Batigol vows to slay Sweden to save Argentine campaign
June 8, 2002
NARAHA, Japan, June 8 (AFP) -- Argentine striker Gabriel Batistuta on Saturday vowed to slay Sweden and keep the two-time world champions in the World Cup, despite their painful loss to England.
Batistuta doesn't expect coach Marcelo Bielsa to panic and change the system against the Swedes in Miyagi next Wednesday even though anything less than a win will send the South Americans packing - unless England lose to Nigeria.
"It'll be like a final for us. There's no room to hide - we must all stand up and be counted; the players and the coaching staff alike," said 'Batigol'.
"This match will be the most important one we have played anywhere in the past two years," added the 33-year-old AS Roma striker - who desperately wants to prolong an international career which has yielded a national record 56 goals.
"I don't want Wednesday to be my last cap for the side. I want to stick around. Carrying on is the only thought which occupies my mind. We don't want it all to end after three games - we have something much bigger in mind," said Batistuta at the team's J-Village headquarters in Naraha.
"We came over here to get to the final and if we don't win Wednesday it's all over - so you can say this is our final," he added.
"I am convinced we can go further - but in football anything is possible. The Swedes are tough and won't give anything away," said Batistuta, whose ten goals in World Cup matches make him the sixth-highest scorer in the competition's history.
He insisted it would be folly for Bielsa to change his system and play him alongside Hernan Crespo, his habitual rival for the one striker's position.
"It would be irrational to change the system that Marcelo Bielsa has deployed for the past four years," he told reporters.
Batistuta was ineffective before being hauled off against England to make way on the hour for Crespo, who likewise made no headway against England's solid defence on Friday in Sapporo.
Crespo has netted 17 goals in 35 appearances for Argentina, including nine in the qualifiers, but Bielsa is refusing to throw caution to the wind against Sweden and play both his strikers, despite calls from fans for him to do just that.
Meanwhile, Argentine legend Diego Maradona is hoping to give his countrymen some support in time for Wednesday's game after being told by Japanese authorities that he will be allowed in the country.
He had earlier refused a visa for Japan because of his criminal record for drug offences.