Word: crespo
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...Forgive him for appearing distracted. Bielsa, 46, was searching for the answer to a conundrum that would make even a brave man bury his head in the sand. In the next five days, he would have to leave one of two outstanding strikers?Gabriel Batistuta or Hernan Crespo?on the bench. The pair would make any rational list of the five best goal scorers in the world, and either man would find a place on any other World Cup team. But Bielsa's game strategy won't accommodate a pair of out-and-out strikers. There can be only...
...make a judgment call as tough as the one that confronted Bielsa. The question has consumed Argentina for months on end, splitting the soccer-mad nation down the middle. "It's not possible to have a conversation about football and not get into a raging argument about Batistuta versus Crespo," said Guillermo Resnik, 26, an accountant from Buenos Aires who backpacked his way across Asia before arriving in Japan in time for the World Cup. "Half the people, the sentimentals, want Batistuta. The rest of us know Crespo is the right choice...
...their part, both players have discreetly avoided mentioning the topic; by all accounts, they enjoy a cordial relationship in the locker room, despite the efforts of Argentina's media to goad them into a bloodier rivalry. Bielsa, understandably, is fed up with fielding Batistuta-or-Crespo questions at every press conference. In the run-up to the Cup, he agreed to address the issue only once at any length. Even then, after outlining their relative strengths, the coach concluded, "It's a difficult choice." Thanks for the insight, Marcelo...
...haven't sated his appetite, Batistuta bagged four goals in the second half of a warm-up game against J-League champions Kashima Antlers. O.K., so Kashima's defense isn't exactly world-class but it was good enough to neutralize, for the entire first half, a certain Hernan Crespo...
...give the kid a break: it was just a warm-up. In the matches that mattered, Crespo delivered the goods, scoring nine times during Argentina's qualifying march. Overall, he has a strike rate of one goal every other game?better even than English idol Michael Owen. Where Batistuta is a smooth assassin, Crespo is a wily pickpocket, deceiving defenders and slipping unnoticed into goal-scoring positions. At 26, he is at the peak of his powers, and although he hasn't scored in recent friendlies, he has looked sharp...