Argentina - Spain

By Rodolfo Zapata

The Argentine coach of Sunshine Stars FC in Nigeria, Rodolfo Zapata is one of

the international greatest coaches, known for inspiring the Argentina and

Nigeria National Teams to work as a team.
He has told allnigeriasoccer.com that Argentina need to use past mistakes as

learning tools.
Here are his winning strategies that inspire change. Motivate teamwork and

reveal the winner within us all:
Teamwork is the essence of life. Argentina National Team still can not find

the "path to follow"...
After a very poor participation in South Africa 2010, Argentina do not have a

serious plan for the future.
We need to learn from the past, but don't live in it. Executive Committee

keep making mistakes for the past 20 years.
Maradona Yes? Maradona No? After a woeful performance in the last World Cup,

Diego Maradona resigned his position as the Head Coach of Argentina.

We all know the emotional problems that Maradona has. Argentina National Team

showed the same problems of instability in the world cup. They beat opponents

that they "must" beat (Nigeria, Greece, Korea and Mexico), and they lost 4-0

to the first serious rival in the World Cup (Germany).

After that, Board Members appointed Sergio Batista as temporary coach. Prior

to this position, Batista was Head Coach of Argentina's U20 National Team. He

has not done a proper job but did not promote new talents.

On September 7, Argentina will play a friendly game against Spain in Buenos

Aires (Argentina). In order to play against the World Champion, Batista

committed a big mistake by calling players like Zanetti, Cambiasso, Heinze,

among others.
Why does he need to call players near or above 30 years for a friendly match?

There is no organization or a serious plan. Zanetti is 37 years old and he

will not have a chance to participate in Brazil 2014. The same goes for

players like Riquelme, Milito,Samuel, etc.
So why not give opportunities to young talents to showcase their talents in

the national team?
The major problem is that Argentina has no young players coming up through the

ranks again. This is the reason why I say that unfortunately Argentine soccer

has no future.
Something different could happen in Nigeria, where there are very many good

talents. So many exciting young prospects in the big leagues in Europe and

also playing locally.
It is time that players like Yobo, Kanu, Rabiu Afolabi, Shittu, Utaka, Odiah,

Yakubu, Uche and Etuhu make way for the young players. We should start

planning for Brazil 2014 now, as it's done in Europe.

The problem in the Super Eagles is the lack of organization. Nigeria should

have a serious plan. They should give priority to the Home Based National

Team until December 2012.
After this period, Nigeria will know if local players can play at competitive

level, and then incorporate foreign talents to the National Team.

Ahmed Musa, Osas Idehen, Daniel Adejo, Lukman Haruna, John Obi Mikel, Harmony

Ikande, Victor Obinna,Muhammad Shagari, Victor Anichebe, Solomon Okpako, Terna

Suswan, Sani Emmanuel, Fortune Chukwudi, Deji Joel and Ramon Azeez are the

future Super Eagles.
There are so many potential Super Eagles players waiting to answer the

national call. Nigeria needs players who are proud to defend the national

colours.
As coaches, we need to take this Eagles and teach them to fly in formation...

Rodolfo Zapata
Head Coach, Sunshine Stars FC (Nigeria)
http://www.rolozapata.com
http://allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=2574