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Unthinkable
The Barcelona star was expected to help Argentina win their first major title in 18 years. Instead, the Gauchos must defeat what amounts to a second-string Costa Rica team Monday. A loss and Argentina will almost surely fail to make the knockout stage, unthinkable for the host country, which views itself among football's top half-dozen powers.
Costa Rica and Mexico are using mostly under-23 Olympic-style squads in this tournament because they are not part of the South American confederation and are playing as guests teams to boost the field to 12. Their full-strength teams played in the Gold Cup last month in the United States.
"Barcelona is another story," his father added. "It's a team that's been together for four years. The (Argentine) national team cannot match that. Playing in the Copa America at home in your own country is terrible pressure."
Messi walked through a light training session yesterday, nursing a sore right ankle. He will play Monday, but he will have different teammates.
"I'm think of changing the system," Batista said in a column yesterday for the newspaper Clarin. "Messi is going to be the playmaker and play very close to his forwards."
Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2.../sports93.html
The idea being to make him more a facilitator of TEAM play - aims and goals. ...rather than being asked to be the goalscorer.
...if he becomes the 'distributor', as I think that is the role being asked of him...he should turn this Argentina team around. ...a by-product would be a more selfless player who would by such an act -- horrors of horrors
-- turn around his own play for his national team. Hey he may even as a result find himself a recipient of the 'give and thou shalt receive'...start finding himself in goalscoring positions... That type display would have it then become a role model for coaches of our REGGAE BOYZ - i.e. selfless passer and mover/mover and passer!
TEAM all the way!!!!