Jump to content

Argentina national football team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bob diablo (talk | contribs) at 03:28, 7 July 2007 (→World Cup 2006). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Argentina
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)Albicelestes
("White and Sky blue")
AssociationAsociación del Fútbol Argentino
ConfederationCONMEBOL (South America)
Head coachArgentina Alfio Basile
CaptainRoberto Ayala
Most capsRoberto Ayala (111)
Top scorerGabriel Batistuta (56)
Home stadiumEl Monumental
FIFA codeARG
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current5
Highest1 (March 2007)
Lowest24 (August 1996)
First international
Uruguay Uruguay 2 - 3 Argentina Argentina
(Montevideo, Uruguay; 16 May, 1901)
Biggest win
Argentina Argentina 12 - 0 Ecuador Ecuador
(Montevideo, Uruguay; 22 January, 1942)
Biggest defeat
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 6 - 1 Argentina Argentina
(Helsingborg, Sweden; 15 June, 1958)
Uruguay Uruguay 5 - 0 Argentina Argentina
(Guayaquil, Ecuador; 16 December, 1959)
Argentina Argentina 0 - 5 Colombia Colombia
(Buenos Aires, Argentina; 5 September, 1993)
World Cup
Appearances14 (first in 1930)
Best resultWinners, 1978 and 1986
Copa América
Appearances37 (first in 1916)
Best resultWinners, 1921, 1925, 1927,
1929, 1937, 1941, 1945,
1946, 1947, 1955, 1957,
1959, 1991, 1993
Confederations Cup
Appearances3 (first in 1992)
Best resultWinners, 1992
Olympic medal record
Men's football
Silver medal – second place 1928 Amsterdam Team
Silver medal – second place 1996 Atlanta Team
Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens Team

The Argentina national football team is the national football team of Argentina and is controlled by the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino also known by its abbreviation AFA.

Argentina is one of the most successful national football teams in the world, having won World Cups in 1978 and 1986.

Kit Evolution

1901-1910
1901-1910
1910-present

Historical achievements

La Selección, also known as the Albicelestes ("Light blue and whites"), has appeared in four World Cup finals, including the first final in 1930, which it lost 4-2 to Uruguay. Argentina won in their next final in 1978, beating the Netherlands 3-1; Argentina won again in 1986 (led by Diego Maradona), a 3-2 victory over West Germany. Their most recent final was in 1990, which they lost 1-0 to Germany by a much disputed penalty.

Argentina has been very successful in Copa América, winning it fourteen times and also winning the 'extra' South American Championships in 1941, 1945 and 1946.

Argentina Football also won six of the fourteen Pan American Games, winning in 1951, 1955, 1959, 1971, 1995 and 2003.

It also won the Confederations Cup and the Kirin Cup, both in 1992.

In March 2007, Argentina reached the top of the FIFA World Rankings for the first time.

FIFA World Cup record

Year Round Position GP W D* L GS GA
Uruguay 1930 Final 2 5 4 0 1 18 9
Italy 1934 Round 1 9 1 0 0 1 2 3
France 1938 Withdrew - - - - - - -
Brazil 1950 Withdrew - - - - - - -
Switzerland 1954 Withdrew - - - - - - -
Sweden 1958 Round 1 13 3 1 0 2 5 10
Chile 1962 Round 1 10 3 1 1 1 2 3
England 1966 Quarter-finals 5 3 2 1 1 4 2
Mexico 1970 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - -
West Germany 1974 Round 2 8 6 1 2 3 9 12
Argentina 1978 Champions 1 7 5 1 1 15 4
Spain 1982 Round 2 12 5 2 0 3 8 7
Mexico 1986 Champions 1 7 6 1 0 14 5
Italy 1990 Final 2 7 2 3 2 5 4
United States 1994 Round 2 9 4 2 0 2 8 6
France 1998 Quarter-finals 6 5 3 1 1 10 4
South KoreaJapan 2002 Round 1 18 3 1 1 1 2 2
Germany 2006 Quarter-finals 6 5 3 2 0 11 3
Total 14/18 2 Championships 65 33 13 19 113 74

*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Copa América record

     

Pan American Games record

 

Notable players

Managers

World Cup 2006

Argentina had been eliminated at the group stage at Korea/Japan 2002 FIFA World Cup, although they had been among the pre-tournament favourites. There was a high expectation of a better performance in the Germany 2006 edition of the competition.

Argentina won their opening game of the tournament beating Ivory Coast 2-1. Goals for Argentina came from Chelsea's Hernán Crespo and Sevilla's Javier Saviola. Argentina beat Serbia and Montenegro (16 June), winning 6-0, with Maxi Rodriguez (2), Cambiasso, Crespo, Tevez and Messi as scorers.

On June 24, in the round of sixteen, the Argentine team defeated Mexico in a thrilling come-from-behind 2-1 victory. The final goal was a noteworthy strike by Maxi Rodriguez in extra time, volleying a shot into the upper left corner of the net. In an official online poll by FIFA, this was voted the best goal of the World Cup [1](Esteban Cambiasso's goal against Serbia and Montenegro won the same title in a British televisionpoll[1])

On Friday June 30th, they faced hosts Germany. Roberto Ayala scored shortly after half-time to give the Argentines a 1-0 lead. Later, while jumping for a header, Germany's Miroslav Klose collided with goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri, injuring the latter in the chest and he had to be carried off of the field. Substitute keeper Leonardo Franco conceded Klose's equalizing header with 10 minutes to spare. Near the end of regular time, Juan Román Riquelme and Hernán Crespo were substituted off, and Pekerman was later criticized for taking two of his best players off. During the penalty shootout, Roberto Ayala and Esteban Cambiasso had their spot kicks saved by German keeper Jens Lehmann, while the Germans scored all of their penalty shots to win the shootout 4 - 2.

A brawl erupted between the Argentines and Germans after the game ended. Unused substitute Leandro Cufre was sent off for kicking Per Mertesacker, while Maxi Rodriguez hit Bastian Schweinsteiger from behind. Following an investigation of video evidence, FIFA doled out 4-game and 2-game suspensions for Cufre and Rodriguez, respectively. Germany's Torsten Frings was suspended for the semifinal match for punching Julio Ricardo Cruz.

Shortly after the elimination, coach José Pekerman resigned from his position. AFA appointed Alfio Basile, who had previously managed the national side during the 1994 World Cup, to the post from September 15, 2006.

Current Squad

The following players have been named in Argentina's squad for Copa América 2007 in Venezuela on 26 June until 15 July 2007.[2] Caps and goals as of July 5 2007, included against Paraguay.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Roberto Abbondanzieri (1972-08-19) August 19, 1972 (age 52) 35 0 Spain Getafe
12 1GK Juan Pablo Carrizo (1984-05-06) May 6, 1984 (age 40) 1 0 Argentina River Plate
22 1GK Agustín Orión (1981-06-26) June 26, 1981 (age 43) 0 0 Argentina San Lorenzo
2 2DF Roberto Ayala(c) (1973-04-14) April 14, 1973 (age 51) 112 7 Spain Villarreal
3 2DF Daniel Díaz (1979-03-13) March 13, 1979 (age 45) 4 0 Argentina Boca Juniors
4 2DF Hugo Ibarra (1974-04-01) April 1, 1974 (age 50) 8 0 Argentina Boca Juniors
6 2DF Gabriel Heinze (1978-04-19) April 19, 1978 (age 46) 37 1 England Manchester United
8 2DF Javier Zanetti (1973-08-10) August 10, 1973 (age 51) 108 5 Italy Internazionale
15 2DF Gabriel Milito (1980-09-07) September 7, 1980 (age 44) 23 0 Spain Real Zaragoza
17 2DF Nicolás Burdisso (1981-04-12) April 12, 1981 (age 43) 15 0 Italy Internazionale
5 3MF Fernando Gago (1986-04-10) April 10, 1986 (age 38) 5 0 Spain Real Madrid
10 3MF Juan Román Riquelme (1978-06-24) June 24, 1978 (age 46) 39 10 Spain Villarreal
13 3MF Lucho González (1981-01-19) January 19, 1981 (age 43) 37 5 Portugal Porto
14 3MF Javier Mascherano (1984-06-08) June 8, 1984 (age 40) 27 1 England Liverpool
16 3MF Pablo Aimar (1979-11-03) November 3, 1979 (age 45) 48 7 Spain Real Zaragoza
19 3MF Esteban Cambiasso (1980-08-18) August 18, 1980 (age 44) 33 3 Italy Internazionale
20 3MF Juan Sebastián Verón (1975-03-09) March 9, 1975 (age 49) 58 9 Argentina Estudiantes
7 4FW Rodrigo Palacio (1982-02-05) February 5, 1982 (age 42) 5 0 Argentina Boca Juniors
9 4FW Hernán Crespo (1975-07-05) July 5, 1975 (age 49) 64 35 Italy Internazionale
11 4FW Carlos Tévez (1984-02-05) February 5, 1984 (age 40) 32 7 England West Ham United
18 4FW Lionel Messi (1987-06-24) June 24, 1987 (age 37) 17 5 Spain Barcelona
21 4FW Diego Milito (1979-06-12) June 12, 1979 (age 45) 13 4 Spain Real Zaragoza

Previous squads

Forthcoming fixtures

A more comprehensive list of friendlies and official matches can be found here.

Date Against Location Match Type Players to be called
June 26 - July 15 Tournament Venezuela Venezuela Copa America 2007 See section above
August 22, 2007 Norway Norway Oslo, Norway Friendly To be determined
Sept. 12, 2007 Georgia (country) Georgia Georgia Match mentioned in FIFA web site but not recognized by AFA as of January 2007 To be determined
Nov. 11, 2007 Australia Australia MCG, Melbourne, Australia Friendly Majority first team players, on condition that Australia agreed to postpone match until November

Facts

1964 line-up for the Nations' Cup
  • Argentina and Uruguay hold the record for the most international matches played between two countries.[citation needed] The two teams have faced each other 161 times since 1901. The first match against Uruguay was the first official international match to be played outside Britain.[2]
  • Marcelo Trobbiani was a member of the Argentina world cup squad in 1986, but he only managed two minutes of play in the entire tournament, he came on in the 88th minute of the World Cup Final against West Germany. This two minutes of football equalled the world record for the shortest World Cup career set by Tunisia's Khemais Labidi in 1978.
  • In the 2006 World Cup Leandro Cufré was given a red card and sent off after the end of the Quarter Final game with Germany for his part in the brawl after the match, even though he was a substitute and had not participated in the game itself. It is the only occasion of a player being sent off in a FIFA World Cup match after the final whistle. Four years earlier, in the 2002 World Cup Claudio Caniggia was sent off for swearing at a match official from the substitute bench.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ BBC goal of the tournament
  2. ^ Although Canada and the United States played two internationals in 1885 and 1889, neither match is considered official; Canada did not play an official international until 1904 and the USA did not play one until 1916.

Template:Fb start

Template:FWC Winners Template:Fb end

Preceded by 1978 FIFA World Cup World Champions (first title)
June 25 1978 - July 11 1982 		Succeeded by
Preceded by 1986 FIFA World Cup World Champions (second title)
June 29 1986 - July 8 1990 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Argentina_national_football_team&oldid=143029896"