Three footballing giants might not be on the plane to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup.
Football fans across the world will fall asleep with that sinking feeling tonight. One of their worst nightmares may just come true. Two of the world’s best players — Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi — could be sitting at home watching the 2010 World Cup on the television rather than as participants in the tournament.
Argentina and Portugal are in danger of missing the World Cup. Managed by arguably the greatest footballer of all time, Diego Maradona, the South American powerhouse have played poorly in the qualifying round so far. It will be a footballing tragedy if they don’t make it to the World Cup.
Much of the blame (quite rightly) is being laid at Maradona’s door. Critics, fans and players all have questioned his tactical acumen in picking the wrong players for most of the qualifying campaign. The talent at his disposal is scary — with names like Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero. But Maradona has picked a total of 62 (yes, 62!) players so far, during his 18 months in charge of the Argentinian team.
Sitting in an uncomfortable fifth position, with Uruguay breathing down their neck, Maradona and his men have only two games to save their skin: one against Peru at home, and Uruguay away. A defeat tonight at the hands of Peru and a win for Uruguay (who play Ecuador) would all but knock out Argentina.
There have been calls for Maradona to resign, but the diminutive manager has said that he will carry on, and is confident of leading the team to South Africa. If Argentina win both their games, they will automatically qualify, and if they lose one and win the other, they will finish fifth, which will lead to a two-legged play-off, which will be played in November.
Portugal, on the other hand, are even more precariously placed in their qualifying group. They sit third in their group and face two games, one against Hungary tonight and another against Malta on October 14. Their over-reliance on star forward Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been lacklustre for most of the campaign, has led them to this uncomfortable situation.
Portugal know they must take maximum points from their next two games to stand any chance of securing a play-off spot, while they are also relying on Sweden to slip up against table-topping Denmark this weekend. The likes of Manchester United winger Nani, Chelsea midfielder Deco and other big names like Jose Bosingwa being in poor form hasn’t helped their cause too much. However, unlike Argentina, their fate is not entirely in their own hands; they have to rely on other teams to slip up as well. If the results don’t go their way then the massive favourite Ronaldo might just not be able to showcase his talent on the biggest stage, after all. Their coach Carlos Queiroz — who was Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant at Manchester United — has got a lot of flak of not making optimum use of the talent at his disposal.
Apart from these two national teams, France, too, are struggling to make the play-offs, although they are relatively safe. Their coach Raymond Domenech has been under fire for the last few years, yet the French Football Federation (FFF) has backed him. It’s rumoured that Domenech picks players based on their astrological signs! Unless France lose both their remaining games against minnows Faroe Islands and Austria, they should make it to the play-offs. They may even qualify directly, depending on Serbia’s results.
The next four days will seal the fate of these three nations. A World Cup without the likes of Messi, Ronaldo, Franck Ribery and Thierry Henry is a potential nightmare.
Sponsors like Adidas and Nike, endorsed by Messi and Ronaldo, respectively, must also be fretting and hoping that that their champions make the cut. Forget the money men, let’s hope, for the sake of football, that the gods smile on messrs Messi, Ronaldo and Ribery!
