Comments on: Argentina 1 – 1 Ecuador

By: Day1star

Day1star — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:51:05 +0000

In all honesty, i don’t think Basile should have played him, a half fit Riqueme is not good for the team because they rely on him to make the passes, and last night his game was really off.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:42:17 +0000

Riquelme has been pretty poor this season. His fitness was subpar and I still don’t think he’s fully recovered from his thigh problem.

By: Day1star

Day1star — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:25:06 +0000

I haven’t been able to watch him all year, coz the matches are at really late times, but i’ve managed to watch some of the games in the Copa Libertadores and i thought he played pretty well, can’t say about the last game in that competition coz i fell asleep.

By: Day1star

Day1star — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:22:12 +0000

Actually both Riquelme and Aguero were ill with stomache complaints just a couple of days ago.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:09:22 +0000

I think the central question that Basile has to answer is whether he is going to build the Argentina team around Riquelme or around Messi. For me the two of them together just doesn’t really work. I think that come the qualifiers this fall we could finally see that change to Messi come about.

If you replace Riquelme with Cruz and have Zanetti play at rightback you have a much more dangerous team.

By: Johnny

Johnny — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:50:04 +0000

I’m a big fan of Riquelme, but he has been subpar for awhile now, at least for him. Except for the deflected free kick for a goal a few weeks ago, he also has not been his usual lethal self on set pieces either. But, he is Riquelme, and so could all of a sudden tear it up at anytime.

By: justin

justin — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:37:17 +0000

Actually his illness was a couple of days before the Fluminense game, which was a couple of weeks ago. Have you been watching him all year? He hasn’t had a genuinely good run of form since last season’s Libertadores.

By: Day1star

Day1star — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:31:36 +0000

C’mon guys it’s just one game, he was ill a couple of days prior to this match, which might have some bearing on his game. The pitch wasn’t good. And the whole team lacked pace apart from the front two, plus they weren’t getting the ball up the pitch fast enough.

By: justin

justin — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:19:52 +0000

I wouldn’t expect him to have a very long career, given his general lack of enthusiasm for training and fitness. And he started very young, so I think the end may be somewhat near, but I don’t think it’s now, or even in the next couple of years.

By: chris leonard

chris leonard — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:02:26 +0000

I am a huge fan of Riquelme but most of his performances in the Clausura and Copa have been poor.

Furthermore, his personality is so odd. Over time, I became increasingly afraid of the worst case scenario: that he gives up on football, forever. Is that happening right now? I hope not.