BATISTA MAD OVER DISGRACE IN ABUJA

Argentina Football Association president,
Julio Grondona, turned up the heat on coach
Sergio Batista following the 4-1 humbling
loss the Eagles Wednesday in Abuja.
Grondona, who hired Batista last year after
firing Diego Maradona, accused Batista of
gambling with “the prestige of the national
team.” He also blamed him for scheduling
Wednesday’s friendly against Nigeria and
fielding a reserve lineup without stars like
Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez.
Argentina plays Poland on Sunday with the
same backup team. The matches come a
month before Argentina opens the Copa
America — the South American
championship. Expectations run high in
Argentina, which won its last World Cups 25
years ago. Argentina has not won a major
title since the Copa America 18 years ago.
“Mourning for the national team shirt,” read
a headline in Thursday’s edition of the
sports daily Ole.
“The team was not only thumped,” added
the daily Clarin. “It waltzed through the
match. No matter what players are playing,
it ’s not normal to see an Argentine team go
down like this.”
Argentina played the match with only two
players who were named earlier in the week
in the preliminary squad for the Copa
America: defender Pablo Zabaleta of
Manchester City and Ezequiel Garay of Real
Madrid.
Grondona went out of his way to criticize
Batista in a telephone interview Thursday
from Zurich.
“One can’t raffle off the prestige of the
national team,” Grondona told Mitre radio
station. “These games are not to make
money, and Batista asked for these matches.
… At times it’s good to see if it serves us to
have these matches. But the national team
must have its standards. ”
Grondona is likely to have approved the
Nigeria match, and newspapers have
suggested friendly matches like this
generate about $1 million for the AFA.
Batista acknowledged he took a chance.
“We know we risked prestige with what
happened,” Batista told reporters. “But if we
don’t play, we don’t know what players we
have for the future.”
Zabaleta said the match in Abuja, Nigeria,
was a waste of time.
“We were shown up throughout the game,”
Zabelata told the Argentine news agency
Telam. “It was hot, the pitch was bad, the
grass was long — an uneven surface. Don’t
even mention the referee.”