Crespo resurgence fuels Argentine dreams (11 Jan 2006 02:51 GMT)
January seems to bring out the best in Hernan Crespo. This time last year, he hit top form with former club AC Milan. Now, 12 months on and after several false dawns, he appears to be finally back to his best for English side Chelsea.
With just five months to go before Argentina's opening Group C game at the World Cup, Crespo's renaissance has brought some much-needed cheer to national coach Jose Pekerman, who has had his preparations hampered by injuries to several key men and the lack of first-team football being obtained by others.
Crespo's situation had been of particular concern. After a successful loan spell with Italian giants Milan in 2004/05, he was recalled to London where many felt he would be Chelsea's second-choice striker behind Didier Drogba. However, such has been the form of the 30-year-old Argentine that manager Jose Mourinho has been obliged to alternate him with the Ivory Coast star - a player Crespo will be going head-to-head with in Argentina's Germany 2006 opener in Hamburg on 10 June.
If recent form is anything to go by, it should be quite a duel. Since 19 November, Crespo has scored in his club's wins over Newcastle United, Anderlecht, Portsmouth, Fulham, Birmingham City and West Ham. In the last of those matches, on 2 January, he took just 45 seconds to find the target after taking the field as a substitute. Not surprisingly the explosive finishing of the all-time leading goalscorer in South American World Cup qualifying has seen him win over the Chelsea fans, with his talents being hailed on the terraces with chants of "There's only one Hernan Crespo".
For all of that, the sharpshooter is keen to pay tribute to the role of his team-mates in his success. "I'm not the only one," he says. "We're where we are today because all of us are playing well."
Back in July 2002 after Argentina's shock first-round elimination in Korea/Japan, Crespo spoke in brutally honest terms about its impact: "For four years, all you do is get up, eat, train and play. Your everyday life becomes an obsession with the World Cup. That's why it is so hard to get over the disappointment of having failed to achieve our goal. What I really want is revenge and the chance to play another World Cup." Now, after two previous finals appearances in the shadow of Gabriel Batistuta, it seems that Crespo's time has come, with a starting place in the Albiceleste line-up almost within reach.
"Crespo will be in the squad to travel to the World Cup and will start if he's fit and playing well." So says his coach Pekerman, who is hoping the striker can add to the seven goals he got in qualifying and those plundered in recent friendlies against, among others, Germany and England.
Twenty years ago, Jorge Valdano scored one of the goals that fired Argentina to their last win in World Cup Final. Now, Valdanito, as Crespo is known because of his resemblance to the former international, has the chance to emulate that achievement. "The Argentine people can rest easy," says Crespo confidently. "We have what it takes to play a major role."
source : FIFA