Email
Print
Digg This
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Argentina coach Alfio Basile's downfall was blamed on Friday on his losing touch with his squad, his belief that talent alone was enough and his over dependence on enigmatic playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme.
San Lorenzo's Miguel Angel Russo, Olympic gold-medal winning coach Sergio Batista and former captain Diego Simeone were listed as the favourites to replace the gravel-voiced Basile, who quit on Thursday night.
His surprise resignation came 24 hours after a 1-0 defeat to Chile in a World Cup qualifier.
Argentina's next game is a friendly in Scotland next month, for which Batista may be in charge on a caretaker basis, and their next World Cup qualifier is not until next March, when they host Venezuela.
Although Argentina had been struggling all year to live up to their potential, Basile's decision still came out of the blue as there had been no previous indication that his job was in danger.
He was only the second Argentina coach since 1978 to fail to complete the four-year cycle which ends with the World Cup, Marcelo Bielsa -- now coach of Chile -- having resigned in 2004.
Basile always wanted his players to express themselves on the field but in the end may have gone too far in his belief that talent alone would win matches.
Argentina media said on Friday that Basile had slowly been losing the confidence of his squad, especially the younger players such as Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero.
The European-based players found his training methods excessively laid back, reports said.
GENERATION GAP
"Used to the rigid planning and the attention to detail of European coaches, a lot of players couldn't get to grips with the Basile style," said the sports daily Ole.
"Some wanted more demands made of them, others wanted more analysis of their opponents."
The daily newspaper La Nacion added that the 64-year-old had been the victim of a generation gap.
"There are young players who are from a markedly different generation to Basile," wrote columnist Cristian Grosso. "Basile didn't seduce the Play Station generation."
Basile's lack of attention to detail was all too evident when Juan Roman Riquelme, around whom he built the team, picked up a second yellow card of the qualifying tournament in Saturday's 2-1 win against Uruguay and was suspended for the visit to Chile.
Riquelme said afterwards that he did not even know he was on a yellow card, something which critics said Basile should have made clear before the game.
The dependence on Riquelme, who started in the first nine of Argentina's World Cup qualifiers before being suspended, was another sticking point.
Critics said that when Riquelme played badly, such as last year's Copa America final against Brazil when Argentina lost 3-0, he dragged the rest of the team down with him. When he didn't play, Basile had no alternative scheme.
"Basile gave him all the prerogatives, he considered him virtually untouchable and he made him the owner of the team," said Miguel Angel Bertolotto, columnist in the daily Clarin. "In other words, it was Riquelme and 10 more."
"But when Riquelme went missing in action in the Copa America final, there was no plan B."
