Argentina face consequences of World Cup exit

June 16, 2002

OITA, Japan (Reuters) - As England reached the World Cup quarter-finals and Sweden attempted to join them in their second round match against Senegal on Sunday, their group victims Argentina returned home with their tails between their legs.

Argentina's "Sweden" in their soccer history is like Napoleon's Waterloo and coach Marcelo Bielsa and his team faced a mountain of criticism following their shock early elimination.

But at Buenos Aires' Ezeiza airport there was none of vilification and rotten eggs and tomatoes from fans that greeted the Argentine team returning from Sweden in 1958 after a humiliating first round exit when the country expected them, like now, to vie for the title.

Just a small group of about 200 fans mainly from Bielsa's home town of Rosario were there to express their support and hand him two letters that brought tears to his eyes.

Pre-tournament favourites again after titles in 1978 and 1986, Argentina made a shock exit when they could only draw 1-1 with Sweden in their last match in the so-called Group of Death in which they had also lost 1-0 to England following a solitary 1-0 victory over Nigeria.

Heads may roll but with the country immersed in its worst economic and social crisis, this hardly seems a priority. The chance for a little joy amid the domestic gloom gone, Argentines are left again facing cold reality.

Argentine Football Association (AFA) president Julio Grondona has said he would like Bielsa to stay on, expressing faith in his methods. But he has not spoken formally to Bielsa.

The names of possible successors have been circulating in the media, like ex-Boca Juniors coach Carlos Bianchi, Inter Milan's Hector Cup and former captain Oscar Ruggeri, said to be close to Grondona.

"My contract ends on June 30. So far, no-one has asked me to stay on, if not I'd be studying it," Bielsa said on his return to Buenos Aires at the weekend.

Bielsa said the fact that he was owed money by the AFA - wages and bonuses from the qualifiers -- had not interfered in his work.

"I would like to make it clear that I didn't made demands over an unpaid debt by the AFA, but rather I wanted the facts to be known (before leaving for the Korea/Japan tournament). I never demanded payment," he told reporters at Ezeiza.

Bielsa's contract in late 1998 was agreed when the Argentine peso was on a par with the U.S. dollar. The peso is now nearly four times weaker since it was floated in December.

The AFA has been unable to settle the debt because of the economic crisis and will find it no easier on less World Cup income than expected.

TRAINER'S FAULT

Bielsa defended his players, saying: "If I have to put a tag on our performance, it's 'failure'. If what you're looking for is someone responsible and to finish with this, that man is the coach."

But he argued that deeper analysis of Argentina's failure showed only that the team lacked finishing and luck.

He said it had not been wrong to stick with tactics that had given Argentina great success during the 18-match South American qualifying campaign that they won at a canter.

"Football is a sport in which the winners are not always those who deserve it and 80 percent of the time we played in the three matches was played in our opponents' half," Bielsa said.

He defended his decision not to play strikers Gabriel Batistuta and Hernan Crespo together.

"I thought about putting them in together, but I analysed the options: We created 15 goal chances and the problem was not going to get solved with another striker."

Playmaker Juan Sebastian Veron, arguably the team's biggest disappointment in terms of his performances in the qualifiers and what was expected of him in the finals, said: "I'm left with a (footballing) debt to pay that I'm not sure if one day I'll be able to settle."