On June 12, 2002, the Albiceleste tied with Sweden and were eliminated from the Asian World Cup in the group stage. A blow for a team that arrived at the World Cup as a candidate and which ended in a fiasco. One of the sins of Rosario’s coach was, even if it seems paradoxical, not to compromise on his footballing principles. The Batistuta-Crespo affair was its icon.
Crossing the Cordillera de los Andes, the name of Anders Svenson The visceral fan of trans-Andean football is not very happy. He evokes one of the great frustrations in the history of the Argentine national team: reaching a World Cup as a strong candidate, but having to chew the bitter taste of an elimination as surprising as it was early. The 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup means one of the greatest pains for the Albiceleste, because everything was given to reach the top in Asia. And the opposite happened.
Twenty years ago, the first World Cup was held on the Asian continent, which crowned five-time champions Brazil and suffered one of France’s notable disappointments as they came to defend the crown and left in the group stage, just like Argentina. What follows is the tour of a cast set up with notable footballers and with a coach like Marcelo Bielsa who does not pass indifferent, who did not meet expectations. Two decades have passed since the great failure of El Loco.
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The South American qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup had a strong team from start to finish in the Argentina squad. They finished the process in first place, with 43 points in 18 games, 12 points ahead of second-placed Ecuador. A month before the tournament, the Trans-Andeans held third place in the FIFA rankings, reflecting their standout moment and contender status. They had a formidable team: Germán Burgos, Roberto Ayala, Walter Samuel, Mauricio Pochettino, Javier Zanetti, Matías Almeyda, Juan Sebastián Verón, Diego Simeone, Juan Pablo Sorin, Ariel Ortega, Gabriel Batistuta, Hernán Crespo, Cristián ‘Kily’ González and more. .
Although it seems paradoxical, abundance ended up being a problem for Bielsa, due to the many riches the Argentine team had and not getting everyone fit. , just at a point of maturity that has rightfully earned them the candidate badge (several have shone in Europe’s top flight). Moreover, with a coach convinced of his idea a relevant point for the offensive proposal.
Although in other editions of the World Cups Argentina had luck in the draws, in 2002 they did not run with that. He fell in Group F with England, Nigeria and Sweden. The so-called “group of death”. Some football decisions made by the coach generated noise. For example, up front. In the Qualifiers, the starting 1 was ‘Mono’ Burgos. But for the World Cup, the chosen one was Pablo Cavallero, who was at Celta de Vigo. Another was the inclusion in the final list of Claudio Paul Caniggia at 35, who distinguished himself at Rangers in Scotland.
On June 2, the first took place, against the Africans, in Ibaraki (all the matches were in Japan). Bielsa’s side won 1-0, thanks to a header from Batistuta, after a corner from ‘Brujita’ Verón. Encouraging start. The second match was the most complex: against England. On June 7, at the Sapporo Dome, the Albiceleste lost 1-0, with a penalty from David Beckham. With three points in the bag, Argentina were forced to beat Sweden to advance to the knockout stages.
Outside
On June 12, Miyagi received a final. And critical voices were already being heard from the acid Trans-Andean press, which asked to reunite the Batistuta-Crespo duo, given the need to win. Bielsa didn’t give up on his beliefs and kept the draw 3-4-3, with Bati as centre-forward, supported by ‘Burrito’ Ortega and ‘Piojo’ López.
In the 59th minute, a free kick from Svensson sneaks into Cavallero’s goal and makes it 1-0 for the Swedes . Alarm on and loud, as Argentina stayed out. Bielsa got his hands on the team, but without negotiating his position, as Crespo came in for Batistuta. No double 9. Ortega resorted to his old trick of exaggerating a foul and was awarded a penalty towards the end. The 10 fails, but Crespo grabs the rebound (obviously invading the box) to make it 1-1. There was no time for the epic. The players collapsed on the field. Their faces said it all. Immeasurable frustration.
As was evident, Marcelo Bielsa had to deal with the failure of the Argentinian team. “Football has the possibility that whoever is the best doesn’t always win. I think we were the best team in the group. We deserved to win comfortably against Sweden, we deserved a better result than we got against Nigeria and we didn’t deserve to lose against England… Football also has the possibility that whoever is better does not not necessarily win,” the strategist said.
He did not delete a difficult word to assimilate in sport. “It was a failure because we were able to get more than we got. Now, it also doesn’t seem right to me not to accompany the analysis with many other positive aspects. There is no doubt that they were the best team in the group,” he added.
Despite the coup, the DT was ratified by AFA boss Julio Grondona. Subsequently, Bielsa reached a Copa América final (2004) and won Olympic gold in Athens. And halfway through the 2006 Germany Qualifiers, he came off the bench citing a “lack of energy”. But this is another story.
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Source: Latercera
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
