Argentina 1-1 Bolivia (WC2014): Marcelomania!

November 11th, 2011 | by: Marty | Comments Off

I never doubted him. Well I sort of did, I said he’d spent too long on Shakhtar Donetsk’s bench watching the posse of young Brazilians go about their work (I suppose he’s sort of one of them, in a way), and that he’d lost the sharpness of his halcyon 2008 days for the national team. But just look at that goal today, starting far out on the wing, right, left, dribbled three defenders and ripped it in. He’s Bolivia’s first superstar since the Erwin Sanchez and Marco Etcheverry days. What a man, what a chest! (He’d ripped his shirt off post-goal.) Take a look here (at the goal, not the chest).

I’ll remind everyone that this was the second time in four months that we’ve obtained a draw against Argentina in Buenos Aires in a competitive international (after the opening match of the 2011 Copa America). They must still be reeling a bit after we did them in 2009, you know, the 6-1. Everyone else has brushed us aside of late, except them.

Geez Argentina’s got a couple problems, don’t they? Higuaín and Messi are the two best attackers in World Soccer (Higuaín the best goal-scorer, Messi obviously the best all-round player) but it shows: soccer, especially international soccer, is often about collectives.