qualifiers in the 1st Round.
3. Argentina and Brazil cannot avoid the African qualifiers from Pot 3. The seeds for two potential Groups of Death have now been sown. Has FIFA put Brazil at risk for an early bath?
4. The most frightening Group of Death would be: Brazil, Mexico, Côte d’Ivoire and Portugal.
Ireland was robbed. Pure and simple. My 8-year-old daughters watched the Henry hand ball with gaping eyes. One proffered: “Just like I do in basketball!” Her sister then deadpanned: “And there was an offside on the pass.” Children have an amazing way of stating the truth, don’t they?
In his Hall of Shame acceptance speech, Thierry Henry said: “I will be honest, it was a hand ball. But I’m not the ref,” Henry said. “I played it. The ref allowed it. That’s a question you should ask him.”
Papers, podcasts and blogs are full of the demise of Argentina. Maradona makes good press. His Anglo detractors remain bitter. The Argentine domestic game is bankrupt. Yet, despite the noise, Argentina remain poised to qualify. The competition in South America is that stale. A home win against lowly Peru in October should almost certainly seal their South Atlantic passage.
Argentina’s poor form has somehow detracted attention from the failings of some of Europe’s marquee performers.
Lithuania began well beating Romania 3-0 and Austria 2-0.The dream of qualification seemed possible until they were swept away by Serbia’s nouvelle vague.Three straight 1-0 defeats home and away to France and at home to Romania have probably ended Lithuania’s South African aspirations.
But as long as Raymond Domenech is the coach of France, Lithuania (like Austria and Romania) must continue to hope.If the stars are not aligned to Raymond’s liking and France fail to get points from their September fixtures against Romania and Serbia, Lithuania could find themselves will it all to play for in October.Serbia may provide an accommodating final fixture opponent.
Somehow or other France managed to lose their opening qualifier 3-1 in Vienna. (This to the very same Austria who then went to Lithuania and the Faroe Islands on tour with Megadeath. The Austrians came home with only one point, but they make great party and met lots of pretty blond girls.) France has since only dropped two points, the result of a hard fought draw in Romania. Some would say a point gained. A 2-1 home win over Serbia was followed by two dour 1-0 home and away wins against Lithuania. Last week, France won 1-0 in Tórshavn in a game that could have been mistaken for a new age spiritualist retreat. Readers may begin to see a pattern developing here. Extracting thirteen qualifiers from this UEFA lot is not pretty. Even the French have become ugly.
FIFA’s website tends to accentuate the positive with respect to the current French outfit, noting their “potential” while reminding readers that “France has always enjoyed a more cyclical relationship with success”. We too could wax lyrical on the great goalscoring record of Just Fontaine, the “magic diamond” of Tigana, Fernandez, Giresse and Platini, as well as the champion achievements of Blanc, Desailly, Deschamps, Djorkaeff, Thuram, Zidane and Co. Thankfully, there is a more compelling story than the failure of a flaky French coach to harness France’s nouvelle vague. It is the story of the players themselves.
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