One could make a very strong case that no other team in the world has forwards as talented as Argentina's, the team currently has no less than six world-class options -- Carlos Tevez even pronounced it with confidence after La Albiceleste's last pre Copa America 2011 friendly against Albania last week. But then, in the famous adage of former England midfielder John Gregory, strikers win you games, but defenders win you championships.
Argentina is renowned the world over for the sheer volume and quality of creative players it provides in midfield and forward, but the question that begs is -- what about the back? For years now, if not decades, the single most worrying issue for Argentina and its fans has been the weakness and lack of options when it comes to protecting the own goal.
Is the nation really as defensively challenged as the cliché suggests? Will this tournament in particular be adversely affected by the unequal distribution of talent on the pitch?
Starting at the very back, at goal, manager Sergio Batista has already come under intense mockery after he posted messages of support to goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo -- a broken man following River Plate's relegation. The national squad cannot have a goalie from the nacional B! is the general gist of the most common outcry.
Carrizo, one of the three goalkeepers in the squad, sports the No. 1 on his shirt. Monday's news conference, the first of the tournament, should therefore have seen him and the No. 2 player addressing the media, such is the system devised to rotate the players. But in order to protect him, the decision was made to invert the direction. And so, the very first news conference started with players No. 23 and 22 -- Diego Milito and Sergio Romero respectively. Romero, the first choice goalkeeper during the World Cup, echoed requests for Carrizo to be treated gently, specially if he turns out to be a starter.
Anyone familiar with the lonely position of goalkeeping will vouch that the task is aided no end by solid defenders. So where there's a back line of consummate professionals, there's hope.
The most titanic task on the pitch wrote Oscar Barnade, vice president of the Research Centre for the History of Football [CIHF], was that the old right back. In order to dominate the whole area, he had to be fast, courageous, and able to mark firmly. He was expected to cover the spaces left open by the half on the right and the other back on the left. He was the patron of the area.
The first maestro in that position was Jorge Gibson Brown, the legendary Alumni sides captain, but by the time Argentina started disputing internationally in the South American tournament, in 1916, Brown had already retired.
More recent exponents in Copa America: Ruben Navarro (1963), Iseln Ovejero (1967), Jose Luis Pavoni (1975), Jose daniel Van Tuyne (1975 Y 1979), Roberto Mouzo (1983). Current assistant manager Jose Luis Tata Brown was a starter in 1987 and 1989 (although playing a little more as a libero than a classical back as Barnade points out) and Argentina's last triumph in a Copa America, in 1993, saw Jorge Horacio Borelli in that position.
The household name for the last two decades has without a doubt been Roberto Ayala, "The Mouse," widely regarded as one of the best defenders of his generation. Ayala represented Argentina 115 times over the years. He played the Copa America in 1995, 1999, 2004 and 2007 19 appearances which make his the third capped player in Copa America after Diego Simeone and Amrico Tesoriere -- but never won it. Arguably, no replacement for Ayala has since emerged.
Argentina is renowned the world over for the sheer volume and quality of creative players it provides in midfield and forward, but the question that begs is -- what about the back? For years now, if not decades, the single most worrying issue for Argentina and its fans has been the weakness and lack of options when it comes to protecting the own goal.
Is the nation really as defensively challenged as the cliché suggests? Will this tournament in particular be adversely affected by the unequal distribution of talent on the pitch?
Starting at the very back, at goal, manager Sergio Batista has already come under intense mockery after he posted messages of support to goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo -- a broken man following River Plate's relegation. The national squad cannot have a goalie from the nacional B! is the general gist of the most common outcry.
Carrizo, one of the three goalkeepers in the squad, sports the No. 1 on his shirt. Monday's news conference, the first of the tournament, should therefore have seen him and the No. 2 player addressing the media, such is the system devised to rotate the players. But in order to protect him, the decision was made to invert the direction. And so, the very first news conference started with players No. 23 and 22 -- Diego Milito and Sergio Romero respectively. Romero, the first choice goalkeeper during the World Cup, echoed requests for Carrizo to be treated gently, specially if he turns out to be a starter.Anyone familiar with the lonely position of goalkeeping will vouch that the task is aided no end by solid defenders. So where there's a back line of consummate professionals, there's hope.
The most titanic task on the pitch wrote Oscar Barnade, vice president of the Research Centre for the History of Football [CIHF], was that the old right back. In order to dominate the whole area, he had to be fast, courageous, and able to mark firmly. He was expected to cover the spaces left open by the half on the right and the other back on the left. He was the patron of the area.
The first maestro in that position was Jorge Gibson Brown, the legendary Alumni sides captain, but by the time Argentina started disputing internationally in the South American tournament, in 1916, Brown had already retired.
More recent exponents in Copa America: Ruben Navarro (1963), Iseln Ovejero (1967), Jose Luis Pavoni (1975), Jose daniel Van Tuyne (1975 Y 1979), Roberto Mouzo (1983). Current assistant manager Jose Luis Tata Brown was a starter in 1987 and 1989 (although playing a little more as a libero than a classical back as Barnade points out) and Argentina's last triumph in a Copa America, in 1993, saw Jorge Horacio Borelli in that position.
The household name for the last two decades has without a doubt been Roberto Ayala, "The Mouse," widely regarded as one of the best defenders of his generation. Ayala represented Argentina 115 times over the years. He played the Copa America in 1995, 1999, 2004 and 2007 19 appearances which make his the third capped player in Copa America after Diego Simeone and Amrico Tesoriere -- but never won it. Arguably, no replacement for Ayala has since emerged.
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