At this point, it was a do or die situation for Argentina. Their next match came at home against last place Peru. It was supposed to be a match that was sent from heaven. However, it was anything but that. The match which I'm sure took years off all of our lives. The match where HIGUAIN made his debut and scored for Argentina. The match where it was raining to the point where even the camera lenses were wet. The match where Peru equalised in the 89th minute. Yes, THAT match. The match where Martin PALERMO made up for his hattrick of penalty kick misses all those years ago and scored in the 92nd minute which resulted in Diego MARADONA doing a belly slide on the wet pitch.
Finally came the last match of the qualifiers against Uruguay. Both teams were in need of the points as automatic qualification was not secured for either country. Prior to that match, Argentina had not won in Montevideo in over 25 years. Yet, Diego MARADONA's men somehow, some way, through a Mario BOLATTI goal, defeated Uruguay 1-0 which sent Argentina to the World Cup. Of course that match was followed by an infamous quote by Diego MARADONA which I will not be posting!
There you have it. That is the road that is the World Cup qualifiers. It could be that hectic but hopefully it isn't for us. Lots of ups, lots of diving, I mean downs (sorry, was thinking of DI MARIA for a second). A lot of "un-expected" goal scorers which brought us crucial points, like Daniel DIAZ's goal against Colombia which secured our 3 points or PALACIO's only goal for the National Team against Ecuador.
A total of 50 players clocked minutes for Argentina at the last World Cup qualifiers with 14 of them scoring.
Carlos TEVEZ (1 goal)
Daniel DIAZ (1 goal)
Esteban CAMBIASSO (1 goal)
Gabriel MILITO (1 goal)
Gonzalo HIGUAIN (1 goal)
Jesus DATOLO (1 goal)
Juan RIQUELME (4 goals)
Lionel MESSI (4 goals)
Luis GONZALEZ (1 goal)
Mario BOLATTI (1 goal)
Martin PALERMO (1 goal)
Maxi RODRIGUEZ (1 goal)
Rodrigo PALACIO (1 goal)
Sergio AGUERO (4 goals)
Argentina finished the qualifiers with 8 wins (6 at home, 2 away), 4 draws (2 at home, 2 away) and 6 losses (1 at home, 5 away).
Finally came the last match of the qualifiers against Uruguay. Both teams were in need of the points as automatic qualification was not secured for either country. Prior to that match, Argentina had not won in Montevideo in over 25 years. Yet, Diego MARADONA's men somehow, some way, through a Mario BOLATTI goal, defeated Uruguay 1-0 which sent Argentina to the World Cup. Of course that match was followed by an infamous quote by Diego MARADONA which I will not be posting!
There you have it. That is the road that is the World Cup qualifiers. It could be that hectic but hopefully it isn't for us. Lots of ups, lots of diving, I mean downs (sorry, was thinking of DI MARIA for a second). A lot of "un-expected" goal scorers which brought us crucial points, like Daniel DIAZ's goal against Colombia which secured our 3 points or PALACIO's only goal for the National Team against Ecuador.
A total of 50 players clocked minutes for Argentina at the last World Cup qualifiers with 14 of them scoring.
Carlos TEVEZ (1 goal)
Daniel DIAZ (1 goal)
Esteban CAMBIASSO (1 goal)
Gabriel MILITO (1 goal)
Gonzalo HIGUAIN (1 goal)
Jesus DATOLO (1 goal)
Juan RIQUELME (4 goals)
Lionel MESSI (4 goals)
Luis GONZALEZ (1 goal)
Mario BOLATTI (1 goal)
Martin PALERMO (1 goal)
Maxi RODRIGUEZ (1 goal)
Rodrigo PALACIO (1 goal)
Sergio AGUERO (4 goals)
Argentina finished the qualifiers with 8 wins (6 at home, 2 away), 4 draws (2 at home, 2 away) and 6 losses (1 at home, 5 away).
