Diego Maradona, stunned to find himself in serious danger of failing to take Argentina to the World Cup, vowed on Wednesday to fight on as he watched Paraguay join Brazil in South Africa next year.
“I will not be broken,” Maradona said after Argentina’s 1-0 loss to Paraguay in Asuncion left his side in fifth place in the 10-nation South American group.
Argentina, a weak sum of talented parts, were overtaken in fourth place by Ecuador, who won 3-1 away to a Bolivia team already out of the running.
Chile are also above Argentina in third but were unable to secure their qualification when they lost 4-2 to leaders Brazil’s second string team in Salvador.
The top four automatically qualify for the finals while the scrap for the fifth-place playoff berth also involves Uruguay, who beat Colombia 3-1 in Montevideo, and Venezuela, both with 21 points, and the Colombians on 20. Venezuela beat bottom team Peru 3-1 at home.
“I didn’t imagine being in this position, I’d like to be higher but that’s our reality and I’m going to face it. We still have a chance,” Maradona told reporters.
He said going into the next match at home to Peru next month without playmaker Juan Sebastian Veron, who was sent off early in the second half in Asuncion, “doesn’t change anything.
JIGSAW
“We must start to do the jigsaw puzzle again but Argentina has the players to get us out of this ... we had lots of injured players but now we hope to recover them,” Maradona said.
He praised Paraguay’s scorer Nelson Haedo and fellow striker Salvador Cabanas, who have five goals apiece in the qualifiers, for their fine performance.
Paraguay’s Argentine coach Gerardo Martino said: “It was a long time since Paraguay had played as well as in the first 45 minutes today.”
“We had great motivation to play against Argentina because they are great rivals and it’s something special,” he said.
While Maradona resorted to sending out as substitutes 36-year-old new cap Rolando Schiavi in defense and 35-year-old striker Martin Palermo, who made his last appearance for Argentina in 1999, Dunga revelled in Brazil’s strength in depth.
HUSH
“When the score was 2-2 [after Chile’s equalizer] the crowd hushed but the team knew how to react,” he said of his team’s victory secured with a hat-trick by 25-year-old striker Nilmar.
“Today we have players who really want to play in the Brazil team, committed players. They turned the situation round themselves,” Brazil’s coach told reporters.
He said Nilmar, who seized his chance in the absence of five first-choice players through suspension and injury, was “a player who carries out what you ask him to do and a little more too.”
Chile’s Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa said his side, like so many when they come up against Dunga’s Brazil, succumbed to counter-attacks when they were on top.
“In two breaks they turned over the result when conditions were good for us,” he said, adding that a win away to Colombia or at home to Ecuador in their last matches would see Chile through to their first World Cup since 1998.
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Cycling great Marianne Vos won the opening stage of the women’s Tour de France with a brilliant late attack on Saturday. The 38-year-old Dutchwoman overtook her Visma–Lease a Bike teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prevot approaching the line, and then held off Mauritian rider Kim Le Court in the closing meters of a grueling uphill finish. Ferrand-Prevot looked set to win the stage, but the Frenchwoman attacked too early from 600m and could not withstand the late surge from Vos, who punched the air with her left fist as she crossed the line. Moments later, Vos hugged an exhausted-looking Ferrand-Prevot, the Paris-Roubaix winner. “I didn’t know if
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
RSS