“Spain with tanks, out”: hand in hand with Jorge D’Alessandro, the author of the viral that explains why Argentina was world champion

George D’Alessandrowhen he speaks, Fly. He sets off at full speed to develop concepts, jumps from 1960s football to the dynamism of the Argentine midfield and the 4-4-2, compares them, analyzes them, slows down, pauses. He asks if it has been understood. And accelerate again. Tsss, tsss.

No one who has three stars embroidered on his chest could miss his video, which first went viral and is now circulating as a meme on social media. D’Alessandro appears (still Argentine accent, various Spanish idioms) discussing with the panel of speakers of El Chiringuito, the frantic deep night Spanish football where disputes are dealt with in that country. Similar to the old Soccer Show Alejandro Fantino had here, but inflated with powerful anabolics.

In a minute and a half, D’Alessandro explains why La Scaloneta gave the rag to France in the Qatar final. No witches or coincidences. Dizziness, speed, a midfield that looks like Ferrari, a humorous mention of Bernie Ecclestone, the answer to the chatter of Kylian Mbappé, when he lowered the price of South American football. And the confirmation that we had simply been much better off, facing a Europe that still didn’t understand what had happened. The video exploded.

“The midfield has changed style. The 4-2-3-1, OUT; the double pivot, OUT. Brazil plays with Casemiro, OUT. Spain plays with Carrozas in midfield, OUT. “Vertigo has won, football has changed. The three Argentine midfielders fly, fly. It’s another football, President. The pivot, which pivot? Argentina played with three boys who fly. And that’s what I have to analyze.” says D’Alessandro in his speech.

A little quieter, deal with clarion somewhere in Salamanca, in the middle of a break after the World Cup that he’s still enjoying here. There he traces his own story, which includes a title with undefeated champion San Lorenzo in 1972, one of the first transfers to football in Europe, his internship as an ‘oncologist trainer’ . And the leap to TV.

-Here your victory analysis video went viral. Especially after the controversy born with Mbappé, after the crossing with Holland. She was lived almost as a revenge, how did you see her?

-I just talked about football, the other is more a part of the show. Sometimes not so much can be said as with a metaphor and the history of Ferraris has been the key to what Argentina has been. I’ve heard few people make that analysis, no one had given the key to what had happened. And it was no coincidence, because eight years ago Messi dragged himself to Brazil and he had a reason. It’s not Messi, it was reading the match. Argentina played a strategic game and very modern football.

-Since you entered the controversy, what was the difference between the 2014 team and the 2022 team?

-The engine room. Without identity, led by Javier Mascherano, Lucas Biglia, Éver Banega. One was a trucker, the other was a touring car, there was no game identity. Then it is impossible for the ball to reach its destination discreetly. Argentina didn’t dominate any game, it was only at the expense of the great strikers we had. But it was pretty much completely wasted. I think the key was the midfield because it lacked creativity, talent and above all football criteria.

-And what has changed now?

This happened magically. Because if you had put Lo Celso or Papu Gómez, we would be more or less in the same football, slow and tendentious. Argentina was the best in the World Cup because of its engine room, the midfield was different, the recovery, the pace. Goals attended by Mac Allister, Enzo Fernández, the wear of De Paul. And Guido and Paredes in the stands, where they should be, because they are two elephants. The identity was given by three leaflets.

-He won it then with the midfield…

-Oh, and you can’t play with more than one midfielder, who in Argentina was God, playing in lane 8 with peripheral vision for his left foot. You can’t play with two like Messi. Papu Gómez does the same from just the opposite side, but in slow motion. And on two floors, which are the phenomenal boy Julián Álvarez, phenomenal, a dizzying speed, and Lautaro, who would have been 9th in the World Cup but failures doomed him.

An origin in Avenida La Plata, a career in Europe

With a past as a coach, a career in sports journalism and even a cameo in the film Torrente 5, D’Alessandro’s career was born by cutting the arches that formed near the field of the hikers. There he was seen by Florencio Doval and Diego García, who took him to the lower divisions that San Lorenzo had on Avenida La Plata.

“It was a golden age of San Lorenzo in my life. It’s crazy. We had a tremendous quarry. La Plata Avenue, the smell of the stands, the buffet, it was a liturgy. That stadium was football, I I’ve never seen anything comparable in my life, I know all the stadiums in the world, but never anything like that pitch,” he recalls from his early days.

He played 59 games for the club, though failed to establish himself as a regular. He has participated in several tours in Europe. (“Those were the times when you went and won”, he remarks). There, in the Old Continent, the managers of Salamanca saw him and hired him.

It was 1974, the first year in which the window for foreigners was reopened in Spanish football. With a newly promoted team, D’Alessandro was the fence least beaten in that tournament in defense of Salamanca.

Since his days as a player, he says he was half a coach, having talked about tactics with Osvaldo Zubeldía. That’s why when he hung up the gloves he put on the DT diver. Lui directed Figuerés for two years when journalist José María García hired him to accompany him as a commentator in the early 1990s. His media and coaching careers ran almost parallel.

“I was making a lot of money as a commentator, almost more than as a coach. Six million people listened to us on the radio. And I was losing my profile as a field coach. But this gave me a contrast, This is very important. I trained from radio because my work was educational, analytical for the listener, I explain? I have not considered the obvious, that a uncle He struck him sideways with his right foot. So said the narrator. I explained why the ball had come, why it had been a right triangulation and the 8 had tried to deselect,” he says as he hands out concepts at lightning speed.

According to what he continues to say, at one point in that career his profile turned to DT, specialist in the relegation zone. He saved Atlético de Madrid twice and Salamanca once. For that latest milestone, a street in the city is named after him.

the football show

D’Alessandro is one of the ‘tertulianos’ (read ‘panistas’) of The Chiringuito de Jugones, which airs at midnight in Spain and feeds on the eternal controversy offered by the Barcelona-Real Madrid rivalry or its derivatives, such as Cristiano Ronaldo-Messi. It’s a pure spectacle: shouts, discussions, cameras that move as fast as full-backs launching an attack.

With social networks erasing country borders, some controversy has hit Argentine tweeters. Like the unbridled criticism of the national team for the exultation after the elimination of the Netherlands. Or the bank to France, before the final. There were some in favor of The Bluesothers wishing Lionel would raise his glass which he eventually did.

For example, the hyper-Madridista Juanma Rodríguez scored against Argentina and begged that Croatia’s Luka Modric (10 from Real Madrid) put four at the Scaloneta. He was close. Or when Spain was left out with Morocco, where The Twitch link to see El Chiringuito live was flying on Twitter Argentina. Pure popcorn.

Even in a show designed for controversy, D’Alessandro prefers dribbling to confrontation. He says he’s not involved in that part and isn’t interested in answering what his colleagues say.

“It’s a new product, the rivalry determines the success of the program, always yin and yan. But I’m not talking about that, I don’t like it. It’s not that I want to be different, but not Argentina changed world football. I’m proud that I was the first to say it The key to the champion wasn’t Messi, but that injury to (Gio) Lo Celso and Papu. With that I killed them all. And this is the only truth. What do I care that someone said that he wanted Argentina to lose? “, He shoots.

-You said you thanked Mbappé for provoking the South Americans. Was it surprising in Europe that Argentina won the World Cup?

-Mbappé passed three cities when he said we were all tractors. I think she was wrong. And yes, it was amazing because we did what they used to do. Run, play fast, I don’t know if you understand me. One of my phrases is that Argentina were champions for having a European midfield, a frenetic pace. And that puzzled them. And Messi, the best player in the world, so that he can turn on when he wants.

-What is the key to the final?

Why did France fail? put the batteries. He plays with two pivots, Tchouameni and Rabiot, and they want to put Griezmann as a pivot. Enzo Fernández throws Griezmann at him and our two midfielders team up with their double pivot, De Paul and Mac Allister. And then what happens? That we had Messi swinging as a midfielder with every move and playing solo. He’s still alone in Qatar and hasn’t been discovered by Deschamps, sir. Messi is alone! Listen to me?

-In other words, the midfield won and that’s how he settled the game…

-Argentina killed France in midfield, against France’s 4-2-3-1, Argentina played a 4-3-1-2, the three midfielders practically crushed them. And with Messi playing midfield in a space invented by Messi, lane 8 fluctuating. Do you view it? close your eyes.

-Beyond what you saw on the net, how did you personally experience the consecration of the Selection?

-I lived it in ecstasy. I don’t know those who take burundanga if they are so excited. It was the best thing I’ve had in my life… I don’t know, I can’t explain. It had nothing to do with the result, it had a meaning with football and the game. Something like an Argentine and like an Argentine out of the country. There is a rotation effect, nostalgia makes you more transcendent. There I never see Argentina as world champions again. You don’t think about it, but they are there.