Of all the quality players on display during the first game of the two-game international break, it was Argentina’s Juan Roman Riquelme — a player who’s been banished by his club — who shone brightest, says Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune. Sure, his two glorious free kicks were enough to lead Argentina past Chile on Saturday, but Riquelme was also the best player on a field that included fellow World Player of the Year contenders Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi, the young man who many consider right now to be the best in the world. Perhaps, but as Hughes says, against Chile “Riquelme eclipsed him.” And it was also his first professional game since Argentina’s Copa America final defeat to Brazil in July.
Since then, Riquelme has been “left rotting in Villarreal’s surplus tray.” Moreover, the player was for sale virtually all summer long, and yet no one in Europe was willing to pay the La Liga club $15 million for his services. Despite his incredible talent, the likes of Atletico Madrid believed his temperament too risky to meet that price. And so we have one of the best players in the world rotting on the bench of a good team that could be great if it could only resolve its mysterious differences with the player. But Villarreal came out publicly on Monday to say that no reconciliation was in the cards.
In any event, it doesn’t look like Argentina coach Alfio Basile cares whether Riquelme plays at Villarreal or not. “Other people can think what they like,” he said. “A player of Riquelme’s standard does not forget how to play soccer.”