Argentina v Spain Preview: Much Ado About a Friendly

September 7th, 2010 | by: Ade C. |

Yes, it’s a special friendly. It brings together the present World Champions and one of the best national teams of the world, historically speaking, and moreover, one that can boast of having the (to many) best player of the world. But it’s still a friendly. Which does not mean we should not all watch it, because it does promise to be good, but that maybe we shouldn’t take it so seriously…

If Iniesta doesn't look impressed, why should we?

-Yesterday, La Roja were taken to the Casa Rosada to meet Argentina’s President, Mrs Cristina Kirchner, who recieved a t-shirt signed by all the World Cup champions as a consolation gift for the albiceleste not carrying off with the Cup. My guess is that she was expecting a repeat of the Carles-Puyol-in-a-towel-for-the-Queen-of-Spain situation, but like the philosopher Jagger once said, “You can’t always get what you want.”

-But there has also been training for the team. Or some sightseeing thinly disguised as training, it’s hard to tell.

On your left, ladies and gentlemen, Xabi Alonso and Álvaro Arbeloa at La Bombonera. On your right, Cesc Fàbregas at El Monumental de River.

Pictures taken from Álvaro Arbeloa’s and Cesc Fàbregas’ Twitter, but we have more thanks to Sergio Ramos too. In between the taking pictures, we hope the boys have also had some time to train, because the last thing we want is injuries so early in the season…

-On the Argentina corner, meanwhile, things are a bit more tentative than a sightseeing expedition. This is the big chance for interim-coach Sergio Batista to prove that he can put order in the chaos that Maradona left behind; to this effect, he has called up several veterans who had been cast aside (like Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso, Gabriel Milito or Andrés D’Alessandro) and, of course, he’s continuing the trend of trying to make the team work for Leo Messi, instead of the other way round. How wise this is remains a matter of contention, but if you want more speculation on the internal matters of the albiceleste, you can consult the Argentina Offside.

-I don’t have a favourite team that I’d like to see Vicente del Bosque play tonight. There aren’t any newbies to try out (with the exception of Monreal and, I guess, Valdés) and the team is familiar enough with the 4-2-1-3 that Our Wise Walrus prefers to be able to play it with their eyes closed and the roles all shifted about. So, tell me, who would you like to see given playing minutes? Fàbregas and Silva, the underused wonders? One of the keepers who is not Casillas? Ramos as a CB? Tell us in the comments!

-And to finish this with a bit more serious news, let me tell you that La Roja has won the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports for 2010, over candidates such as Edurne Pasabán (the first woman to climb all of the fourteen 8,000 meter peaks in the World), Valentino Rossi and Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopian athlete). Only to be expected, I suppose, but it’s a prestigious award nevertheless, and it will give us the opportunity to have more pictures of the team awkwardly trying to be solemn later in the year.

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James

It will be interesting to watch this match nevertheless, and whether Barcelona defenders in Spain NT can shut down Messi.
Nithin

I would like to see Pique playing as a forward. And perhaps Marchena too. He is a danger to whichever goal he is closest to.
ROD

Casillas
Arbeloa-Pique-Marchena-Monreal
Busquets-Alonso
Cesc
Pedro-Silva-Cazorla
LLorente
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Oh man, I'd love to see Piqué as a striker… but why the bitterness towards Marchenator, Nithin?
ROD

because he's a dirty player and a bit of a thug on the pitch but a cool guy off of it like mascherano
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

The starting XI is: Reina; Arbeloa, Piqué, Marchena, Monreal; Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Fábregas; Iniesta, Villa y Silva.

Good to see Monreal, Arbeloa, Reina, Cesc and Silva getting some minutes…
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

And Argentina's: Romero; Zanetti, DeMichelis, Milito, Heinze; Mascherano, Banega, Cambiasso; Messi, Tévez and Higuaín.
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Messi scored at the 10th minute, and Higuaín not five minutes later. Both in very pretty counters that caught our defence with their pants down. I miss Puyol. No Spanish chances yet.
http://real.theoffside.com/ Corey

Maybe we should be worried when Puyol retires, although Marchena needs to retire soon also…
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

My hopes rest on The Ramos' shoulder for that position, actually… and I still worry.
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

20 minutes into the first half, and La Roja finally put in an appearance: Villa hits the woodwork once, and Iniesta and Silva both look dangerous…
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

OMG, Pepe Reina. OMG. What a massive blunder! He slips and falls, leaving the ball to Tévez.

Tevez scores, obvs. 3-0
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Another Villa shot to the woodwork, then Cesc Fàbregas almost kills Heinze with the rebound. But La Roja still can't score.
ROD

what the hell does llorente need to do to play?
ROD

alvaro dominguez
http://real.theoffside.com/ Corey

I think he is much better at left back, but he does not give the attacking abilities Monreal does.
http://real.theoffside.com/ Corey

The ghost of Raul!

Seriously though, the guy is not that sinister, he is probably happy someone will overtake his record. Although if Raul was still in the selection I have a feeling the bar would have been raised a little higher.
http://real.theoffside.com/ Corey

Botia, San Jose and Raul Ruiz all seem willing enough.
ROD

dominguez would be perfect left footed,quick,tall,and strong He's the best of the rest because i don't see another puyol coming with the warrior attitude
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Kill Villa? And Pedrito? Maybe?
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Four subs for the second half: Valdés por Reina, Llorente for Villa, Navas for Silva, Cazorla for Iniesta.

The VV change 'was scheduled', according to the RFEF.

I still don't like it…
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Watch it in slow-mo here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prizerT2bk8
ROD

finally llorente
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Llorente had a good chance on a GORGEOUS Navas would-be-assist, but he heads wide from point-blank range…
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Let's start with the possible solutions: Xavi is in for Cesc Fàbregas… a round of applause (for Xavi) please!
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Disallowed goal for DiMaría in offsides, after an amazing Messi move. Our defense is still AWOL; if anyone finds it, please contact Del Bosque.
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Navas misses on a great chance, after Xavi gave him a beautiful assist.
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Pedrito in for Xabi Alonso. Bye-bye, double pivot!
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

The woodwork again! After Xavi takes a FK, Cazorla has another good chance for Spain.
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Now, just imagine if Argentina had played like this in the World Cup…
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

LLORENTE SCORES!!! To a lovely Pedrito assist, I might add…

3-1. Well, that's not so bad..

ROD will be happy!
ROD

told you!
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Agüero scores the fourth with a lovely header that VV can't stop. Just a few minutes until this is over, people…
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

It's over: 4-1 (Messi, Higuaín, Tévez, Agüero; Llorente)

Anyone wants to guess what went wrong, asides from Argentina recovering their mojo now that Maradona is gone?

I didn't like Cesc Fàbregas, for example…
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

I'm sure Raúl is sitting in Germany, sticking pins in a little voodoo doll with a soul-patch and bashing it against the woodwork of a miniature goal…

On other news, can you do the review for this one, please? I'm going to be travelling tomorrow and I haven't even started packing…
Ramses

I blame it all on the defense. Complete horror show in the first half.
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Agreed, the defense was horrid. Arbeloa just wasn't there, Piqué got distracted, Marchena went missing, and Monreal tried, but it wasn't enough… can I say I miss Puyol very muchly?
James

This match shows how important Iker Casillas is.
clichique

And the offense… ugh. It didn't look like the offense was even trying. You have someone on the right, and on perfect opportunities to make a cross over, there was nobody on the left to receive the ball. I don't know why the Spanish team was playing in clustered groups and not spreading out… very confused as to what the hell happened…
ROD

meh they played as if they were a tired jet lag team oh Wait they were! Its not a big deal and its more of a blip than a giant problem but del bosque made a huge mistake playing a non striker formation because villa was playing on the left and he's much better when there's a target men alongside him like a torres or llorente so just move on and it'll be fine. I hope Del bosque doesn't judge harshly Monreal for this game I still think he has a future in the NT and hopefully he doesn't go back to Capdevilla
stephanie87

I was so upset with yesterday's humiliating result I had to change the channel. Congrats to Argentina they totally outplayed us and they made us look like ameaturs. But we are PROFESSIONALS AND STILL THE BEST! I'm just glad it was only a friendly, but I still hate losing. Well I'm sure our guys will brush it off and take it as a lesson learned. The score was a bit deceiving though…had Pepe not slipped when he was retrieving that ball I'm sure the dynamic of the game wouldn't have been the same. Now we know not to concede so early on because that's what cost us big time. Still love ya Spain!
Al_Boricua

As this match clearly demonstrated; Spain without the FCB (Barcelona) midfield, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, and Pedro, and defenders Pujol-Piqué, have no team at all. They have no ball control and do not pose any threats! What will happen to this team in the next few years when field marshals Xavi Hernandez and Carles Pujol retire? The same fate that the spanish basketball team has met – a bad game!
http://woodworking-books.org Woodworking project plans

It will be interesting to watch this match nevertheless.