Heinze left out of Argentina Copa America squad
Gaby hasn’t been called up to the national team for the Copa America this summer. Despite being named as the vice-captain of the team by former Argentina-boss, Diego Maradona, current coach, Batista, has not chosen him.
Personally, I think this is ridiculous. Not only is Gaby technically the vice-captain, but he is the heart of the team. All the players know him and listen to him. When asked in interviews, all the players name him as one of the main leaders of the squad. Batista has clearly been taken in by idiot journalists spreading rumours that Gaby isn’t good enough for the national team, ignoring that a player who “isn’t good enough” would never be able to achieve 72 caps as Gaby has done.
After Argentina were eliminated from the World Cup, Gaby apparently left the changing rooms alone because he was so upset. Look at the video below of the Argentina team coming back from the World Cup and you’ll see how much Gaby cares about the national team. Just look at 1:16 and 1:31….
Posted on May 31, 2011, in Uncategorized and tagged Argentina, Mod post. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
Gaby Heinze Fans 
I’m of the same opinion. It’s more than ridiculous. During the last years he was a worthy member of the Argentinia national team. I still have some hope that he will come back to the team again – and I feel very sorry for him not to take part to Copa America, because somewhere I read, that he was very interested in playing this competition taking place at his home country 😦
I really think that he would have wanted to win it more than anyone else in the squad. I don’t mean to criticise Argentina’s other players too much but there are members of the squad that have been called up, who don’t really care about Argentina much and are just waiting to get back to their clubs teams.
Gaby, however, has always wanted to win a major competition with Argentina more than anything…
I really hope he will get to play with Argentina again, maybe when they have a manager with less of an inferiority complex over Maradona….
I think it is yet another appalling decision by an Argentine coach. Argentina has been blessed with an amazing generation of footballers over the last 25 years yet time and again they shoot themselves in the foot with poor selections or bad tactics during matches.
Heinze is up there with Zanetti for me – very solid, adds useful crosses and important goals on top of being a rock in the side’s defensive stability. Experience is hugely important.
I was bemoaning Zanetti and G.Milito not being in 2010 WC squad – likewise Maradona not having Riquelme, Aimar, Cambiasso, Lucho Gonzalez, and Crespo or Saviola in the squad. Yet he played a past-it Veron, the appalling Gutierrez and Demichelis, and Mascher had no midfield support.
In 2006 Argentina plays the greatest int’l football ever seen imho – the goal against Serbia was like footballing nirvana… yet the coach f*cked up in the q/f benching Riquelme, not playing Messi and trying to defend a 1-0 lead when the side had the arsenal to destroy the Germans by 3 or 4.
I’m from the UK but have long adored the Argentina teams going back to 1986 and the brilliance of Maradona. It saddens me it has been 18 years since a major title and I fear with poor selection again Argentina risk losing the Copa next month. I’d still be picking the likes of Riquelme, Aimar and Crespo/Saviola as well as Heinze and Samuel. Back 4 should be Zanetti, G.Milito, Samuel, Heinze. Midfield: Cambiasso, Mascherano, Riquelme/Aimar, Forwards: Tevez, Messi, Crespo
None of Higuain, D.Milito and Di Maria have proved it consistently at int’l level. Argentina need a quality no9, which Crespo still is, to link up with the pint-sized Messi and Tevez, and bring out the best in them.
They should be playing the same system they had at the 2006 WC and 2007 Copa, not trying to copy Barcelona.
Good luck Argentina at the 2011 Copa!!!
Well said! I’m from the UK, too but I love watching Argentina, though I spend most of the time looking at the manager making weird decision and thinking “what the hell are you doing?”. I think the thing is that whoever is managing Argentina feels they need to have a big personality to match the size of the job so they make stupid, bold decisions to try and prove that they know what they’re doing instead of going with what’s sensible.
Batista, to me, seems like he’s just constantly trying to out-do maradona because, obviously, Maradona was very popular and always will be with the Argentinean people. But he seems to have some kind of petty problem with any players that Maradona got on particularly well with, i.e., Heinze.
Personally, I think Argentina needs a manager who won’t be so obsessed with drawing attention to themselves and trying to make themselves look big, and will just get on with the job instead!
I am not a fan of this man, but after a complete miss match for Javier Zanetti at the left side; it is more than obvious Heinze is badly needed in this squad.
Zanetti is a good player but he does not play at the left side while Heinze do. Batista was aware of Maradona’s mistake and called Zanetti yet he made a dumber one and ignored Heinze. Just right now I think he knows that he did a big mistake!
With Heinze at the left, Zanetti at the right, Argentina would have done a lot..
I respect that many people do not like Heinze for various reasons, but please do not be influenced by what the press says about him, because less than half of it is true.
And yes, you are right, Heinze is needed in the Argentina squad, not just because they have no one else for the left-back role, but as a leader as well. If you look back at the games he’s played, especially from the World Cup, he spends the whole game shouting to his team-mates, getting them into position and yelling at the defence to stay in line.
I find it quite sad that Batista didn’t call him up for what are obviously not footballing reasons. You do not just ‘not pick’ a player with 72 caps who has been in the national team for 7 years straight. It should be obvious that they’ve been picked so often beforehand and that to have been so consistently in the team, they deserve to be there.