“We Argentines are full of qualities, but we don’t know how to play as a team. You search the world and discover outstanding artists, scientists and athletes. You can search in the area you prefer and you will always find Argentinians who shine. So, obviously, what has always cost us, and is costing us much more in this last decade, is putting together work teams.”This reflection corresponds to a deep and interesting interview that Cristian Grosso did for The nation to Diego Simeone in 2019.
Surely many of you will object to the idea of the hand of references that I will soon make. However, as soon as I read it I considered that Cholo was basically referring to what, in those years, was happening to us with the national soccer team. With the clarification and reservation made, the concept is valid as a trigger for a couple of issues.
In reality, the diagnosis of the successful Atlético de Madrid coach was an irrefutable fact, especially in the ’70s in contrast to what began to happen, especially at the beginning of the 21st century. At that time, the impact of Argentine sport on the world included names such as Guillermo Vilas, Carlos Reutemann or a legion of boxers led by Carlos Monzón.. On the contrary, except for the events at the South American and intercontinental level of some club teams, the world titles and runners-up in men’s roller hockey and women’s field hockey and sporadic victories by Los Pumas, when it came to playing as a team we found ourselves with that for handball or volleyball to dream of an Olympic qualification was unfeasible, it was difficult for basketball to even beat the Brazilians from time to time and, Until the arrival of César Menotti, wearing the light blue and white one exposed a few stars to scenarios almost of disrepute.
The scenario changed brutally three decades later. Let’s put it in terms of Olympic medals. Since Sydney 2000, 12 of the 27 medals achieved by our country were in team sports (4 of 8 gold), an area in which the last three podiums were won, in Tokyo.
Accustomed to men’s volleyball and handball becoming regular games, it ends up going unnoticed that, In Rio 2016, Argentina was one of the three delegations with the most qualified teams (10 in total) which made that team the second largest in our Olympic history, doubling the number of qualifiers we have for Paris.
Among other phenomena, we must add that, since 2007, Los Pumas have reached the semifinals of three World Cups and that the most important triumph of our tennis in the last 15 years was in the Davis Cup, a strange competition that shows us how much of a team it can be. a sport that is sometimes unbearably individual.
Then, as we know, the Scaloneta arrived
Even with the omissions of the case, take this point as an unequivocal reference that We Argentines radically went from being rabid soloists to creating a cult of the collective. Any paradoxical reference to our daily socio-political life so plagued by presidentialism and unicatas is pure coincidence. Maybe, not so much. Surely there must be a lot of reasons that generated this extraordinary cultural change. From spontaneous generation to contagion effects.
Personally, I am left with that endearing and deep relationship between teachers/coaches and a raw material so rich in virtues that I only need order, project, containment and teachings to exploit First World potential.
A relationship that is born in thousands of clubs that today receive everything from children with baby teeth to adults with facts and rights, from the most basic training to High Performance.
This possibility of exploiting their best has also become a lifeline in times when the debacle that began with the death of Enard’s financial autonomy in 2018 currently reaches grotesque levels: the majority of the members of our best National teams dedicate themselves full time to what they do, being hired by clubs in the main leagues. Without going further, Of the handball team that has just been chosen for Paris, only one player (Federico Fernández, from San Fernando) competes in our team.
In the order of merit, it is impossible to measure the influence of our main sports experts. Once again, the outside world gives us guidelines in this regard. In line with that of the brain drain/export so mentioned around our geniuses in science and the arts, in this case too there are reasons to beat one’s chest.
It is no coincidence that Julio Velasco is a reference man for Pep Guardiola. Or that Gonzalo Quesada has given Italian rugby a boost that seemed unfeasible even since they added it so that the Five Nations went to Six. Or what Chileans have enjoyed unprecedented achievements, in hockey through Cachito Vigil and in soccer at the hands of a legion of Argentine coaches. Or that the World Cup qualifiers and the Copa América itself register records of compatriots sitting on the benches. Or that there are few examples in the world similar to those innumerable branches that expand from the family trees of Bielsa, Bilardo and Menotti. Or that our best basketball coaches lead or join coaching staffs of great national teams or leading teams in Europe and the NBA.
Once again, apologies for the unpleasant omissions. It is simply a matter of providing just a handful of cases so that the thesis does not seem too much like a whimsical statement.
It even gives the impression that those who have not yet left to shine in the world, it is not precisely because of a lack of offers. As if to round out the blessing, they all started at home. They cut their teeth on silver logic.
And against history and even omens, they taught us that there is nothing better than learning to play together.
