Playing with a squad that we will obviously never see in an official game, Argentina beat Tahiti by 4-0 yesterday in a pre World Cup friendly game. Diego Maradona put together a team of players that are unlikely to appear in South Africa, as the majority of his usual picks are still competing in various European leagues. The friendly game was played in the city of Cutral Có in Argentina, a settlement located right in the middle of the desert.
The highlight of the night was Ariel Ortega’s return to the national team after more than seven years of absence. The 36 year old attacking midfielder of River Plate played for 60 minutes in the friendly game, and was cheered by all Argentinian fans. Maradona is about to announce the initial team selection for Argentina, and yesterday he wanted to test Martin Palermo’s condition that will most likely come to South Africa. Palermo scored Argentina’s second goal in the game, but was lightly injured in the face from….a fire cracker.
Facundo Bertoglio scored the first goal for Argentina, and in the second half of the game Sebastian Blanco made it 3-0 and again Bertoglio got another goal for a 4-0 final score. Tahiti is really not a tough opponent, especially for a team like Argentina, but Maradona needs to somehow prepare his team for next month’s World Cup. Or at least show that he is doing something except waiting for Lionel Messi to come and save the day for Argentina during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa this summer.
