August 3, 2009, at 6:40 am
Coming off of a disappointing exit to host nation Germany in the 2006 World Cup, Argentina appears ready to push farther in next year’s event. With longtime Argentine legend Diego Maradona at the helm, Argentina is our choice to win the 2010 World Cup but it will be anything but easy.
Argentina have four games remaining in World Cup qualifying and they are anywhere but in. Continuing not to show up where there’s altitude, they sit 4th in the CONEMBOL standings, and to qualify, must hold or improve their position. Should they slip to 5th, they would square off against the 4th place team from the CONCACAF division, which looks to be Mexico or Honduras.
Currently, Argentina are two points clear of 5th place team Ecuador and four points clear of 6th place team Uruguay. Of their four games remaining, two are road matchups against Paraguay and Uruguay and two are home matchups against Brazil and Peru. Argentina could easily go 1-3, which could cause them not to qualify, but I am counting at least 6 points, which should solidify their position.
Goalkeeping is shaky at this point, as Maradona has admitted he has no real #1 keeper. Juan Carrizo had been the man in goal for Argentina, however his play had been terrible of late, (Including his play for Serie A Italian team Lazio) so Diego has tried National team rookie Mariano Andujar. Not much action so far but it looks as if Mariano will get the start against Brazil, which could prove to be his make or break game in determining his future with the team.
From here, it looks like Argentina has a ton of talent. Best of luck to them climbing those mountains toward the promised land!
Clearly Mr. Smith is mistaken…take it from someone who considers himself a soccer guru. Argentina will be lucky to make it out of the group stages..that’s IF they make it to the world cup. They are currently 4th in a tough CONMEBOL qualifying table and the more they continue to drop points, the further they drop in the FIFA ranking – in the process making them a 2nd seed in the draw for the group stages. They could easily end up in a group with a European power house (The Dutch Orange machine), strong African qualify (Ivory Coast) and a European wild card (Serbia).
The Reapers prediction: Semifinals at best!