Alvarez is not afraid of Batistuta
Oct 13th, 99
By Alejandro
The coach of the Colombian national soccer team, Javier Alvarez, said that he is not afraid of striker Gabriel Batistuta, whom his pupils will have to confront this Wednesday in a friendly match against Argentina.
"He is a good player, just like any other in the Argentinian team, but nothing more than that", said the coach upon his arrival to Buenos Aires. "We are not afraid, we just respect them", he clarified. Alvarez stated that Colombia won't have any troubles to go through a generational change.
"We have players of a very high level all over the world to create a powerful team".
The main novelty on the Colombian's arrival was the absence of striker Ivan Valenciano, who couldn't leave his country for legal problems. Valenciano didn't pay a debt of 12.500 US dollars to resolve a suit against him for late payement of the meals of an extramarital son. The coach also said that the match "is very important for us, because Argentina is one of the powerful teams of the continent and a test for us to know how we are for the 2002 World Cup Playoffs".
SoccerAge