Sergio Purgart

Buenos Aires

The Executive Committee of the AFA, and the words of the president Julio Grondona, decided to rescind the contract of Batista with the Argentinean team.

Batista can boast two big wins at the helm of the national team: a 4-1 win against Spain, in River, and a 1-0 win against Brazil in Qatar with a last minute goal by Lionel Messi. It is true that the World Champions came to Argentina with the plan to party and barely even cared about the friendly, but the win was huge.

Regardless: one statistic overshadowed everything obtained: eliminated in the quarterfinals by Uruguay in a tournament hosted at home, in front of their own fans. Argentina was the big favorite to win the Copa America and it was left empty handed.

Batista did not accept the word "failure" before the popular disappointment. Beyond the numbers, the failure he did not want to accept came in the form of questioning of his work, his tactical team, individuality, and his ascendance over the group.

After repeated headers by Uruguay in the Argentinean box, there was a judgement against Batista for not working on set plays. The coach bet on Nicolas Burdisso and Gabriel Milito on the defense, perhaps Argentina's weakest points in the Copa America.

The comparison to Barcelona and its total football always worked against him. He tried to play Cambiasso and Banega as Xavi and Iniesta. Very far from that, the team was predictable, without explosion, and with enormous tactical mistakes in midfield.

But the highest disappointment in the Batista era was the soap opera surrounding Carlos Tevez. from "not being among his priorities" in may, to "he plays because he holds the ball more than Di Maria" a day before the inaugural match against Bolivia. The "Apache" won a spot in the formation in the Copa America due to external factors (representatives, businessmen, Grondona).

The Tevez case marked the first weakness for Batista at the head of the national team. In the middle of the Copa America, he insisted with Tevez against Bolivia and Colombia, with Messi as a midfielder. The disappointing actions of the team forced a change in the system, with Messi further back and on the right wing.

A curriculum that included a successful trajectory in the Argentinean league, plus the Gold in Beijing 2008, was not enough to end the crisis.

Without the support of the public, and the anger of some national directives, they pushed the exit of Sergio Batista who did not have enough support to continue with the team.