A small group of Argentine football fans were watching the Manchester
United Vs Deportivo La Coruna match at a bar located somewhere in Buenos
Aires (most of the Champions League games are broadcasted live here)
when all of a sudden, boom!
After being badly challenged by Argentine Aldo Pedro Duscher, United's
David Beckham grabbed his head in severe pain and was immediately taken
from the pitch on a stretcher. We all know the rest of the story1— by
now.
English fans suddenly saw a void in midfield at the World Cup. But
how did Argentines feel after such an unfortunate situation like that?
To be honest, it was an ambivalent feeling.
On one hand they all knew that—provided that Beckham is indeed out
of the World Cup or is going to be in poor shape for the first three
matches—most of the potential problems that Argentine national team
manager Marcelo Bielsa could face on June 72 would be solved by Beckham's
absence.
The Argentine "fighters" in midfield (Juan Pablo Sorin, Matias
Almeyda, Javier Zanetti and even Diego Simeone) would also be relieved
at not having to take care of England's inspirational skipper. And the
weak defence would not have to suffer from Becks' dangerous crosses
from which the English players look to show their speciality: the header.
So, what a great day for Argentina in terms of football then!
Although, suddenly morality brought them all back down to Earth. "How
in the world do you ruthless football fans dare to enjoy someone else's
misfortune?" they asked themselves.
Then, after a minute of reflection, all of them—with a few exceptions
- felt guilty as hell. No doubt about it.
Everybody in Argentina regards Beckham as a top class player, especially
after all he did to get England to the Korea-Japan World Cup. And everybody
knows how badly he wants to redeem himself after the infamous "Simeone
affair"3 in 1998.
After all, there is nothing like facing and defeating your full strength
"enemy".
But going back to Duscher's challenge itself, I don't believe that
he had the intention of causing what he did, nor he was driven by any
kind of "Argentine cause".
In fact, although it was an imprudent action by Duscher, Spaniard Diego
Tristan's tackle on Beckham the week before was much worse. Wasn't it?
As regards to Duscher's attitude on the incident after the match, it
could be seen as defiant for not making an apology. But knowing him
well I think he was just trying to make English people understand that
it was just another unlucky tackle among the many that we often see.
A few hours after the match Duscher told the Argentine press just that.
"To me it wasn't even a foul. I just went for the ball and hit
Beckham on my way," he said.
"Hinting that I meant to hurt him just because he will face my
country is absolutely nonsense. The World Cup is the highest goal to
reach for a footballer. And I'm one of them, so I would never do such
a thing on purpose,"
"I don't think I need to talk to Beckham. However, I wish he could
recover for the World Cup,"he added.
Believe it or not, beyond the relief that Beckham's absence could mean
for Argentina national team on June 7, we will always want the great
players to be fully fit to play against us.