Barely a half year into his tenure, U.S. coach Bruce Arena faces another former World Cup champion. The Germany team that the United States dispensed of, 3-0, in February represented an aging squad in decline. Argentina, on the other hand, should pose a more formidable test. Daniel Passarella’s France ’98 squad, which reached the quarterfinals, was the tournament’s youngest squad, with an average age of 26 years, 6 months. That leaves successor Marcelo Bielsa with a core of experienced players. Bielsa’s immediate task is preparation for this summer’s Copa America in Paraguay, a tournament he will be expected to win. Argentina’s France ’98 performance included an waltz through the first round and a brilliant victory over England. But a loss to the Netherlands made for a sour ending and led to Passarella’s demise. Among those Bielsa named to his training-camp roster for the U.S. tour — the Argentines play Mexico June 9 in Chicago and the United States four days later in Washington — are France ’98 players Ariel Ortega, Diego Simeone, Javier Zanetti, Nelson Vivas, Roberto Ayala and goalie German Burgos. Forwards Gabriel Batistuta — the most successful scorer in Argentine soccer history — and Hernan Crespo have been omitted to allow them time to recuperate from nagging injuries. Valencia’s Claudio Lopez, among Spanish league’s leading scorers with 20 goals, will miss the tour along with a handful other Spanish-based players, because the Spanish season won’t end until June 20. For help up front, Bielsa has called in Julio Cruz, who plays for Dutch champion Feyenoord and played for Passarella during France ’98 qualifying games but didn’t make the World Cup squad. Andres Guglielminpietro, Ayala’s teammate at Italian champion AC Milan, adds further strength to the midfield. Beating out Peckerman Bielsa’s appointment to the national team came somewhat as a surprise, and at Jose Peckerman’s expense. Peckerman had guided Argentina’s U-17 and U-20 teams to unprecedented success in the 1990s. But Argentine soccer federation president Julio Grondona had his eye on Bielsa, who had won the Argentine Clausura ’98 championship with Velez Sarsfield. Grondona first convinced Pekerman to accept the undefined position of national teams general coordinator and then approached Bielsa, who was coaching Spanish club Espanyol. Grondona organized a meeting with both coaches, who finally agreed to work together. Bielsa had just signed a one-year contract with the Catalan team, but had included a escape clause in case he got an offer from the Argentina national team. He was quick to leave Espanyol last August. Bielsa had coached Newell’s Old Boys from 1990 to 1992 and obtained the league title in 1990-91 and the Clausura championship in 1992. Then he went to Mexico to coach Club America and Atlas. Once back in Argentina with Velez Sarsfield, it dethroned River Plate. An Argentine national team coach is expected to win, and play attacking soccer. Upon his appointment, Bielsa pointed to his record. “My ideas are represented in the two teams I coached in Argentina,” said Bielsa. “You can see there the way I see soccer. “My teams always play with one right back, two central defenders, a left back. “In midfield, I use a defensive midfielder, an ‘intermediate’ midfielder, an attacking midfielder and a right-sided midfielder. Up front, I use a center forward and a left-sided striker. “That’s how I think, that’s how I like it.” Nicknamed El Loco” (the crazy one), Bielsa admires Barcelona coach Louis Van Gaal and his work with Ajax Amsterdam. Despite his specific lineup description, he advocates flexibility during the course of a game. He is known to keep his players after practice for two or three hours to espouse his philosophy, and is a great proponent using videotapes. He will likely have watched dozens of U.S. games on tape before facing Arena’s squad. He is fanatical about set plays, forcing his players to repeat his schemes endlessly in training. “[Obsession] isn’t a fair description of my style,” he has told the Argentine press. “I am meticulous because it can’t be done in any other way when somebody has to organize a structure. Order and necessity have an unavoidable link. It can be a mistake to make a structure so rigid that you don’t leave any room for freedom, which is the essence of the game.” Bielsa’s national team career started with lackluster wins over Venezuela and Mexico, but he received good reviews after a 1-1 tie with the Netherlands. Passarella survived Argentina’s 1995 loss to the United States, but Bielsa will be expected to avenge the embarrassing defeat.
Argentina in Brief
MATCH USA vs. ARGENTINA June 13 (1:00 p.m. ET) at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. (Television: ABC live)
HISTORY Buenos Aires had some 40,000 British citizens in the 1890s, and they spurred a rapid development of soccer clubs in Argentina. River Plate, Racing Club, Independiente and Boca Juniors were founded by 1905. The national team has been active since 1901. It finished second to Uruguay at both the 1928 Olympics and the first World Cup, in 1930. When Italy poached its top players for the 1934 World Cup, Argentina went into decline — sending a reserve team to that tournament and refusing to enter the 1938 tournament after being turned down as host. Through the 1950s, Argentina played mainly against South American rivals and dominated the Copa America. It finally returned to World Cup play in 1958, but not until 1978 did its vast talent translate into a World Cup title. Thanks to Diego Maradona’s brilliance, Argentina won its second World Cup in 1986, and reached the final in 1990. Argentina is rivaled only by Brazil in the production of world-class players. Its clubs manage to replenish their rosters as quickly as top players flock to more lucrative leagues in Europe.
LAST 10 INTERNATIONALS | May 25, 1998 — South Africa 2-0 (friendly) |
| June 14, 1998 — Japan 1-0 (World Cup) |
| June 21, 1998 — Jamaica 5-0 (World Cup) |
| June 26, 1998 — Croatia 1-0 (World Cup) |
| June 30, 1998 — England 2-2 (World Cup) (Argentina won, 4-3, on penalties.) |
| July 4, 1998 — Netherlands 1-2 (World Cup) |
| Feb. 1, 1999 — at Venezuela 2-0 (friendly) |
| Feb. 11, 1999 — Mexico 1-0 (friendly in Los Angeles) |
| March 31, 1999 — at Netherlands 1-1 (friendly) |
| June 9, 1999 — Mexico 2-2 (friendly in Chicago) |
U.S. SERIES Argentina handed the United States its first World Cup loss, in the 1930 semifinal. They did not meet in an official competition at the national team level again until 1995, when the United States shocked the Argentines, 3-0, on the way to a fourth-place finish at the Copa America.
| March 30, 1928 — Argentina 11-2 (Olympics in Amsterdam) |
| June 26, 1930 — Argentina 6-1 (World Cup in Montevideo) |
| Aug. 21, 1975 — Argentina 6-0 (friendly in Mexico City) |
| May 19, 1991 — Argentina 1-0 (friendly in Stanford, Calif.) |
| July 14, 1995 — USA 3-0 (Copa America in Paysandu, Uruguay) |
ROSTER Coach Marcelo Bielsa is preparing his team for this summer’s Copa America. His U.S.-bound squad is dominated by Argentina’s Italian league core.
Goalkeepers — Albano Bizzarri (Real Madrid, Spain), German Burgos (River Plate).
Defenders — Hugo Ibarra (Boca Juniors), Mauricio Pochettino (Espanyol, Spain) Juan Pablo Sorin (River Plate), Roberto Ayala (AC Milan, Italy) Javier Zanetti (Inter Milan, Italy), Nelson Vivas (Arsenal, England), Sebastian Mendez (Velez Sarsfield).
Midfielders — Andres Guglielminpietro (AC Milan, Italy), Diego Simeone (Inter Milan, Italy), Cristian Gonzalez (Real Zaragoza, Spain), Pablo Aimar (River Plate), Ariel Ortega (Sampdoria, Italy).
Strikers — Fernando Pandolfi (Velez Sarsfield), Claudio Husain (Velez Sarsfield), Gustavo Lopez (Zaragoza, Spain), Julio Cruz (Feyenoord, Netherlands).
