Argentina No 1 sad at plan to oust Bielsa
June 26, 2002
Argentina goalkeeper Pablo Cavallero has urged the football federation (AFA) to think again before replacing national-team coach Marcelo Bielsa with Nestor Pekerman.
Onefootball
Bielsa's contract expires at the end of June and his assistant looks sure to be handed the reins. But Cavallero insisted that the incumbent should get another chance, despite Argentina's first-round exit from the World Cup.
"Our failure hurts me a lot as the coach doesn't deserve something like this," he said. "Bielsa is a very honest person and if there were 35 million Bielsas in Argentina, we would have a better country.
"Everything Bielsa has done and won in football required major sacrifice and honesty. No matter what happened at the World Cup, Bielsa is always going to be remembered with fondness by all the players in that team.
"That's why it hurts us when stories are written that aren't true. He was the No 1 fan of Argentina. He gave his very best for the team and did his work perfectly.
"I hope he gets another chance because the players want revenge and he should be given the opportunity, too.
"We are the only ones who know exactly how he prepared the team for the World Cup and what he felt when we were knocked out. Nobody seems to care about that.
"Now it's easy to say anything about him and that not fair," added the Celta Vigo goalkeeper, who was surprisingly chosen ahead of German Burgos and Roberto Bonano for all of Argentina's games in the Far East.