Stories from the Pre-Olympic football championship: Bielsa’s amateur spirit and his two-time title

There are 23 players called up for the pre-Olympic tournament which will begin on Saturday the 20th in Venezuela. But Argentina will have 22 because Giuliano Malatini, who was in the final list, was transferred from Defensa y Justicia to Werder Bremen and the German club decided not to transfer him. Of course, clubs are under no obligation to make their players available for this competition and this is why The coach directly avoided calling Alejandro Garnacho and Facundo Buonanotteamong others.

It’s not a rule now. One of the coaches who suffered the most negative feelings in putting together the champion team in 2004 was Marcelo Bielsa. After a break in which the South American Under 20s qualified for the Olympic Games, the tournament resumed in 2020 and Argentina became champions again. Javier Mascherano’s team, which will debut on Sunday the 21st against Paraguay, will defend the two-time championship.

The 2000 Olympic qualifiers took place from January 7 to 25 in five Chilean cities: La Serena, Coquimbo, Viña del Mar, Valparaíso and Concepción. Loco Bielsa had to deliver the final list on December 20th and putting it together was a real headache because many of the players who were in Europe were denied by their clubs. Barcelona denied Javier Saviola, Wolfsburg denied Andrés D’Alessandro, Zaragoza denied Leandro Ponzio, Espanyol denied Maximiliano Rodríguez, Atlético de Madrid denied Matías Lequi, Chievo Verona denied Mario Santana, Stuttgart denied Emanuel Centurión and Sunderland to Julio Arca. From the locals there was an agreement between AFA and River not to call Fernando Cavenaghi.

Among the 20 there were only one Spanish and two Mexican footballers: Wilfredo Caballero (Boca), Gastón Lux (River), Leandro Fernández (Newell’s), Nicola Burdisso (Boca), Gonzalo Rodríguez (San Lorenzo), Javier Mascherano (River), Nicolás Medina (Leganés of Spain), Luis González (River), Alejandro Domínguez (River), Franco Cángele (Boca), Pablo Jerez (Boca), Gastón Aguirre (Newell’s), Clemente Rodríguez (Boca), Osmar Ferreyra (River), José María Calvo (Boca), Mariano Gonzalez (Racing), Mauro Rosales (Newell’s), Cesare Delgado (Blue Cross of Mexico), Carlos Tevez (Mouth) e Luciano Figueroa (Blue Cross of Mexico).

Bielsa’s team were undefeated champions. It started with a tepid goalless draw against Peru, but then conquered the group stage: 2-1 against Bolivia (Tevez and Lucho González), 5-2 against Ecuador (González, Ferreyra 2, Fernández and Delgado ) and 4-2 against Colombia (Mascherano, González, Gonzalo Rodríguez and Ferreyra). In the final phase, they won their first two matches and qualified for the Athens Olympics: 1-0 against Brazil (Gonzalo Rodríguez) and 2-1 against Paraguay (Figueroa’s brace). In the last match they faced Chile, already eliminated, and with a draw of two goals (Figueroa and Domínguez) they were enough to win the title.

After making his debut in the national team, with a special flavor after the elimination in the first phase of the Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup, Bielsa expressed himself: “No, it’s not revenge in any way for me. The criticisms have to do with issues unrelated to this title. “They deal with Japan and Korea, and this has nothing to do with that.”. Bielsa’s amateur spirit in this type of competition would later be strengthened with his first Olympic gold medal.

Argentina won the Olympic Games again four years later, in Beijing 2008, with Sergio Batista as coach Lionel Messi on the team at just 21 years old. Qualification for that tournament was achieved by South America’s Under 20 team in Paraguay, second behind Brazil. Conmebol’s decision not to play the pre-Olympic He was retained for London 2012 (Argentina finished third and did not qualify) and Rio de Janeiro 2016 (he was champion of the 2015 South American Championship in Uruguay).

The competition resumed in 2020 in Colombia. The Pre-Olympic took place in the cities of Pereira, Armenia and Bucaramanga between 18 January and 9 February. The coach was Fernando Battistawhich had two future world champions on its team: Alexis MacAllister, then Boca player, e Giuliano AlvarezRiver.

The other 21 in the squad were: Facundo Cambeses (Banfield), Juan Cozzani (Lanús), Joaquín Blázquez (Talleres de Córdoba), Marcelo Herrera (San Lorenzo), Hernán de la Fuente (Vélez), Nehuén Pérez (Famalicao de Portugal), Maximiliano Centurión (Argentinians), Facundo Medina (Laboratories), Nazareno Colombo (Students), Claudio Bravo (Banfield), Fausto Vera (Argentinians) and Facundo Mura (Students); Matías Zaracho (Racing), Nicolás Capaldo (Boca), Tomás Belmonte (Lanús), Juan Brunetta (Godoy Cruz), Agustín Urzi (Banfield), Nahuel Bustos (Workshops), Adolfo Gaich (Saint Lawrence), Valentino Castellanos (New York City of the United States) and Gastón Togni (Independent). Those who failed to become champions were Leonel Mosevich and Lautaro Valenti and their clubs, Nacional de Madeira -Portugal- and Lanús, did not give up.

Argentina won all four group stage matches and the first two of the final stage. With these six victories he qualified for the 2020 Japan Olympic Games. (they were played in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic) and won the championship twice. In the last match they allowed themselves the luxury of losing 3-0 against Brazil, who finished second and qualified. The team subsequently beat Colombia 2-1 (Mac Allister and Gaich), Chile 2-0 (Capaldo and Nehuén Pérez), Ecuador 1-0 (Mac Allister), Venezuela 4-1 (Colombo, Zaracho, Alvarez and Bustos), Uruguay 3-2 (Mac Allister -2- and Vera) and Colombia 2-1 (Urzi and Pérez).

More than a year later, in July 2021, with few players among those who were champions in Colombia (including Mac Allister), Fernando Batista’s team failed to get past the first phase in the Japanese capital. Brazil, however, won the gold medal for the second time.

The challenge now for Javier Mascherano is to defend the two-time championship and qualify for the Paris Olympic Games, which will be held from July 24 to August 10.