More misery for Maradona

Even though Argentina manager Diego Maradona is still banned from any footballing action from FIFA, the man was at Camp Nou yesterday to witness yet another defeat for his team.

Argentina played a friendly match against a very unusual team. Catalonia's national team only gets together twice a year near the Christmas period.

Having the luxury of boasting Barcelona and Spain stars Victor Valdes, Xavi, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol and other, the team, lead by the legenday Dutchman, three-times European Footballer of the Year Johan Cruyff, was too strong to handle for a make shift Argentina team.

Diego Pozo, Cristian Alvarez (Eduardo Salvio), Martin Demichelis, Nicolas Otamendi (Nicolas Pareja), Emiliano Papa (Jesus Datolo), Javier Pastore, Mario Bolatti, Fernando Gago (Ever Banega), Angel Di María, Gonzalo Higuain (Martin Palermo) and Ezequiel Lavezzi, was the Argie line-up.

The match ended 4-2. After a slow start, with a very easy and laid back attitude from both of the teams, the match came to life in the 2nd half. Catalonia's Sergio Garcia wasn't marked properly and the Real Betis man opened the scoring in the 43th minute. After the break, it was soon 2-0, with Bojan, who's still hoping to nail a place in Spain's World Cup squad, scoring after a brilliant individual run from midfield. Javier Pastore pulled one back in the 62nd minute, but seven minutes later Catalonia again lead by two goals, when Sergio Gonzalez (Deportivo) scored a penalty. Benfica's Angel di Maria, who's linked with a switch to Manchester United, scored in the 71st minute to make the scoring board more respectable, but Espanyol's Moises Hurtado soon after, in the 74th minute to me exact, but the result out of doubt and made it 4-2. There were chances for both near the end, but neither could capitalise them.



So a lot to think about for Maradona and his assistant Hector Enrique, who was in charge of this match. Even though it wasn't the first selection, the team lacks defensively. Hector Enrique said: "We have to work hard on defense. I do not know if it is serious, but four goals is too much. At the World Cup we have to be much more careful". And while there was some improvement in attacking play, the percentage of chances converted was low. But at least that's the positive change from recent matches. In past months the team even hasn't created enough goalscoring opportunities to get on the score sheet.