Argentine press quietly optimistic (12 Jun 2006 17:07 GMT)
Having seen their national side get off to a winning start in their opening Group C game with Ivory Coast, the notoriously-demanding Argentine press refused to get carried away.
Most observers agreed that despite picking up three valuable points, the Albicelestes had underperformed at times during their 2-1 win. Popular daily newspaper Clarín led with the headline "Argentina win gives us something to celebrate", before adding: "The team made a good start to the World Cup, easing into a 2-0 lead over tricky opposition and managed to keep the game under control, in spite of not playing particularly well."
The paper admitted that Ivory Coast had "piled on the pressure in the game's closing stages". The article closed by mentioning the support of "around ten 10,000 Argentina fans" at the stadium in Hannover.
"The strikers saved the day with their goals," said Olé. "El Pato (The Duck) Abbondanzieri and Ayala also did well. The weak link was the midfield. In the second half (Jose) Pekerman took the initiative away from his team; he made some bizarre substitutions and didn't bring on either Messi or Tevez. We were made to suffer but we celebrated in the end." The paper also agreed with the FIFA Technical Study Group in choosing Saviola as its Man of the Match, describing him as "the flying No. 7".
La Nación followed a similar line, leading with the headline "We got the result we wanted - but not the performance we'd hoped for". It went on to say that Argentina were "strong where it counted" but voiced concerns over a "ragged" performance.
Fellow newspaper Página 12 favoured a musical theme, lifting the line "First you have to know how to suffer" from the famous tango Naranjo en Flor. Its subsequent summary ran: "Argentina celebrated after a difficult opener. The streets were empty as people were glued to their television screens. After two hours of silence, broken only when Crespo and Saviola scored, the torment was finally transformed into joy."
source : FIFA