Argentina's New No. 10 Ensures Opening Victory
No team knew more urgently than Argentina the threat of facing an African team in the opening game of a World Cup and the tournament's recent history of magnificent upset and humiliating defeat.
And so it was with clinical precision that the playmaker Juan Riquelme opened Saturday's match against the newcomer Ivory Coast, helping to put Argentina ahead by two goals by halftime. He set up goals by forwards Hernán Crespo and Javier Saviola with his exquisite feet, vision, anticipation and sense of laconic rhythm.
Eventually, Argentina prevailed with a 2-1 victory that brought as much relief as satisfaction. Four years ago, Argentina, a perennial World Cup favorite, exited sourly in the first round. Now it has an upper hand in a so-called Group of Death with the Netherlands, Ivory Coast and Serbia and Montenegro.
Gone are lingering pretournament worries from 1990 when, as defending World Cup champion, Argentina lost its opening match to Cameroon. Argentina learned another lesson in 2002 when France, also a reigning champion, lost to Senegal, its former colony.
'It is a big step for us, but we are not there yet,' said Argentina's coach, José Pekerman. 'We don't focus on the final. I prefer step by step.'
Spoiled in the loss was the Ivory Coast players' hope that victory in their first World Cup match might further signify the possibilities of peace and unity in their foundering West African nation, which has been divided by civil war since 2002.
Forward Didier Drogba, who like Crespo plays for Chelsea, champion of the English Premier League, reduced Argentina's margin to 2-1 in the 82nd minute, cuffing a cross with his left foot. But Ivory Coast could not manage an equalizer in the frantic final minutes.
'Other people thought Ivory Coast was easy,' Crespo said, 'but we knew it was going to be complicated, and it was.'
The Ivorians played with great energy and intent, but they will regret inefficiency in finishing their chances. Until he departed in added time, Riquelme controlled the match during the important moments, expertly managing the pace and applying the brakes when Ivory Coast wanted to stomp on the accelerator.
It says much about Argentina's depth that Saturday's victory was achieved without its two young star forwards: Lionel Messi, 18, who helped lead Argentina to the world youth championship last year, and Carlos Tevez, 22, the star of the gold-medal-winning Olympic team at the 2004 Athens Games.
In the 24th minute, Argentina switched tactics from crisp short passes to a long ball to Crespo that drew a foul. From the left flank, Riquelme delivered an inviting free kick to the 6-yard line. When Argentine defender Gabriel Heinze was shoved down in a scrum, the ball bounced free and Crespo ran onto it with a hop and a skip and poked it into the net for a 1-0 lead.
In the 38th minute, Riquelme held the ball patiently in midfield and waited while Saviola feinted, then sprinted sharply behind the Ivory Coast defense. With deft timing to avoid an offside trap, Riquelme pushed the ball through a seam to an open Saviola.
Jean-Jacques Tizié charged forward from the goalmouth, but he was too late, and Saviola flicked the ball with his right foot from 12 yards, giving Argentina a 2-0 advantage.
In his younger days, Riquelme, soon to be 28, was called the next Diego Maradona, an impossible mantle to shoulder, one of brutal responsibility and expectation.
They are of disparate personalities, Riquelme forever modest and Maradona always given to excess on the field and off. But Riquelme wears No. 10, as Maradona did in bringing two World Cup titles to Argentina, so the comparisons, however unfair, will endure.
And with Maradona in the audience on Saturday, pumping his tattooed arms and waving a jersey in celebration, Riquelme did not disappoint.
He is a star but also a poignant figure in Argentine soccer. Riquelme came to prominence with Boca Juniors in the Argentine league and, briefly, teamed with Maradona.
But in 2002, Riquelme's younger brother was kidnapped. He was later released after the family paid a $160,000 ransom, according to news reports.
In part, the kidnapping spurred Riquelme's decision to leave Boca Juniors for Spain, where he now plays for Villarreal. It recently advanced to the semifinals of the Champions League, Europe's most important club tournament.
Suitably impressed with Riquelme during Champions League play, even though he missed a penalty kick against Arsenal in the semifinals, Arsenal Manager Arsène Wenger said of him, 'He's always able to slow the game down and wait for a weak moment to kill you.'
It was an assessment the Ivory Coast would not dispute
SOCCER
Correction:  June 15, 2006, Thursday  A sports article in some copies on Sunday about Argentina's 2-1 soccer victory against Ivory Coast in the World Cup referred incorrectly to the number of World Cup titles that Diego Maradona helped win for Argentina. It is one (in 1986), not two.