Stories from the football Pre-Olympics: the two fatal minutes of Kaiser Passarella and the disappointment of the ‘Dream Team’ of Riquelme, Aimar and Scaloni

The Under 23 team led by Javier Mascherano is already in the city of Valencia, Venezuela, awaiting the start of the Pre-Olympic Tournament which will take place from Saturday 20 January to 11 February and which will qualify two teams for Paris 2024. Olympic Games: Sunday Argentina debuts against Paraguay. 30 years will have passed, in two years, since the only time the competition was held in Argentina, in February 1996 in Mar del Plata and Tandil, with a team that was very close to the title and lost it in two minutes against Brazil. Four years later, José Pekerman put together a Dream Team that failed to qualify for Sydney 2000.

After Alfio Basile’s four years, Diego Maradona’s “they cut my legs off” and the elimination of the United States from the World Cup, Daniel Passarella took over the leadership of the national team, with Alejandro Sabella as assistant and then Américo Gallego. At the same time, José Néstor Pekerman took charge of the youth teams, under 20 and under 17. The under 23 was also in the hands of Kaiser, who made his first test at the 95 Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, where he won the gold medal, after beating Mexico 5-4 on penalties.

This was the basis of the pre-Olympic team. First under the orders of Gallego and Sabella, AFA field training began on 8 January. 29 players were mentioned and 11 were then excluded from the final list of 20: Gustavo Campagnuolo, Hugo Ibarra, Héctor Banegas, Mauro Navas, Nelson Agoglia, Gustavo Barros Schelotto, Raúl Gordillo, Pablo Sánchez, Pablo Michelini, Norberto Fernández and Federico Lagorio . At first they weren’t there, then Gustavo Lombardi and Pablo Rotchet were added to the list.

Daniel Passarella’s last 20 were: Pablo Cavallero (Vélez), Rotchen (Independiente), Juan Pablo Sorín (Juventus of Italy), Lombardi (River), Matías Almeyda (River), Pablo Paz (Banfield), Marcelo Delgado (Racing) , Christian Bassedas (Vélez), Claudio López (Racing), Ariel Ortega (River), Hugo Morales (Lanús), Carlos Bossio (Students), Horacio Ameli (Colón), Federico Domínguez (Vélez), Carlos Galván (Racing), Cristian González (Boca), Héctor Pineda (Huracán), Juan Sebastián Verón (Estudiantes and the transfer to Boca was made halfway through the tournament), Marcelo Gallardo (River), Hernán Crespo (River).

Argentina won the group stage on foot: 6-0 against Ecuador (3 from Gallardo, Hugo Morales, Ortega and Crespo), 2-1 against Chile (2 from Delgado), 3-0 against Venezuela (Gallardo, Piojo López and Delgado) and 4-0 to Colombia (3 by Crespo and Kily González). In the final phase, Passarella’s team won 2-0 against Uruguay (Delgado and López) and 2-0 against Venezuela (Crespo and López). Brazil had also won both matches (5-0 against Venezuela and 3-1 against Brazil) and had a better goal difference heading into the finals. Argentina needed to win to win the tournament.

The decisive match was played on March 6, 1996 at the José María Minella. The Kaiser holders were: Cavallero; Lombardi, Rotchen, Pablo Paz, Sorín; Bassedas, Almeyda, Morales, Ortega; Delgado and Lopez. Then Crespo, Kily González and Verón entered. In the Brazilian team, among others, there were Dida, Roberto Carlos, Flavio Conceicao and Juninho.

Argentina led 1-0 with a low left-footed shot by Piojo López in the 17th minute of the first half. At the beginning of the final part, Delgado’s cello rose. “When in the 13th minute of the second half, after a great play by Almeyda and a perfect clearance by Ortega, Delgado scored the 2-0, it seemed that everything was ready,” wrote Horacio Pagani the next day to Clarín. “But football has a fortuitous side that wanted to play this time,” he added. In two minutes, Brazil equalized with goals from Beto and Savio and won the title. The second place will be repeated at Atlanta 96, obtaining the silver medal after losing the final against Nigeria 3-2 (they won 2-1 and fell in the last minute).

By the time Pekerman faced the Brazilian Olympic qualifiers (in the cities of Londrina and Cascavel) in January 2000, he had already achieved three world titles (1995, 1997 and 1999) and one South American title (1997) with the under-20 youth team. With most of the consolidated youth champions in the First Division, José has put together “the dream team”, with Juan Román Riquelme and Pablo Aimar as flags. Everyone was talking about the Dream Team.

Just review the squad to get an idea of ​​the size and what excited that team: Albano Bizzarri (Real Madrid of Spain), Leandro Cufré (Gimnasia), Diego Placente (River), Pablo Ricchetti (Colón), Diego Markic (Bari d ‘Italy), Gabriel Milito (Independiente), Javier Saviola (Fiume), Riquelme (Boca), Bernardo Romeo (San Lorenzo), Pablo Aimar (Fiume), Leonardo Biagini (Majorca of Spain), Cristian Muñoz (Boca), Fernando Crosa (Newell’s), Lucas Alessandria (Lanús), Esteban Cambiasso (Independiente), Aldo Duscher (Sporting Lisboa of Portugal), Lionel Scaloni (La Coruña of Spain), Mariano Messera (Gimnasia), Diego Quintana (Newell’s) and, Guillermo Pereyra ( River).

In the group stage, in Cascavel, Argentina finished second behind Uruguay and qualified for the final stage, after beating Paraguay 3-1 (Cufré, Placente and Biagini), drawing 1-1 with Peru (Cufré ), beating Bolivia 2-0 (Romeo and Riquelme) and losing to Uruguay 2-1 (Cambiasso). In the other zone, Brazil and Chile qualified.

The final phase was played in Londrina, the Pekerman Boy’s started by losing against Brazil 4-2 (Romeo and Cambiasso), then beat Uruguay 3-0 (Scaloni and Messera 2).

He arrived with opportunities, he needed to win, on the last date, February 6, 2000. Argentina was formed with Muñoz; Richetti, Cufré, Milito, Placente; Scaloni (Duscher), Markic, Cambiasso; Aymar; Messera (Saviola) and Romeo (Biagini). Bizarri, Crosa, Alesandría, Pereyra, Riquelme and Quintana remained on the bench. Four minutes from time, Reinaldo Navia scored the only goal of the match, sealing Chile’s qualification and Argentina’s elimination.

Lionel Scaloni, current coach of the national team, was one of the few to show up after the defeat, according to Hernán Sartori and Miguel Bossio, sent by Clarín to the tournament. “It would have been a failure if we hadn’t given answers on the field. But the team gave almost 40 degrees, with the public against it and with Chile waiting with nine players. What could be done, has been done. This tournament was very strange. Uruguay almost beat Brazil, something incredible, and we were one goal away. “It’s a big disappointment.”

Bossio, however, titled his note: “Failure”. And he explained: “The team of Aimar, Riquelme and Saviola didn’t even leave a bitter sensation on the Argentine palate: the taste, unknown, went nowhere.” The revenge will come four years later, with Marcelo Bielsa at the helm.