Argentina: a national team overwhelmed by the decadence of its soccer

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It has not won anything in majors for years and its players, except Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero, are not among the best: the Argentinian national team is in crisis

Perhaps the most curious thing about the difficult situation that Argentinian soccer is experiencing is its 'decadence'. Why do we talk of decadence when Argentina was runner-up in the 2014 Brazil World Cup and eighth finalist in the Russian edition of 2018 (lost to champion France) and, in turn, collected two consecutive runners-up in the Copa America in 2015 and 2016? All that without mentioning that it reached the quarterfinals in the 2010 World Cup, according to Marca.

Leer en español: Una Argentina abrumada por la decadencia de su fútbol

The aforementioned results could well be mentioning one of the best selections in the world, but the reproaches are not based on those results, but how they were reached. Uncertainty, bad games, lack of football, lack of goals and defeats against teams with little soccer tradition are some of the reasons why the Argentinian team is in the eye of the hurricane. However, the reasons can be found outside the sporting venues.

Economic reasons

According to El Economista, Argentinian soccer has been affected by the economic crisis that this country has faced after the scandal of the vulture funds. For example, this same newspaper pointed out that the investments in the Argentinian clubs are decreasing more and more: " For the 2018-2019 season, the Argentinian clubs invested 52.5 million dollars in player signings, just 43% of the investment amount of the previous season, when the expense in hirings was located in 121.7 million dollars".

The problem goes deeper. The devaluation of the Argentine peso in contrast with the dollar has triggered a flight of talented player abroad. As the sports lawyer said to El Economista, "In this stage of financial reorganization, surely there will be an emigration of players because they are clearly going to be tempted by more economically powerful markets"

The violence

Soccer violence has become a routine in Argentina. You only need to see the events that took place in the Copa Libertadores between Boca Juniors and River Plate or the Copa Argentina, where Newell's Old Boys fans staged embarrassing incidents in March, as reported by Univisión.

In addition, as the journalist Alejandro Fabbri told the Revista Cabal, "The great problems of Argentinian soccer are the country's major problems. In other words, soccer cannot be separated from what the country is." For this reason, violence does not help in the least in the development of good soccer, in order to build a solid selection with continuity.

Leadership?

In Argentinian society, it has been falsely promoted a 'renewal' in the upper management of the AFA. As Diario Cabal explained, there is no such renovation, it is the same structure with different names.

This newspaper affirmed that " First, Tapia is AFA's president because he is the son-in-law of Moyano, a millionaire. Second, because he is a partner of Angelici, an associate of Boca. If not, they would not have allowed him to be in charge. I mean, he's a guy who worked for the Promotion, but he runs a nonexistent club, which he's not even a fan of. This is not new." Is it a coincidence that the AFA has the same problems of corruption that the Argentin government has had with Cristina Kirchner and Mauricio Macri? It seems that the answer is no.

Read also: Why the South American national teams have their heads down?

Is this a reflection of their bad performance?

For fans who can not see beyond sports reasons, everything is minimized to names: "the fault is Messi, Di Maria, Higuain, Dybala, Aguero or Armani" would say several. However, not all mistakes can be explained on the soccer fields.

For example, Radio Cooperativa de Argentina exposes that the crisis of the Argentine national team can be seen in the minor teams, that is, in the U17 and U20. The times of Jose Pekerman passed, and the most winning team in the world in this competition does not see the light at the end of the tunnel, coincidence?

LatinAmerican Post | Miguel Díaz

Translated from "Una Argentina abrumada por la decadencia de su fútbol"