World cup 2010 news

MLS holders Real Salt Lake won their fourth game in a row Saturday as they scored a 2-1 victory at Chivas USA, but San Jose and Houston kept pace.

By the skin of their teeth, historic giants Argentina are in the World Cup finals. It’s been a bumpy ride the last few years, one fraught with missed chances, a lack of confidence and some really expensive diamonds gone missing.

But they are here. With Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona who is, if you’ve just awoken from a deep coma, the coach. Yes, that Diego Maradona, leading something else but a dollar bill down a…ah, nevermind.

This is bound to be one of the most fun teams heading into the World Cup. Why? One of two things could go kaboom: Lionel Messi or the whole damn thing.

Nickname: La Albiceleste (White and Sky blue)

FIFA World Ranking as of March 31st 2010: 9th.

Group: B; Nigeria, South Korea, Greece.

Coach: El Diego – Diego Maradona. One of the best players in the history of the game with questions surrounding his coaching as big as his waist used to be. A powerhouse with the best player in the world and some of the best attacking talent in the world, yet Argentina still struggled to make it through qualifying. His greatest coaching feat thus far has been the failing to make it through a year before bombarding the press with “suck it and keep on sucking it”. This earned him a suspension, and lofty four-letter standards to which he must hold himself at the World Cup.

Key Players: When it comes to a country like Argentina, there are simply too many to name. Luckily, there’s an easy one to start: Lionel Messi. Nearly universally hailed as the greatest in the world and one who is giving Pele & El Diego a run as football’s greatest ever, the knock – the only knock – on him has been his inability to replicate Barca form for the Albiceleste. In tow he’ll have Spanish-based striker buddies Kun Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain: all prolific, all 22. And though he’s only had 7 caps, Angel Di Maria, also 22, has been making waves as football’s next big thing for a couple years now, looking very much the real deal.

Rounding out the talented toddlers will be Diego Milito and Carlitos Tevez, two half-decent footballers in their own right…

To back up the skillful attackers up front, they want not for midfield steel: Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Mascherano are two of the best in the world at taking care of business in the center of the park.

In the back it’s veteran leadership at the, err, fore, with The Ageless Sidepart, Javier Zanetti (136 caps), Walter Samuel and Gabby Heinze the likelies in front of whichever youngster earns the mitts.

Player with best YouTube video: Messi gets more videos than Beyonce, making this tough; and when searching “Lionel Messi” in YouTube, it’s like stumbling into an adult video store: they’re all largely the same packaging, all tell the same story and all serve the same purpose. The pick of the front shelving:

Player with best name: Angel Di Maria. There’s quite a bit of Italian heritage in Argentina, which means this half-translates as Angel of Maria.

Who the hell’s Maria?

Player with best nickname: Finally, an Argentine not named Lionel Messi wins something in a landslide: Sergio “Kun” Aguero. The Kun portion is derived from a youthful haircut which apparently made Kun, a strapping young man of his own, look like this:

Even without evidence, there’s little argument that wasn’t the worst haircut of all-time.

Kun also impregnated Maradona’s daughter Giannina, then reportedly cheated on and left her, so we can safely assume he has all sorts of wonderful nicknames behind closed doors which are not allowed into the public sphere.

Qualification: They finished 4th out of four automatic qualification sports in CONMEBOL, which did not sit well as one of the continent’s two footballing superpowers. It took until the 18th and final day of qualification, when they sent Uruguay to their ultimately successful playoff with CONCACAF, to earn a ticket to South Africa. Not exactly in the Argentine football blueprints.

Interesting: In his short, short reign as head coach (Dec ‘09), Diego Maradona has called up over 100 players to the national team. Yes, one hundred.

National Anthem: “Himno Nacional Argentino” (National Anthem of Argentina)

More on the Argentina anthem here.

Kit: Home shirt:

Full review here, or buy your Argentina jersey from our store.

World Cup History:

Expectations: There are two camps of thought here: the one that thinks Maradona will lead them to implode in the groups (as they did at times in qualifying), and the one which thinks Lionel will toss Argentina on his (not quite spacious) back to South African glory.

As much as any team in the tournament, they have no expectations heading in – just questions.

Squad: TBA

Blog: When Maxi Lopez isn’t scoring goals for Catania, he’s busy at the Argentina WCB along with Julian D.

- More World Cup 2010 Team Profiles.

Chelsea defeated rivals Manchester United 2-1 to move two points clear in the Premier League while Arsenal keep pace with a late win over Wolves.