Maradona hints Messi may captain Argentina against Greece
FC Barcelona forward and Argentine international Lionel Messi (22) will play and possibly captain his country against Greece in an Argentina team full of changes for their final World Cup Group B match on Tuesday, coach and legend Diego Maradona hinted on Monday.
“Messi will play, because he always wants to play and I love that,” he told a press conference on Monday.
“We had been thinking of giving him a rest but to have a player of the class of Leo, the best in the world by a long way without doubt, it would have been a sin not to give him to the team, to the people, not give ourselves (the pleasure).
“His moment has come,” the controversial coach told gathered reporters. “When I told him what I told him, he was very emotional. It’s a wonderful thing. We already saw it in training, he’s having a great time training today,” added Maradona at the Loftus Versfeld stadium near Argentina’s tournament base on the eve of the match at Polokwane.
Juan Sebastian Veron, who Maradona confirmed was returning from the calf muscle injury he suffered against Nigeria, would normally captain the side in Javier Mascherano’s absence.
However, holding midfielder Mascherano is one of eight changes Maradona has decided or been forced to make from the team that started in the 4-1 win over South Korea on Thursday.
Asked if he had ever thought of making Messi his captain, Maradona said enigmatically: “You’ll know tomorrow.”
Wing back Jonas Gutierrez is suspended, Mascherano and fullback Gabriel Heinze are on one booking each, while strikers Carlos Tevez and Gonzalo Higuain are among the players rested with Sergio Aguero and Diego Milito taking their places.
Argentina lead the group after beating Nigeria 1-0 then South Korea. A draw with Greece will be enough to win it.
If Messi can score his first goal at this World Cup against the nation that conceded the last of Maradona’s 34 international strikes so much the better, added the coach, who began the news conference by showing off a flashy, diamond-studded pair of sunglasses given to him on Father’s Day on Sunday.
“I would love it for Leo to take the baton of the goal in that match,” Maradona said referring to Argentina’s 4-0 win over Greece at the 1994 finals, the teams’ only previous meeting, in which Maradona scored and Gabriel Batistuta got a hat-trick.
“Above all because of the move which started in midfield… I hope Leo can score a similar goal, or better, or one that trickles agonisingly over the line but is a goal.”
Kind of random, but if Spain beat Chile and Honduras, and Switzerland beat Honduras, Spain, Chile, and the Swiss all will have 6 points, so who will go through? Will goal-difference decide it?
Yes the Goal Difference will decide it.
Ye its crucial for spain not only to win, but score alot of goals. With all respect, but they have to destroy Honduras to be certain of a spot in the next round.
yup, they first decide by goal difference, then goals for, then head to head matchup…
and after that lastly, a draw from the pots between teams who are tied.
I think all Spain has to do is to beat Chile by 1-0. Right now Chile has a GD of +2. Spain has a GD of +1.
If Spain beats Chile by 1-0, Spain's GD would be +2, while Chile's GD would be +1. Spain would be guaranteed of the top 2 slots, no matter how Switzerland does against Honduras.
Can the admins at this site set up a pool of who we want to sign, Like : Torres 25%
Robinho 23%
Fabregas 24%
Torres & Fabregas %
Torres & Robinho %
Robinho & Fabregas %
None %
Other %
Just so we know who anyone wants
We don't need anybody, and I'm disgusted to hear Sandro's about pursuit of Torres. He founded his entire campaign around fiscal responsibility, how he represents a departure from the old guard –Laporta was undemocratic– why those in charge have overspent, and how he'll fix it. Now he wants to land two prospects valued over 45m EU, while force-molding his own vision of a football team? This mindless pursuit doesn't even address our real problems, like the coming lack of depth at DM (though I'm sure Marq. or Pique can cover this), or how/what will happen with Ibra.
I would vote for None. Every true barca fan knows why.
agreed
I don't understand how any Barca fan would want Robinho. He's like a smaller, weaker version of Cristiano Ronaldo. Selfish, arrogant and without a football brain. They can do tricks and showboat and all that, but they have no vision or guile, and would not fit into the football ethos at Barca. I pray that Robinho does not end up with us. Amen.
i don´t think so. robinho is somebody with massive potential. he was brazils best in the qualifications. whenever he has the ball, he is able to create danger out of nowhere. i consider robinho even stronger as cristiano in one on one situations since cristiano needs his pace to assert himself. robinho doesn´t need that. robinho isn´t less talented than cristiano, it ´s because of his attitude why cristiano is more successful than robinho. robinho is blessed with so much talent, that his attitude shouldn´t be the solid reason to ignore him. you can work on somebodys attitude but the talent, either he has ist or not.
robinho is weaker than CR but still a very good Wing , barca need ball dribler we have messi and niesta and thats all with robinho we will be able to damage from the left side
robinho villa messi is the best what we can have !!!
and we can get robinho for swaping him with ibra and i guess we get some extra cash…
In: Van Der Wiel, Cesc Fabregas, Moussa Sissoko, Felipe Luis, Robinho, Keirrison De Souza.
Promote: Thiago Alcantara, Marc Muniesa, Marc Bartra,
Out: Henry, Hleb, Caceres, Henrique, Chygrynsky, Marquez, Ibrahimovic, Yaya Toure, Victor Sanchez
Nice dream. Van De Wiel will of course expect to be a starter, as will Fabregas and Robinho. It is bad to have the best players in the world sitting on the bench. It causes the harmony to go down. We need decent subs who will accept a bench role and who can perform well when replacing the starter. We don't need the third best playmaker in the world just to have a good sub. Same goes for all those players. Ibrahimovic needs to stay also. I would also like to keep Chiggy and Yaya, although it seems like the latter is leaving, in which case he certainly needs to be replaced.
FOOTBALL MANAGER ALERT
Am I the only one who was hoping that Messi wouldn't play against Greece unless absolutely necessary? I mean I love watching Messi play, he's my favourite player……but since Argentina is almost guaranteed to go through to the next round and since Greece isn't a strong team, I was hoping Messi would sit it out in case of getting injured, because he is really needed for the next round.
I think the contrary, Messi should play to maintain and improve his feelings and might be to score goals for himself which he's absolutely deserved. Our Messi is clever enough to avoid injury now, so I think he'll be ok. Anyway, Maradona might sub him out in the second half.
I feel Messi is in his best both physically and mentally at the moment.
And the last but not least, We're all love to watch Messi playing, so does all the WC spectators!
i wonder what messi got maradona for fathers day, i mean after all he is out of all maradona's 23 children his fav son.