Juan Roman Riquelme will be Argentina's standard bearer at the World Cup.
"Roman is a key player because he interprets on the pitch what we want," coach Jose Pekerman said.
"People know what game Argentina play because we have Riquelme. It's a declaration of intent," he added. "His team mates know that when opponents pressure us and we don't have the ball, we give it to him and Roman distributes it," Pekerman told Argentine reporters at a recent news conference.
Riquelme embodies a game based on traditional South American ball skills, luring opponents out of position and hitting on the break, which Pekerman favours over the more European approach of his predecessor Marcelo Bielsa.
It was not such a surprise that Riquelme, who inspired Argentina to victory in the 1997 World Youth Cup under Pekerman, had a difficult start in Europe when he arrived at Barcelona in 2002.
The coach at the Spanish club was Louis van Gaal who could not fit Riquel
me into his tactics. Bielsa was an admirer of the Dutchman and he never found a regular spot for Riquleme in his Argentina side either.
The 27-year-old, who made his name with Boca Juniors, won only 13 caps and scored once for Argentina before Pekerman took over from Bielsa in October 2004. Almost ever-present under Pekerman, he has won another 17 caps and taken his goal tally to eight in the 18 months since.
Riquelme lacks pace but he is not slow, his speed of thought and close control making him very difficult to take the ball off.
He finds team mates with precision passes and is also extremely dangerous with free kicks and penalty kicks -- although he lacked the killer instinct with a poor penalty against Arsenal in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final at the end of April.
His customary nerve appeared to desert him when he had the chance of scoring an 89th-minute penalty for Villarreal against Arsenal and take the tie into extra time. Instead he fired weakly to goalkeeper Jens Lehmann's left, his shot was easily saved and Villarreal lost their chance of appearing in the final, beaten 1-0 on aggregate.
Despite that, Riquelme is still being touted as a potential player of the tournament and he is certainly at the top of his powers at the right time.
Villarreal, where he is surrounded by South Americans and Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini, have brought out the best in Riquelme -- it was just a pity for him and his team mates that his touch went missing at a crucial time.
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