World Soccer - October 2016

GLOBAL FOOTBALL INTELLIGENCE
“We need to not be Messi-dependent.
Yes, he is our MVP, but the rest of the
team has to give us more depth as well”
New Argentina coach Edgardo Bauza
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SOUTH AMERICA
Edgardo Bauza bowed to the inevitable
when he named his [first] Argentina squad.
The headlines all went to the inclusion of
Lionel Messi, swiftly going back on his
decision to retire from international football.
Messi’s rethink is almost certainly, in part
at least, a recognition of contemporary
reality. After his disappointment in 1966,
Pele said he would not play in another
World Cup – and he only returned to the
Brazil side two years later, on the way to
book end his top-level career in
magnificent style in Mexico 70.
Assuming that he wants to do
No change...Edgardo Bauza
something similar in Russia 2018, Messi
does not have the same luxury. The longer
he stays out, the harder it would be for
Argentina to qualify; when he missed the
first four rounds of the current campaign
with injury, Argentina struggled badly
without him.
Messi’s inclusion aside, the main
talking point in Bauza’s squad is that it
is almost exactly the same as that of his
predecessor Gerardo Martino. Some fringe
players have been changed, but the core
of the group is exactly the same – a
recognition that there is no time available
for a major overhaul.
Tim Vickery
Goal...Sevilla’s
Franco Vazquez
SPAIN
So just the 40, then. Spanish football
returned with goals – and lots and
lots of them.
There were 10 in Seville, eight in
Barcelona, six in Valencia, and an
average of four per game all over
the country.
Nowhere was there a goalless
game, and even the lowest scoring
of matches was historic. Leganes,
down in Spain’s rationalised,
80-team, four-grouped Second
Division B just three years ago,
marked their first-ever game in
Primera with a 1-0 win at Celta Vigo.
That wrapped up a huge weekend
for the three new arrivals: all the
promoted clubs had taken at least
a point on the opening weekend.
Sid Lowe
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GERMANY
Bundestrainer Joachim Low called
it a “practice match for Bayern” and
it was exactly that, the
champions effortlessly
crushing Bremen 6-0
in the season opener
at the Allianz-Arena.
It was a perfect start
for new Bayern coach
Carlo Ancelotti.
As for poor Bremen,
they were never at
the races, nervous,
careless, disorganised and totally
devoid of physicality and belief. On
the face of it, only a top-flight team
in the loosest sense of the word.
Nick Bidwell
ITALY
On paper, at least, Juventus look by far
the strongest side in the land, one that
has put together a war treasury with
which to battle for the Champions League.
With Paulo Dybala to partner
Gonzalo Higuain in a mouth-watering,
all-Argentinian attack, with Dani Alves
offering offensive bite to the defence,
Miralem Pjaca promising youthful energy
on the flank, and Medhi Benatia adding
hardly needed solidity to the defence,
Juve looks like a serious number.
It remains to be seen if they are good
enough to survive the departure of Paul
Pogba but, at this stage, one suspects
they will be.
One man who dares to take a different
view is the new Internazionale coach,
Frank De Boer. Appointed at the beginning
of August, just two weeks before the
Opinion...
Frank De Boer
seasonal kick-off, the ex-Ajax player
and coach told Gazzetta Dello Sport:
“Well, we’ll have to wait and see how
they [Juventus] go in midfield, it’s by
no means sure that they will be stronger
than last year.
“Yeah, they have bought big name
players but we don’t know yet if these
big names will make into a big team.”
Paddy Agnew
WORLD SOCCER 13