Sport analysts and bookmakers rate Argentina as one
of the favourites to win the World Cup. Certainly,
strong “fundamentals” back these “projections”, as
the list of players at coach Bielsa’s disposal is endless
and includes great talents and international stars for
every single position on the field. On the forward
front, Argentina leads with some of the world’s
greatest strikers, such as Gabriel Batistuta (Roma,
Italy), Hernán Crespo (Lazio, Italy), Claudio López
(Lazio, Italy), Javier Saviola (Barcelona, Spain), and
Claudio Caniggia (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland). In
the midfield, the array of talent is outstanding,
including players such as Juan Sebastian VerĂłn
(Manchester United, England), Pablo Aimar
(Valencia, Spain), Javier Zanetti (Internazionale,
Italy), Juan Román Riquelme (Boca Juniors,
Argentina), Ariel Ortega (River Plate, Argentina),
and Marcelo Gallardo (Monaco, France). One of
these players will have the role of “creator-in-chief”
of the team that Diego Maradona masterfully
assumed in the past. At the back, resources available
include defenders such as Mauricio Pochettino (Paris
St Germain, France), Roberto Ayala (Valencia,
Spain), Juan Pablo SorĂn (Cruzeiro, Brazil), and
Walter Samuel (Roma, Italy), which should allowthe
Argentine coach to build a powerful defense.
Tension, nervousness and excitement are guaranteed
for Argentine fans in this World Cup. In the first
round, Argentina will face England, Sweden and
Nigeria in the so-called “Group of Death”. The match
between Argentina and England stands out as one of
the most exciting of the tournament due to the rivalry
and history of dramatic World Cup encounters
between these teams. The two nations have met three
times inWorld Cups before, in 1966, 1986 and 1998,
and delivered highly controversial matches.
Remarkably, in two of these occasions, the winner of
the match ended up winning the Cup. The first
encounter was in England in 1966, for a quarterfinal
match. Controversy began due to the improper
behaviour of the Argentine captain RatĂn, which
triggered a massive verbal reaction by the English
fans present at the stadium. England won by a single
goal. The two teamsmet for the second time in 1986
in Mexico in another quarterfinal contest. Argentina,
under the leadership of Diego Maradona, who scored
the two Argentine goals, managed to win by 2-1.
Diego Maradona scored the first goal with his hand
without the referee noticing. Later on,Maradonasaid
that it had been the “hand of God” that had scored the
goal, which the English have never forgotten or
forgiven to this day. In his second goal, Maradona
displayed all his talent and brilliance, picking up the
ball inside the Argentine half and dribbling all the
way before slotting it in the English goal. The last
timeArgentina and England played each otherwas in
the second round in France 1998. The feelings
running prior to the match were passionate. After a
highly contested match, Argentina won on penalties
after extra time, and of course, an incident involving a
certain Mr Beckham stole the headlines.
Beyond the first round, should Argentina win the
group, it could meet neighbouring arch rival Uruguay
in the second round, who will probably come second
in Group A. Whereas if Argentina were to qualify in
second place, it could face France, the favourite team
to win Group A. Third or fourth place in the group
would send the team back home much earlier than
most Argentines would accept.
FOOTBALL IN ARGENTINA
Football is the most popular sport in the country and
the World Cup is a major event. When the national
team plays, the country almost paralyses, with
sentiment ranging from euphoria when it wins to
deep depression when it loses.
The local league is highly competitive. Boca Juniors
and River Plate are the most popular teams. In the
past years, Argentina became a major producer of
football players for export. Today, several Argentine
players populate the major European leagues.
Argentina has an extensive history of success in
international football tournaments. Local teams have
The World Cup and Economics 7 World Cup 2002
THE 2002 WORLD CUP
Argentina heads confidently to the 2002 World
Cup after comfortably winning the South
American qualifying group. In doing so, the
Argentine team, coached by Marcelo “el loco”
(“madman”) Bielsa produced 13 wins and 4 draws
in 18 matches, leaving behind its South American
arch-rivals Brazil and Uruguay. Presently,
Argentina stands second in FIFA’s latest world
ranking.
won several international tournaments, both at the
continental and intercontinental level. The national
team has won the FIFAWorld Cup in two occasions,
in 1978 and 1986, and has been the runner-up in
another two occasions, in 1930 and 1990. The
younger players have also performed brilliantly
recently, suggesting that Argentina will continue to
be a football “superpower” in coming years. The
national team has won the FIFA World Youth
Championship four times, in 1979, 1995, 1997 and
2001. In the Olympics, the football team has never
managed to win gold, but has won silver medals
twice, in 1926 and 1996. Finally, at the continental
level, Argentina’s performance has been impressive,
only equalled by neighbouring Uruguay. The
national team won the America Cup 14 times
between 1921 and 1993.
THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY
The 2002 World Cup finds Argentina in one of the
most severe economic crises in its history. The
economy has not been able to get out of a recession
that started shortly after the previous World Cup in
late 1998. At the beginning of the year, the
government abolished the 10-year old 1:1 peg of the
Peso to the US Dollar and established a floating FX
regime. Since then, the Peso has continuously
weakened against the US Dollar. As economic
activity plunges, unemployment climbs and tax
collection collapses, widening the fiscal gap. Real
GDPhas fallen in the past three years and looks set to
record the largest decline in a decade in 2002. As the
government, who has defaulted on public debt
obligations, has no access to credit, it covers its
expenses by issuing currency and bonds that play the
role of a quasi-currency. Inflation has picked up, and
should currency weakness spiral, the risk of
hyperinflation will be high.
THE STATE OF THE NATION
Economic crisis has brought along with it a great
deterioration of political and legal institutions.
Social unrest triggered the fall of two presidents in
late December. The legal protocol surrounding
presidential succession gave the country five
presidents in two weeks in late December and early
January. The current interim government, headed by
President Eduardo Duhalde, has the gigantic task of
rebuilding Argentina’s political, legal and economic
institutions, and of designing an economic program
to pull the economy out of recession and set the base
for sustainable growth.
Previous Appearances: 12;
1930, 1934, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1974, 1978, 1982,
1986, 1990, 1994, 1998
Honours
Winners: 1978, 1986
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