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[size=+1]Argentina Struggle To Give The National Team An Identity - Roberto Ayala[/size]
Argentina's national side impressed in the early stages of the 2010 World Cup and were by many seen as one of the big favourites to win the tournament. However, the Albiceleste were hammered 4-0 by Germany in the quarter-final.
Former Milan defender and Argentinian international Roberto Ayala has made it clear that it's not easy for Argentina to perform, as the South Americans struggle to give the national team an identity.
"Some people say that Spain should be the model for Argentina, but they play the way they do because they have a team in their league who play in the same way: Barcelona. And because there are a lot of Barcelona players in the national team, that means that they can," said Ayala to fifa.com.
"Here it's harder. We've got world-class players who play all over the world and we don't quite manage to give the national team an identity. We need to go into games with the confidence that we can beat any team we come up against."
Ayala also took the time to discuss Argentina's star player, Lionel Messi.
"He is exactly how you see him from the outside. When we were part of the same squad in the Copa America 2007, he was still growing up, albeit at a frightening rate. He's quiet, keeps himself to himself, respectful.
"I suppose that as the years go by he's gaining in confidence. The thing is, it's difficult because that's his nature. Everybody wants him to be someone different, but that's how he is and you have to respect that."
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In addition to what Ayala said, there are also some various reasons such as the corrupted AFA which keep coming up with the false decisions as the reasons why the Argentina NT has been a failure in the last 2 decades, but let's just simplify it by saying that the Argentina NT suffers the most from lacking the "Team Chemistry" that is needed to succeed at the big stages. Ever since Maradona retired as the player the NT has lost that team spirit that they had when Diego was around. Ever since that, the most you can see in the NT is a bunch of individuals playing for themselves and not as a team.
"Argentina are not a team, they are a group of individuals. They must no longer insist on winning with the names on the backs of their shirts, but as a team." Ricardo La Volpe
The coaches incompetency, players fuck-ups and bad luck also had their share on this, but the main problem still remains the same: Team spirit and chemistry. As long as Argentina cannot bring that back to the team the failures will keep on coming.
I'd marry this guy
