Claudio Caniggia’s First Goal for the National Team: A Historic Moment in Argentina’s Soccer History

Claudio Caniggia’s first goal for the national team (1987)

The flags were there, strategically placed in one of the stands of the Monumental stadium. Argentina had not had the best debut in the Copa América in 1987, where they were the host, tying with Peru by one goal. The team did not play well, but the most worrying thing had been the deficiencies in attack, heightened by Bilardo’s decision to have Claudio Paul Caniggia on the bench, bringing him on in the second half. At 20 years old, he had just finished a full season in the First Division, but all his virtues were already clear, which fit perfectly where the team needed him most. The next step was with Ecuador and there the flags could be seen that said: “Bilardo: we want to see Caniggia. Don’t do like Menotti with Maradona in 1978,” and the other: “Caniggia: the Argentine hope. Millions of us were not wrong.”

Argentina had just won the World Cup, but of its four most offensive players from that feat, it could only count on Maradona, since Valdano, Burruchga and Enrique were left out due to different physical problems and their replacements were not giving the expected responses. At the end of the first half against Ecuador, the score was zero, qualification was complicated and, imaginatively, everyone present at River’s stadium wanted to go and sign at the foot of the flags. El Narigón decided to bring Cani on for Alfaro and six minutes in, with a splendid header, he opened the scoring, in what was the first of his many and celebrated goals with the sky blue and white shirt.

The qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia were one of the most complex for the Argentine national team in its entire history. After the death of Julio Grondona, the AFA was left like a ship adrift, without a firm leadership. The process was started by Gerardo Martino as coach, who resigned exhausted by non-sporting issues and in his place was appointed Edgardo Bauza, whose time was not up to expectations. The dates passed and the qualification became more and more complicated. With four games left, Jorge Sampaoli arrived, but the situation was on the same winding path, until reaching the match with Ecuador in Quito on the final day, with the obligation to win, in order not to depend on anyone. In the minute, Ibarra scored the 1-0 and increased the doubts to infinity, but there, like a superhero to the rescue, the figure of Lionel Messi emerged, to score three unforgettable goals and seal the passport to Russia.

The flags that were placed on Bilardo for Caniggia in the 1987 Copa América

When Daniel Passarella took over as coach of the national team after the 1994 World Cup, he did so with a broad consensus, due to his good performance as a coach at River Plate. Sooner rather than later, that credit was exhausted with the people, due to a mix of irregular performances and various controversies, such as the one he had with Fernando Redondo, regarding his haircut. In 1996, it was the turn of the Qualifiers and the second match marked the most feared hell for the Kaiser, which was that his teams would have to play a match at altitude. He spoke a lot about the subject in the lead-up and the 2-0 defeat in Quito was logical and fell short, because Ecuador deserved a couple more goals. In the press conference, Passarella left a phrase for history: “I was struck by the tremendous imprecision there was, even in the set pieces, which always went too far, because here the ball does not bend…”

The worst was over. Colombia’s 5-0 thrashing, with a roar of catastrophe, left the national team in an unexpected play-off against Australia, which ultimately proved to be a survival plan for a shipwrecked footballer. With the distressing qualification in the bag, Argentina planned a series of friendlies to get ready for the World Cup in the United States, which included participation in the traditional Kirin Cup in Japan. The problem arose when this country denied entry to Diego Maradona, because it had a regulation that prevented those with current legal proceedings related to drugs from entering its territory. The rest of the squad refused to travel, in solidarity with the captain, creating a mess in the logistics, since new friendlies had to be arranged on the fly. One of them was against Ecuador in Guayaquil, with a 1-0 loss and poor performance by the team. It was the first defeat in the history of the Argentine national team against that opponent, who celebrated it in the same way as the achievement, which is remembered even today, 30 years later. It was a warning sign of what was to come, on and off the field, in the World Cup that was about to begin…

Jorge Burruchaga’s first goal for the National Team (1983)

Carlos Bilardo took over as coach of the national team in March 1983 and his first serious commitment was the Copa América between August and September of that year. It was the last edition of the competition with the previous format of competition, with three-country groups and the defending champion entering in the semi-finals. The debut was against Ecuador in the city of Quito, in a difficult match, in which Nery Pumpido was the star. Argentina managed to go 2-0 up, but at the last minute, they equalised with a great goal from a free kick. Before the match, there was an incredible organizational error, unusual with Grondona and Bilardo involved: three Estudiantes players (Trobbiani – Camino and Ponce) travelled with the delegation and there they found out that they could not play because they still had a suspension due to having been expelled the previous month in a Copa Libertadores match. Conmebol established in its regulations that the sanctions had to be fulfilled in any tournament it organised, whether it was for clubs or national teams. That night against Ecuador would be foundational for three men forever identified with the Narigón, because there they made their official debut in the National Team: José Luis Brown and Miguel Ángel Russo, and those were Jorge Burruchaga’s first goals with the sky blue and white shirt.

After a Copa América 2019, in which he went from less to more, finishing in third place, Lionel Scaloni’s cycle began to take firmer steps, which were reaffirmed in the two friendlies he played in the FIFA date of October. First, he tied 2-2 with Germany in Dortmund, after being down by two goals after 20 minutes, and then a very convincing victory against Ecuador by 6-1 in Alicante, where some glimpses of what the team would be like in the following months and years could be seen. That day, a player who is usually useful to the coach in various positions and almost never stopped being called up made his debut in the national team: Nicolás González. And the match had the curious detail that the six goals were scored by different authors, since Lucas Alario, Marcos Acuña, Leandro Paredes, Germán Pezzella, Nicolás Domínguez and Lucas Ocampos scored.

Team that qualified for the 2002 World Cup against Ecuador: Juan Pablo Sorín, Javier Zanetti, Roberto Ayala, Nelson Vivas, Germán Burgos and Walter Samuel. Crouching: Cristian González, Diego Simeone, Hernán Crespo, Pablo Aimar and Juan Sebastián Verón

In November 2003, a young Carlos Tevez was at a difficult crossroads. On the one hand, Hugo Tocalli called him up for the youth World Cup to be played at the end of that month in the United Arab Emirates, which overlapped with the final of the Apertura and the final of the Intercontinental Cup between Boca and Milan in Japan. The decision was to stay and play for his club, where he won both titles, but an idea arose that he did not want to play for the national team and that, because of this snub, he would not be called up to the senior team. Marcelo Bielsa ignored all the versions and called him up for the first match of the 2004 Qualifiers, against Ecuador in Buenos Aires. Carlitos was on the bench and came on in the second half in place of Mariano González, thus beginning a long period for the blue and white team, where he scored 13 goals in 76 matches played and participated in two World Cups.

Argentina had a brilliant qualifying campaign on the road to Korea-Japan 2002, where it was the solid leader throughout the 18 rounds, consolidating a brilliant game at times, with high-level footballers. Proof of this was that it obtained the ticket to the World Cup, with four rounds still to be played. The passport was sealed on August 15 in Quito, by clearly beating Ecuador 2-0 with goals from Juan Sebastián Verón and Hernán Crespo, in what was the 16th consecutive match of Marcelo Bielsa’s team scoring goals. At that time, the National Team was at the top and, perhaps, was the best in the world. The level began to decline a little and some individual players were below their usual performance, resulting in the early and frustrating elimination in the group phase of the World Cup.

In the period between the two World Cups he managed, Carlos Bilardo tried out many players in the various friendlies he played. In April 1989, in the midst of preparation for the Copa América that was to take place in Brazil, one of them took place against Ecuador in Guayaquil, where, with the exception of Luis Islas, who belonged to Atlético Madrid, the team was made up of players who played locally. The score was tied at two goals and both national goals were scored by Alejandro Alfaro Moreno and that night two particular debuts took place in the national team. One was Néstor Gorosito, who was going through an exceptional moment in San Lorenzo and the other was Sergio Silvano Maciel, the only Deportivo Armenio player to officially wear the light blue and white shirt.

2024-07-04 05:56:00
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