THE FINAL THIRD

TF3 ultra-favorite Jonathan Wilson is in Argentina… Besides sampling the malbec, milanesa, churrasco, and chimichurri, he is reporting on the state of Argentine football. Anyone who has ever lived, visited, or even watched Argentina matches on the tube, knows that football is king. In his post to the Guardian, he writes that Argentina’s romantic view of how the game should be played, wide-open, attacking, sends shivers down his Euro-spine. He says that what makes the game so great in Argentina, as evidenced in the recent World Cup, is also what is holding them back at the international level.

As always a great read.

Link to article

Good article from TotalBarca.com on the close relationship between Ronaldinho and Messi. The young Argentinean was devastated when “Ronnie” left Barça in 2008, almost to the point of wanting to leave the club as well. He was also caught in the middle of the tug of war between club and country. Barça wanted to keep him around for their USA summer tour, and Argentina wanted him for the Olympics. Messi went with his country, and returned to Barcelona a changed person, he had grown up. The rest is history.

Link to article

I am not a big Riquelme fan but I am an avid supporter of Argentine football (specifically River Plate). It’s not that Riquelme plays for that awful excuse for a club Boca Juniors either. He did good things for the national team over the last few years, especially in free kick situations. Well it seems despite my opinion he may be returning to the Argentine national team.

Juan Roman Riquelme, who had a falling out with former Argentina coach Diego Maradona that saw him banished from the side, could return to the national team under interim coach Sergio Batista.
(continue reading…)

Diego Maradona, looking close to tears, accused the national team director Carlos Bilardo of betrayal following his departure as the coach of Argentina.

Speaking the day after the Argentina Football Association declined to renew his contract, Maradona said Bilardo worked in the shadows to get rid of him. Bilardo was the national coach and Maradona the star player when Argentina won the World Cup in 1986.

Link to article

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -Diego Maradona was removed as coach of Argentina’s national team on Tuesday, ending an erratic 21-month stint that mirrored his own long personal history of unpredictable behavior.
The Argentine Football Association announced that his contract would not be renewed after Maradona had said he would only accept the AFA’s offer of a new four-year deal through to the 2014 World Cup if his entire staff also remained. That was unacceptable to Argentine Football Association president Julio Grondona. He had asked for several assistants to be replaced. One of them is Maradona’s close friend, Alejandro Mancuso. The federation’s executive committee sided with Grondona.
“The full executive committee with a unanimous decision has decided not to renew the contract of Mr. Diego Maradona as national team coach,” AFA spokesman Ernesto Cherquis Bialo told a news conference.
Estudiantes coach Alejandro Sabella and Racing’s Miguel Russo are being mentioned as candidates for the job. The AFA would likely need to announce an interim coach for the friendly against Ireland on Aug. 11 in Dublin.

Argentina return home as heroes to Buenos Aires, despite their humiliating defeat in the quarters against Germany. Look at Mascherno and Messi… They don’t understand why they are being received as heroes…

Germany-Argentina Highlights from The Final Third on Vimeo.