The tears of the Argentinean players watered the pitch at the end of the match against Sweden that swept away one of the favorites of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
The defeat of the Argentinean team: the fall of the favorite.
Emotional Latin tears, roamed across the globe on TV generating an echo from millions of Argentineans who followed the game from different locations around the world.
In Buenos Aires the game was broadcast at 3:30 a.m.; an expectant crowd hardly used to waking up at such a time, gathered in front of their TV sets. After the game the fans, full of anguish, dragged their shadows down through the morning with sad and sleepy faces. The silence of mourning marked the empty streets. For Argentina, a country accustomed to ill-treatment, whipped by the hunger of its children, harassed by its international debts and threatened by the low temperatures of the hard winter, this is not just one more defeat: it is the sadness of the people who lived the world championship as the great hope for a happiness that never arrived, for a celebration on the streets after the collective protests, as the renewed breath against such adversity. This is the confirmation of the fact that, if there are reasons to celebrate in this country, people will have to wait until better times.
For Argentineans, soccer is food for the soul. And in these times of such hardship, more than one has forgotten his sorrows standing in front of a window tasting the dance of the players, even if that was just for a brief while. And nobody here expected the dream to last so short a time. No-one could have pictured the downhearted players saying goodbye in the first round, disappointed and bowed by the weight of being favorites, among hugs and tears repeating the fateful history that hasn't occurred in the last forty years. It was back in the 1962 World Cup that Argentina was eliminated before the second round.
This was a good chance to wear the team's strip, to go out and breathe fresh air on the streets. But it wasn't possible. Bad luck, scores that didn't reflect the story of the games, below-par performances … many of these are just explanations to justify defeat that, anyway, won't give back the Argentinean team an edge on the international arena until the next World Cup, four years from now.
Much has been talked and written since the elimination of the "Selección" and it may have been forgotten that, in spite of the symbolism implied in football, it is just a game with certain clear rules and just one outcome: sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but Argentineans never like to lose.
Bielsa
In Buenos Aires it is humorously said that half of the population believes themselves to be Economy Ministers, with a perfect solution to Argentina's financial turmoil and the other half are coaches, who are convinced they have the secret that guarantees endless victory for the national team.
The name of head coach, Marcelo Bielsa, has been on the lips of the whole country. Every Argentinean has an opinion and everybody knows how he or she would have directed the team. But Bielsa is the only one who carries the burden of unease: "I am very sad and disappointed," he confessed at a press conference after the abrupt end. "The pain of the defeat is something personal that cannot be shared," he added, maybe to assume full responsibility. A difficult ending that will leave a sour remembrance to this coach who is leaving the team June 30 when his contract expires and the Argentine FA replaces him.
Who will be the new head coach? The name that bounces the highest is Jose Pekerman, a favorite of the AFA's President Julio Grondona. Pekerman is the head coach of the Under-20s team, which he has coached successfully. Another name taken into consideration is Carlos Bianchi, a successful manager in domestic soccer, who remains the people's choice.
Looking for explanations
When all the players are back home, many in Europe, others in Argentina, the questions start with thousands of answers that apply more to a philosophical debate than to the evaluation of a sporting event.
Most people talk about a component of bad luck and the lack of goals. Others prefer to go deeper. The following is a list of the most common excuses:
- The players maintained a fair level of competition without violence, with a strategy set before the event for an entertaining spectacle but not adequate enough at the time for playing with audacity.
- The other teams of the "group of death" went on to the field to defend against the favorite and stifled the game. All the opposition's energies were put into defense and it was very difficult to break them down. There were just two goals in the three matches: one by Gabriel Batistuta, the other by Hernan Crespo. The team didn't have a player to depend on and the usually prolific scorers just didn't show up.
- In the match against Sweden, bad luck played an important role, because even though Argentina reached the area many more times than its rival, it couldn't convert and the Swedish team avoided defeat through a free kick.
- Low physical performance of the team. Several players arrived in Japan in bad shape or not fully-recovered from recent injuries. That is the case for Roberto Ayala, who was re-injured before his debut against Nigeria, Diego Simeone, who was recovering from a six-month injury lay-off and Sebastián Veron whose performance has been highly questioned. The list goes on with other players like Claudio Caniggia or Marcelo Gallardo. It is said that, if the world championship had taken place in 2001, Argentina would have been the champion.
- Bielsa's decision of not pairing his two most prolific strikers together –Gabriel Batistuta and Hernan Crespo- and of keeping to a strategy that, in such a short championship, requires definite results and doesn't allow for mistakes or trials.
- The lack of leaders in the side and Bielsa's doubt didn't allow for the formation of a solid team that could have evolved during the matches. The coach made four changes between games, which unsettled the group, leaving just seven players who played in all three games.
- The loss against England is counted as the disgrace that led the Argentinean team to its defeat. Emotions played themselves out at the time as England triumphed through Beckham's penalty. The team shirts represented the nations, constant political rivals since England and Argentina disputed the sovereignty of The Malvinas Islands in the South Atlantic.
Soccer and crisis
The defeat of the Argentinean team in the World Cup was not only an emotional hit for its people, but also a disaster for advertising sales for the local media and means less than expected income for the AFA. It was also a hard blow for the Presidency of Eduardo Duhalde, when after the defeat, a poll made by the consultant IBOPE OPSM for the national newspaper Página/12, showed that eight out of every ten people saw the championship as a distraction from the real troubles of the country.
The same survey showed the disappointment of the fans: although 48% saw the defeat as a matter of fate, of the game itself or of bad luck, 45% thought that Bielsa –soon to be former head coach- is the man responsible for the fall. 70% of the total simply feel sad and disillusioned.
Soccer is the place where passion is sublime, catharsis is permitted and the rules of each society are reflected as in a mirror. Argentina is today debating the basis of its political system. In an era of total renovation of its political establishment, Marcelo Bielsa's critics fit neatly in Argentina's bruised social fabric.
by Carola Iujvidin & Gustavo Gordonás
Buenos Aires
The Soccerphile World Cup 2002 Archives
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