We're hard to beat and getting better," say Argentina

June 4, 2002

IWAKI, Japan, June 4 (AFP) -- Argentina skipper Juan Sebastian Veron and coach Marcelo Bielsa said Tuesday they can go into Friday's crunch clash with England happy in the knowledge that they are getting better all the time.

The two-time World Cup winners will qualify from Group F if they beat England in Sapporo, a result which would leave Sven-Goran Eriksson's men on the opening-phase scrapheap.

A defeat against the team that knocked them out of the 1998 World Cup on penalties would blow a huge hole in English aspirations and mean that only a win over talented Nigeria in the final game would suffice for a place in the last 16.

Argentina have already cleared the obstacle posed by the Super Eagles while England could only draw with Sweden and Veron now wants to push his Manchester United team-mate David Beckham through the exit door.

"We can feel confident as we head for the match with England. It's going to be really hard for anyone to beat us and we can make things easier for ourselves in that we can still step up our own game a notch or two," said 27-year-old Veron, nicknamed 'La Brujita' or little witch.

England, who won their 1966 meeting with the South Americans on the way to winning their only World Cup, have far more painful recent memories having lost to Diego Maradona and company in 1986 before their shootout demise at Saint Etienne four years ago.

But while Veron has won plaudits for his international showings - though less so at Old Tarfford - he says that this Argentina side is solid across the board rather than having an individual star such as Maradona.

"I don't feel as if I am the leader of the gang, it's very difficult to be a leader in the sense that Maradona was," explains the former Lazio star, who started out at Boca Juniors before becoming a huge star in Italy.

Veron gives Bielsa, who has moulded the many talents at his disposal into a tough unit which romped through qualifying, the credit for the fact that the Argentines have for months been rated hot favourites alongside France to lift the trophy.

"The Maradona of this team is Bielsa," Veron says candidly.

Bielsa, meanwhile says he "admires the English players for their individuality and their conduct" - though that might raise a wry smile with those who remember Beckham's petulant kick at Diego Simeone which earned the Englishman a red card four years ago.

But that is the sort of passion this fixture tends to generate and is why defender Diego Placente, again set to replace the injured Roberto Ayala, called the tie "a derby in the Argentina versus Brazil mould."

Veron agrees - and goes further.

"This match is about more than the men on the pitch - it's also important in a historical context."

Eriksson has Beckham and Bielsa has Veron, who Beckham says could "destroy" England if he is allowed any space. Both men hold the key to their respective nations' hopes.