Pressure on Argentina to win Copa America at home

Posted Tuesday, June 28, 2011 by YAHOO Sport

Anything less than winning the Copa America will be a disaster for Argentina, an elite football country that hasn’t won a major international event since this South American tournament in 1993.

Every ingredient is present for success. Argentina is the host nation, new coach Sergio Batista has handled himself well in the wake of Diego Maradona’s acrimonious departure, and the team has the world’s best player in Lionel Messi.

“I hope things go well for us,” Messi said. “Everyone is very excited about the Copa America. It’s been a while since Argentina has won an important title. We need some joy for ourselves and our fans.”

Messi will be up against it, too.

He has rarely taken his Barcelona form into international matches. For many Argentines, he is an outsider. He left Argentina for Barcelona as a youth player, spent his formative years in Spain and has never played for one of the country’s famous clubs.

His introverted personality also leaves many Argentines cold. He seldom jokes around, seems uncomfortable speaking and lacks the charisma of Diego Maradona or his Argentina teammate Carlos Tevez, who is by far the country’s best loved player.

Messi, of course, could win the popularity contest with a few goals and a Copa America title on July 24.

The final is to be played at River Plate’s Monumental Stadium, which was closed after Sunday’s rioting following River Plate’s relegation to the second division. A prosecutor ordered the stadium shuttered—making it a crime scene— to inspect the turnstiles, with suspicions 12,000 people over the 40,000 limit were allowed to enter.

CONMEBOL, the governing body of South American football, and the Argentine Football Association say the venue will be open and repaired for the Copa final.

Argentines need a title and an improved image.

Brazil beat Argentina in the last two finals—3-0 in 2007 and 4-2 on penalties in 2004 following a 2-2 draw. In addition, Brazil has won four of the last five finals, also defeating Uruguay and Bolivia.

Batista has brought some new faces into Maradona’s old team, which was humiliated 4-0 by Germany last year in the World Cup quarterfinals. Two players shunned by Maradona are back—defender Javier Zanetti and Inter Milan teammate Esteban Cambiasso. Others who were not in South Africa include defender Ezequiel Garay (Real Madrid), midfielder Ever Banega (Valencia) and defender Marcos Rojo (Spartak Moscow).

Messi, of course, is the key. The questions revolve around who will partner him in attack. It’s a long list.

In Argentina’s last warm-up, a 4-0 victory over Albania, Batista went with Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli) and Angel Di Maria (Real Madrid) in the first half, and then sent on Carlos Tevez (Manchester City) and Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid)—Maradona’s son-in-law—in the second. Messi, Lavezzi, Tevez and Aguero all scored.

Batista, who won Olympic gold for Argentina in the 2008 Olympics, is a great admirer of Barcelona’s quick touches and triangulated passes. He’s tried to get his team to play that way, which is likely to make Messi more at home.

Few teams have the attacking options of Argentina, which also includes Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid) and Diego Milito (Inter Milan) and midfield depth anchored by Javier Mascherano (Barcelona).

Argentina open on Friday against Bolivia and also faces Colombia and Costa Rica—which is fielding an underage team—in group play. There is little doubt about reaching the July 16-17 quarterfinals with the semifinals looming from July 19-20.

Batista has the advantage of being little-known outside Argentina. But this has not kept him from being criticized by Maradona, who got in the middle of a dispute between Batista and Tevez.

Batista left Tevez off the national team after he declined to play a friendly in November in Qatar against Brazil. Batista was unhappy with Tevez’s excuse for not playing, but Maradona sided with Tevez.

That dispute seems to be history. Tevez scored against Albania and was wildly cheered by Argentine fans during the match at Monumental Stadium.