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Argentina Team Information

Squad Coach: Daniel Passarella Previous World Cups: 11 (1930, 1934, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994) Best Finish: World Cup Champion (1978, 1986) Current World Ranking: 5 Colours: White, Blue and Black Population: 34,525,000 Capital: Buenos Aires   In Argentina, football has been hugely popular since the first matches played there between immigrants and English sailors back in 1867. British teacher, Alexander Watson Hutton, later found the English High School, attended by the eight Brown brothers. They formed the backbone of the famous Alumni team, which won the embryonic league championship 10 times in 12 seasons at the start of the century. Alumni gave birth to the quintessentially Argentine playing style based on creativity, inspiration and technical brilliance. More and more clubs emerged, including present day giants Boca Juniors and River Plate, supported by millions of fans. But, Argentina had to wait more than 70 years before they finally captured the top prize of all. The hour of glory arrived in 1978, when, as hosts, the chain-smoking Cesar Menotti's side lifted the trophy. A second title followed in Mexico in 1986. Those title wins were a late homage to the talented side of the 1940s and 1950s which contained Jose Manuel Moreno, then considered as possibly the most gifted player in the world. Moreno and the other talents which fed off him allowed Argentina to dominate South America football. But, the World Cup brought much disappointment with poor showings in Sweden 1958 and Chile 1962, before an over-physical side made a controversial exit in England in 1966. At club level, Argentina had a run of success with the likes of Racing Club, Boca Juniors, Estudiantes, Independiente and Velez Sarsfield winning a clutch of Intercontinental Cups. The 80s were dominated by the arrival on the scene of the greatest Argentine player ever, Diego Armando Maradona. Maradona propelled his country to success in the under-20 world championship in Japan in 1979, then starred as Argentina won the 1986 World Cup in Mexico but then lost the 1990 final in Italy. He was sent home in disgrace from the 1994 tournament in the United-States after being caught doping.

Argentina performance at France 98

Group H
Team	W	L	D	F/A	Pts
Argentina	3	0	0	7/0	9
Croatia	2	1	0	4/2	6
Jamaica	1	2	0	3/9	3
Japan	0	3	0	1/4	0

Date		Venue	Time (BST)
June 14	Argentina 1, Japan 0 Croatia 3, Jamaica 1	Toulouse Lens	1.30pm 8pm
June 20	Croatia 1, Japan 0	Nantes	1.30pm
June 21	Argentina 5, Jamaica 0	Paris	4.30pm
June 26	Jamaica 2, Japan 1 Argentina 1, Croatia 0	Lyon Bordeaux	3pm 3pm

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Diego Maradona: "Argentina didn't 'feel' the match"

What do you think about the World Cup 98 in France, from the point of view of the atmosphere and the matches?

I think the organisation is very good. The only problem was that ticketing. I think for the future that will have to be improved. As for the matches, it's not the best World Cup, but it's not the worst either. In general there is a good level of play.

 

Has one team or player particularly impressed you?

No, not any of the teams. The players that have most impressed me are OWEN (ENGLAND, 20), BERGKAMP (NETHERLANDS, 8), and RIVALDO (BRAZIL, 10) who've had an excellent World Cup.

 

What do you think about the ARGENTINA team?

We didn't respect our origins nor our traditional style of play. ARGENTINA has tried to become a 'physical' European style team, but is not able to choose between a physical game and technical skill. Today, we were disguised as Germans and the NETHERLANDS as Argentineans. But you can say that the NETHERLANDS taught us an important lesson during this match.

 

What do you think of the FRANCE team?

I think the championship is tailor made for FRANCE. They could face some problems with BRAZIL, but I think, when it comes down to it, FRANCE will be World Champions.

 

Which French players have impressed you the most?

ZIDANE (10), and of course one can't forget the younger players such as HENRY (12) and TREZEGUET (20), who've shown they can keep their cool and showed good strength of character during the penalty shoot-out against ITALY.

 

Do you think you will return to the world of football?

Yes. I'd like to coach a team. What would be really nice would be to end my career as coach for an English club.

 

Can the Argentinean players go home with their heads held high?

From a physical point of view, yes, but not from a technical point of view. Today, we played like, for example, a German team. You have to 'feel' football, and today, ARGENTINA didn't 'feel' the match.

 

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ALL-TIME WORLD CUP TEAM RANKING

Paris, 12 July 1998 -

 

ALL-TIME WORLD CUP TEAM RANKING
	Team	Points	Matches	W	D	L	GF	GA	Goal diff
1	Brazil	120	80	53	14	13	173	78	95
2	Germany FR	107	78	45	17	16	162	103	59
3	Italy	92	66	38	16	12	105	62	43
4	Argentina	68	57	29	10	18	100	69	31
5	England	53	45	20	13	12	62	42	20
6	France	48	41	21	6	14	86	58	28
7	Spain	42	40	16	10	14	61	48	13
8	Yugoslavia	40	37	16	8	13	60	46	14
9	Uruguay	38	37	15	8	14	61	52	9
10	USSR/Russia	38	34	16	6	12	60	40	20
11	Sweden	37	38	14	9	15	66	60	6
12	Netherlands	37	31	14	9	9	56	36	20
13	Hungary	33	32	15	3	14	87	57	30
14	Poland	31	25	13	5	7	39	29	10
15	Austria	28	29	12	4	13	43	47	-4
16	Czechoslovakia	27	30	11	5	14	44	45	-1
17	Mexico	26	37	8	10	19	39	75	-36
18	Belgium	25	32	9	7	16	40	56	-16
19	Romania	21	21	8	5	8	30	32	-2
20	Chile	20	25	7	6	12	31	40	-9
21	Scotland	15	23	4	7	12	25	41	-16
22	Switzerland	15	22	6	3	13	33	51	-18
23	Bulgaria	14	26	3	8	15	22	53	-31
24	Paraguay	14	15	4	6	5	19	27	-8
25	Cameroon	12	14	3	6	5	13	26	-13
26	Portugal	12	9	6	0	3	19	12	7
27	Peru	11	15	4	3	8	19	31	-12
28	Northern Ireland	11	13	3	5	5	13	23	-10
29	Denmark	11	9	5	1	3	19	13	6
30	Croatia	10	6	5	0	2	11	5	6
31	USA	9	17	4	1	12	18	38	-20
32	Morocco	8	13	2	4	7	12	18	-6
33	Colombia	8	13	3	2	8	14	23	-9
34	Nigeria	8	8	4	0	4	13	13	0
35	Ireland	7	9	1	5	3	4	7	-3
36	Norway	7	8	2	3	3	7	8	-1
37	Germany DR	6	6	2	2	2	5	5	0
38	Saudi Arabia	5	7	2	1	4	7	13	-6
39	Algeria	5	6	2	1	3	6	10	-4
40	Wales	5	5	1	3	1	4	4	0
41	Korea Republic	4	14	0	4	10	11	43	-32
42	Tunisia	4	6	1	2	3	4	6	-2
43	Costa Rica	4	4	2	0	2	4	6	-2
44	Iran	3	6	1	1	4	4	12	-8
45	Korea DPR	3	4	1	1	2	5	9	-4
46	Cuba	3	3	1	1	1	5	12	-7
47	Egypt	2	4	0	2	2	3	6	-3
48	Honduras	2	3	0	2	1	2	3	-1
49	Turkey	2	3	1	0	2	10	11	-1
50	Israel	2	3	0	2	1	1	3	-2
51	South Africa	2	3	0	2	1	3	6	-3
52	Jamaica	2	3	1	0	2	3	9	-6
53	Bolivia	1	6	0	1	5	1	20	-19
54	Kuwait	1	3	0	1	2	2	6	-4
55	Australia	1	3	0	1	2	0	5	-5
56	El Salvador	0	6	0	0	6	1	22	-21
57	Irak	0	3	0	0	3	1	4	-3
58	Japan	0	3	0	0	3	1	4	-3
59	Canada	0	3	0	0	3	0	5	-5
60	United Arab Emirates	0	3	0	0	3	2	11	-9
61	Greece	0	3	0	0	3	0	10	-10
62	New Zealand	0	3	0	0	3	2	12	-10
63	Haiti	0	3	0	0	3	2	14	-12
64	Zaire/Congo DR	0	3	0	0	3	0	14	-14
65	Neth. East Indies	0	1	0	0	1	0	6	-6

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