Slowed by Clashing Styles and Poor Results, Argentina

Struggles to Regain Its Footing

By JONATHAN GILBERT JUNE 5, 2016 retrieved from

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/06/sports/soccer/in-clash-of-styles-and-unsatisfactory-resultsa-debate-for-argentinas-soccer-soul.html?ref=international

BUENOS AIRES For fans of Argentinas national soccer team, the enduring images of recent
tournaments are painful. Lionel Messi staring impotently at the World Cup trophy on his way to
collecting a second-place medal in 2014. Gonzalo Higuan sending a penalty kick skyward as
Chile won last years Copa Amrica final. Roberto Ayala turning a cross into his own net in yet
another lost Copa final in 2007.
Despite the undisputed quality of its roster and its recurring role as a favorite, Argentina heads
into its opening match of the Copa Amrica Centenario on Monday cloaked in doubt. The
uncertainty is stoked by all those recent near misses; by a perennial tug of war over the national
teams style of play; and by the long-running debate about how to get the best out of Messi.
Teams can start to believe their curse, said Jonathan Wilson, a British writer, most recently of a
coming book about Argentinas soccer history.

If Argentina stumbles again at the Copa a centenary version of South Americas premier
soccer tournament being hosted outside the continent for the first time the fear is that a
generation of offensive talent that includes Messi, who will turn 29 two days before the Copa
final, but also Higuan, ngel Di Mara, Sergio Agero, Javier Pastore and Carlos Tvez may
have been wasted.
There is no option but to win it, Javier Mascherano, a midfielder, said shortly before the team
flew from Argentina to its base in San Jose, Calif.
For some observers, the sense of urgency is intensified by the diminished quality of Argentinas
new batch of players.
Since its triumph at the 1993 Copa Amrica, Argentina has not won another major tournament,
losing six finals along the way. Its last World Cup championship was 30 years ago this summer,
when a Diego Maradona-led Albi celeste lifted the trophy in Mexico.
Back then, the coach was Carlos Bilardo, a former physician whose laborious and structured
approach prioritized results, not the process that led to them.
In 1978, however, the only other time Argentina won the World Cup, the coach was Csar Luis
Menotti. Menotti was Bilardos antithesis, a thinker and idealist who believed there was intrinsic
value in aesthetics. He prized possession, nurtured artistry in offense and encouraged players to
improvise.
The essence of Argentine soccer is freedom, Alberto Tarantini, a defender on the 1978 team,
said in an interview. If you fill players heads with tactical systems, you inhibit them.
While intellectual struggles between pragmatism and purity have driven soccer narratives in
many corners of the world, it is in Argentina, perhaps, that the dichotomy most shapes the battle
for the soul of the game.
The schism is often traced to Argentinas disastrous exit from the 1958 World Cup, which was
long before Menotti and Bilardo entered the picture. And today, although a new generation of
Argentine coaches has been emerging with broader influences, the debate remains fierce.
Argentine soccer is very rich in this discussion of How should we win? said Ezequiel
Fernndez Moores, a prominent Argentine soccer columnist, who noted that feuding was prone
to escalate around tournaments involving the national team.
Underscoring how Argentina has recently produced both a preternatural offensive talent like
Messi and a coach like Atltico Madrids Diego Simeone, whose teams are celebrated for their
defensive grit, Fernndez Moores said, The dispute will be eternal.
Even as the two ideologies have slowly converged, Gerardo Martino, Argentinas current coach,
who guided the team to the Copa Amrica final a year ago in Chile, has not escaped clashes over
the nations soccer identity.

Pointing to the continuing tensions, Higuan was asked at a recent news conference here whether
it was more important for Martino to end Argentinas trophy drought or to win over fans to his
preferred playing style.

Analysis
This article is full of synonyms and synonyms in context. Synonyms are words that have the
same meaning but are sometimes used in different contexts. Alongside with synonyms are
synonyms in context which are words that have or not the same meaning, but in specific contexts
they express the same ideas. Hence, in this article we can spot many synonym and synonym in
context. For instance, the writer used match when he referred to a standard definition of match,
but used war meaning that Argentinas national team needs effort and struggles in order to win
the Copa (i.e. war and match are not synonyms, but in this case they express the same meaning).
Hence, the are many synonyms and synonyms in context such as:
Synonyms:
Tournament---cup

Synonyms in Context
Copa America----CopaWar

struggles
Triumph---win

physician----intellectual---idealist

Match-------struggle

war-------match

Intellectual---thinker---idealist

rosters----players-----batch

Disastrous------fierce

talented player----Messi

Euphemistic Language
According to the author of this article, the Argentinas national team is in a painful stage of its
journey. The author of this article does not give much importance to the use of euphemistic
language. For instance, it started the article with BUENOS AIRES For fans of Argentinas
national soccer team, the enduring images of recent tournaments are painful. Despite his lack
of use of euphemistic language, he used some of them. For example, instead of saying if
Argentina loses again he said If Argentina stumbles again (). Since he used very few of

euphemistic language, it seem that the author does not much care about it. Hence this sentence
from the first paragraph proves me right: Lionel Messi staring impotently at the World Cup
trophy.
Structure of the Text
The structure of the text is very important for it helps us understand the meaning of the message
the writer wants to convey, not to mention that it gathers the readers attention. First, it starts by
referring to a very sad moments of the Argentinas national team, which is the world cup final in
2014 where Argentina failed to lift the trophy. That precise moment is very captivating for
Argentinas national teams fans. Also, the author underlined some parts of the text. These
precise underlined parts captivate readers attention, principally because the words underlined
make reference to very important features of this context. For example, Lionel Messi staring
impotently is captivating because a very powerful player staring impotently is kind of odd.
Image and Content
Image is one of the very features that helps us scan and understand different texts. Thus, images
are very important and we have to take caution when we write and wants to represent the text
with them. In this article, the image perfectly fix and related to the context of the article. The
article is about Argentinas national team state in this current season, but the author used an
image of two years ago when the team was in a very sad state (loss the 2014 world cup final).
Why did he use that precise picture and not a current one? He used it so it would call
readers/fans attention. The image has the world star and the best player on Earth desperately
desperate. Not only the Argentinas fans will be attracted to the article but also Messis
supporters feels some attraction to the article since he is the first in the line in the photograph. In
addition, the article is about Argentinas national team fall and the faces of the players in the
pictures show not less than that. A very potent team in its low state in this very important season.
Tittle and Content
The tittle is nearly perfect, but it is straightly related to the content of the article. The tittle
summarizes the entire article. It is like a broad overview of the entire article. For instance, the
Argentinas national team is slow by their clashing styles for the players are not as well
coordinated as it was. As matter of fact, Messi is told to be injured and have missed some

matches. So, the batch is not well structured and because of that, poor results should come. Thus,
they are trying to manage to regain the power they once had. In order for that to happen, players
are giving their contributions by providing suggestions to improve the squads condition. Despite
all this description, I would give a different tittle (i.e. The giant has fallen, but tries to reach his
full high).