Post-Riquelme Argentina
The mercurial playmaker, Juan Roman Riquelme of Boca Juniors, has announced his retirement from Argentina national football team. He cited differences of football tactics and philosophies with coach Diego Maradona, a former Boca Junior player as well. The inclusion of Riquelme in the national team has pros and cons. The team has to be built around him and whenever he is in top form, the whole team plays well, but whenever he does not click, it seems to affect the performance of the whole team. That is why, he was hardly called up by former coach Marcelo Bielsa. Since coach Bielsa stepped down from his coaching role in late 2004, then coach Jose Pekerman built the team around him. This trend continued under coach Alfio Basile. In the meantime, a new superstar, Lionel Messi has become the most important player for the Argentina national team. The new coach, Maradona, repeatedly said the he would include Riquelme in his team and want him to be a part and parcel of it. But he said he wanted a slightly different role for Riquelme. Apparently, it was not acceptable for Riquelme.
Now that Riquelme era is over, coach Maradona has two options. One is to use another playmaker as Riquelme's replacement. There are several players that can take that role. Andres D'Alessandro (Internacional, Brazil), Luis Gonzalez (FC Porto, Portugal), Pablo Almar (Benfica, Portugal). Veteran midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron (Estudiantes La Plata, Argentina) can play as typical playmaker. Should the first option be the case, Maradona can field three offensive players in front of the playmaker. Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Spain) is guaranteed to be one offensive weapon.
Option number two would be a very different one that has not been employed so far. Lionel Messi will be the playmaker (like the playing days of Maradona) and there will be three attackers in front of him. In that case, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez can be the two guaranteed starters and the 3rd attacker would be a typical goal scorer. Diego Milito, Lisandro Lopez, and even Hernan Crespo of Inter Milan (if he can get regular football time from next season) would be the ideal choice. Personally, I would prefer the 2nd option where Messi can be the playmaker.
What option or strategy Maradona will employ will be interesting to follow. But one thing looks almost certain, that is, Lionel Messi will be wearing the prestigious number 10 jersey that was once worn by his coach Maradona. It might be possible to see Messi wearing the number 10 from the World Cup qualifiers. Perhaps, the time has come for Lionel Messi to reign the football world.
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