Finally, Argentina book World Cup berth
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Argentina book World Cup berth
MONTEVIDEO - Mario Bolatti stabbed in a late goal to give Argentina a 1-0 win at Uruguay on Wednesday and send Diego Maradona's side to the World Cup finals.
Bolatti netted five minutes after coming on as a substitute to clinch Argentina the fourth automatic qualification spot from the South American region, joining already-qualified Brazil, Paraguay and Chile.
Uruguay now face a two-legged play-off against the fourth-placed team from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
The visitors had started the match in danger of missing out on the World Cup for the first time since 1970. A loss to Uruguay coupled with an Ecuador win in Chile would have produced that scenario.
However, Maradona was celebrating wildly on the touchline after Bolatti's goal guaranteed them a spot in the finals next year in South Africa.
The talisman of Argentine football wept and hugged members of his coaching team in an outpouring of emotion at the final whistle.
Having replaced Alfio Basile as coach midway through the qualification campaign, Maradona's credentials for the job had been widely questioned after his side lost to Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and at home to Brazil.
"I want to dedicate this to all the Argentines," he told Argentine television. "I thank the squad."
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they can now fire Maradona for putting the whole of Argentina through a collective heart attack
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that's e effect of the "drugs"
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if argentina had to struggle to qualify, then diego is not the right man to bring them to south africa..
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argentina will not go far.
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Hard to see them be prolific right? Can't really put a name to their most fearsome player these days.. Apart from lone ranger Messi?
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They may have qualified, but with the way they have been playing, they shouldn't even think about going to the quarter finals of the World Cup, much less winning it.
Just sack Maradona, for goodness' sake. If he had been playing Winning Eleven with the 'tactics' he has been using, it would have been Game Over a long time ago....
For goodness' sake, he used 80 players throughout the entire Qualifiers! How does he expect the players to gel together and work as a team with that kind of rotation policy?
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l
with 80 players to choose from, the Argentine FA may as well launch a ArgenTeam Idol to select the 23 players
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Originally posted by fudgester:
They may have qualified, but with the way they have been playing, they shouldn't even think about going to the quarter finals of the World Cup, much less winning it.
Just sack Maradona, for goodness' sake. If he had been playing Winning Eleven with the 'tactics' he has been using, it would have been Game Over a long time ago....
For goodness' sake, he used 80 players throughout the entire Qualifiers! How does he expect the players to gel together and work as a team with that kind of rotation policy?
agree with you,sometimes, these big teams, mysteriously, can rise from the ashes, and gel and get great results..
One example, Germany, they are perform dismal but come to these big games, suddenly, turned up a gear, and win the race by a mile..
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they will have to fire Maradona first...
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I think they would have made it even if they qualified 5th and had to playoff against a Central American/Carribean team.
Don't expect them to lose over the 2 legs.