Argentina's tradition also a burden

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Eitan Abramovich/Getty ImagesLionel Messi scored the equalizer and set up Sergio Aguero for Argentina's win over Colombia. But for some, it still wasn't good enough.

Uruguay sat out the fourth round of South America's World Cup qualification campaign, celebrating the top spot (and a golden year) with a 1-0 victory in a friendly against host Italy. Even more impressive, Tuesday's victory was achieved without Diego Forlan or Luis Suarez.

While the Uruguayans were off on the other side of the Atlantic, two teams pulled level with them on points atop the table -- two teams from opposite ends of the continent with vastly different footballing traditions and greatly contrasting attitudes toward their performances in the current campaign. Venezuela reached the seven-point mark, after which it was barely able to control its euphoria, while Argentina did so blowing a huge sigh of relief.

On Tuesday, Argentina was 45 minutes away from pushing the panic button. Four days earlier in the third round of qualifying, it had produced a disappointing display to draw 1-1 with Bolivia in Buenos Aires, a fixture usually seen as a home banker. There was no sense of a team, new captain Lionel Messi got worse as the game wore on, and coach Alejandro Sabella was clearly worried about the prospect of visiting Colombia in the fourth round. The opponent was, along with Uruguay, the only unbeaten team in the competition. And there were also the conditions to consider -- the game would be played in the fierce afternoon sun of Barranquilla, a sweltering city on the Caribbean coast.

So Sabella went with a cautious lineup -- and saw his plans unravel just before halftime when Colombia took the lead, Dorlan Pabon's free kick deflected past his own keeper by Javier Mascherano. What could Argentina do? It had created nothing in the first half, and now ran the risk of wilting in the heat as it sought to chase the game, opening up and leaving itself exposed to the Colombian counterattack.

But Colombia had worries of its own. The suspension of Luis Amaranto Perea deprived the side of its quickest center back. Mario Yepes and Arquivaldo Mosquera defended deep to protect their lack of pace. And specialist midfield marker Carlos Sanchez was injured. He had taken care of Messi in fine style when the teams met in July at the Copa America. In his absence, Abel Aguilar and Gustavo Bolivar sought to protect the center backs. Before the match, Bolivar thought his task might be easy. Messi, he said, was an ordinary player.

Bolivar was made to eat his words, but only after the interval. Sergio Aguero came on at halftime and the game changed. His speed gave the Colombian defense extra cause for concern, and his presence allowed Messi to drop deeper, picking up possession in the ample space in front of Colombia's defensive midfielders. Given space to pick up a head of steam, and given options around him for a quick exchange of passes, there is nothing ordinary about Lionel Messi.

And so, contrary to all the forecasts, as the game wore on it was Colombia that wilted. Chasing after the ball is always more psychologically tiring than running in possession. The host managed just one chance in the second half, while Messi's perky orchestrations started to find gaps in its defense. He scored the equalizer, and was also involved in the winner, a move set up and rounded off by Aguero.

Messi commented afterward that he and his teammates had finished the game in a state of exhaustion. But their efforts had been rewarded with a deserved victory, one for which they had to dig deep. To come away with the three points, Argentina had been forced to confront its own demons, overcome its lack of confidence and come from behind against the odds. It showed strength of character.

But Argentina did not show enough football to please all the purists. Cesar Luis Menotti is one of the most interesting voices in Argentine football. The coach who led the country to its first World Cup win in 1978, Menotti's brand of cafe philosophy craves for something more aesthetically pleasing than Sabella's side produced on Tuesday. His reaction to Argentina's display: "I didn't like it at all."

It is an illustration of how tradition can weigh down like a burden. For some, Argentina will always be judged by the highest standards, and found wanting in the shadows of greats from the past.

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Juan Barreto/Getty ImagesVenezuela's 1-0 win over Bolivia was cause for celebration, as the country's first World Cup appearance is becoming a real possibility.

Venezuela, meanwhile, has no such worries. It is gleefully constructing its own tradition. Tuesday's 1-0 win at home against Bolivia was by no means a vintage display -- the visitors may even have deserved a draw by the end -- but the Venezuelans are in no mood to criticize. All they can think about is that their first World Cup appearance is becoming a real possibility.

A land more associated with baseball and beauty contests, the rise of Venezuela on the football pitch is truly remarkable and would never have happened without the introduction of the marathon World Cup qualification format in 1996. Up to that point, Venezuela's all-time record in qualifying was as follows: two wins, three draws, 31 defeats, 18 goals scored and 117 conceded. In the most recent of those, the qualifiers for the World Cup in 1994, it beat Ecuador at home but lost its other seven games, scoring four and conceding 34 in the campaign. Venezuela was South America's San Marino.

Since then, it has been through a number of stages: The identification at the end of the 1990s of a promising group of young players; the first run of victories a decade ago and the subsequent boost of confidence; investment in youth development and qualification to the 2009 World Youth Cup; new players produced and fed into the senior squad; and then an honorable fourth place (it was very unlucky not to reach the final) in the Copa America this past July.

This last achievement gave Venezuela unprecedented global visibility -- and made playing for the national team a much more attractive proposition for European-based players with a Venezuelan connection.

Rapidly introduced to the squad, these new faces have already made a huge contribution. Venezuela has so far scored three goals in the campaign. The first -- last month's historic winner against Argentina -- was headed in by Fernando Amorebieta, a Venezuelan-born Basque player who grew up in Spain and plays at center back for Athletic Bilbao. The second -- Friday's vital late equalizer against Colombia -- was coolly slotted home by attacking midfielder Frank Feltscher, Swiss born with a Venezuelan mother. His younger brother Rolf, a defender with Parma in Italy, made his debut coming on as a substitute against Bolivia on Tuesday, when the only goal came from a corner headed in by center back Vizcarrondo, and floated in by Julio Alvarez, who is Venezuela-born but was raised in Spain (he represented Spain in the U-17s).

It is remarkable how well Venezuela and its youthful coach Cesar Farias have been able to incorporate these new players without losing a sense of the project -- without, it would appear, sparking jealousy and protests in the camp. Certainly, results are not suffering.

Next time around, the bar is raised, though. When South America's World Cup qualification campaign resumes in June, Venezuela is away at Uruguay, a fascinating test for the new kids on the block.

Tim Vickery is an English football journalist who has lived in Brazil since 1994 and specializes in South American football.

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