Boca Juniors and Argentina international Martin Palermo
Beyond his age, there are a few major problems with this call-up. First, this is Argentina’s deepest position, where players like Lisandro Lopez and Diego Milito have had trouble securing regular playing time behind Lionel Messi, Sergio Agüero and Carlos Tevez. Under what circumstances would Palermo play?
That leads to the second major problem: He might actually play. If there’s one tendency you can see in all of Maradona’s managerial choices, it’s his apt to select players who he can envision doing the kind of great individual things that he was famous for. Basically, he picks people expecting to make plays like he did, and if they do everything will work out. This is why Argentina’s formation is constantly a mess. It is also why, when the players turn out not to be Maradona, Argentina disappoints.
I don’t think any of us expect Palermo to be the scorer he was ten years ago. Truth is that his goal rate over the last few tournaments has not been that different than when he was scoring thirty goals a year in his first stretch with Boca. But that was then, before the South American leagues had been picked over by Europe. This is now, and Palermo is a 35-year-old creature of (successful) habit that should not be a viable option for the Albiceleste.
This spot should have gone to a younger player, whose experience training and traveling with the team would have helped build a future contributor to the program.
This move should have been predictable, though. Maradona is in crisis, and he’s taking the Argentine men’s national team down with him. In crisis, we all revert to what we know. The problem is that crisis also leads to bad judgment, so we end up foolishly applying the lessons from our experience. And that’s how Palermo gets selected. Maradona has a vision of Palermo being brought off the bench and willing his way to goals, leading Argentina to success, bringing acclaim to Maradona’s choice.
Of course, that vision is of a 25-year-old Palermo.