Juan Román Riquelme

[Metaphysical]

Didnt everything go wrong in 2006 when he came off? Harsh to make such a sweeping statement. Especially as no Argentina side has done jack shit in 20 years.

yeah but then a few months earlier he choked all semi-final vs. Arsenal (if not for Senna the Gooners woulda walked it) and then missed a penalty to cap it off.

and frankly the 2007 Copa America has to be the DEFINITIVE modern chokejob. he was probably the best player in the World at the time and Argentina were fucking the shit out of the tournament like Drogo did that blonde chick in Game of Thrones. some games he didn't even get above walking pace. then in the final vs. Brazil he cacked his kegs and Brazil bumrushed them to win 3-0.

what a plonker.

[Lemmi]

Brazil were better than Argentina all over, he had 3 players raping him the whole game his game is fairly limited when given that much attention, mostly due to his lack of pace.. not to mention the Argentina team played like they had all lost their dogs in a car accident after the own goal.

A penalty miss is a penalty miss, he was especially poor in the away leg but I'm still not a fan of castigating a player on the back of 3 games. He inspired Villareal to murder us at the Madrigal. Big fish, small pond is arguable but I think choker is overly harsh given his limited spotlight opportunities.

[Banana-Rama]

to be fair riquelme was by far the best player at world cup 2006, the idiot argentina manager subbed him off when he was running the game and argentina ended up losing from a winning position, i genuinely believe that argentina would of won world cup 2006 otherwise as i believe they were the best team at that tournament.

[VivaBarca]

to be fair riquelme was by far the best player at world cup 2006, the idiot argentina manager subbed him off when he was running the game and argentina ended up losing from a winning position, i genuinely believe that argentina would of won world cup 2006 otherwise as i believe they were the best team at that tournament.

Pekerman was his name, he also failed to put on Messi during that game. Of course it wasn't the Messi we see now but still could have turned the game around, instead Pekerman put on Cruz.

[bombayblue™]

Creativity and awesomeness aside, he was slow as fuck. Great? Yes!, One of the greatest ever? bah...

[Catalonian Devil]

Juan Román Riquelme: "Barça have the perfect team. It's the same with Spain. Most of the players are Barça players. Messi is the best player in the world. Iniesta is the best playmaker because he knows when to accelerate, when to brake, when to pull back, and when to make a dribble" [diario Olé]

[Worms]

to be fair riquelme was by far the best player at world cup 2006, the idiot argentina manager subbed him off when he was running the game and argentina ended up losing from a winning position, i genuinely believe that argentina would of won world cup 2006 otherwise as i believe they were the best team at that tournament.

[La Furia]

to be fair riquelme was by far the best player at world cup 2006, the idiot argentina manager subbed him off when he was running the game and argentina ended up losing from a winning position, i genuinely believe that argentina would of won world cup 2006 otherwise as i believe they were the best team at that tournament.

Pekerman an idiot? I'd take him over every coach Argentina has had since then, combined.

Trying to grind it out was a terrible mistake, and Pekerman's subs choices were poor but everyone always forgets the following:
-Pato (not the Brazilian) was injured, costing Argentina a sub and leading to an inferior keeper playing.
-Riquelme was out of it of sorts when he was subbed. Replacing him with Cambiasso and trying to shut up shop that early however, was not a good call.

While the Crespo-Cruz sub was baffling, Cruz did make his penalty kick at least. And we really need to stop with the "Messi would have saved them!" propaganda, Messi wouldn't have been a bad choice for a sub but Saviola or Aimar would have made as much sense coming on. Cambiasso for Riquelme wouldn't have been nearly as bad had Pekerman kept one sub for emergency purposes, as results might have been different had there been the option to bring on Messi/Savioa/Aimar after the Klose equalizer. Of course had Pato not gotten injured everything would have been much more clear cut...