"People know what game Argentina play because we have Riquelme. It's a declaration of intent.”
The words belong to Jose Pekerman, and it is highly unlikely that any coach at Germany 2006 has built his side around one player quite as unreservedly as Argentina’s has around = Juan Roman Riquelme.
The 28-year-old's sudden elevation from bit-part player to key man can be attributed almost entirely to Pekerman’s appointment in September 2004, prior to which Riquelme had been considered fourth or fifth-choice for the playmaker role by Daniel Passarella and Marcelo Bielsa, both of whom subscribed to a popular view that his lack of pace prevents him from stamping his authority on matches.
Predictably, Pekerman contests this point vigorously. “Some say that Riquelme is slow, but he's not slow when he's in possession,” said the man who coached the Villarreal midfielder at youth level. “Anyway, it's the ball that should do the running, not the player.”
Certainly, few footballers at this FIFA World Cup™ could claim to be as adept as Riquelme at letting the ball do the work, with the player himself having outlined his primary responsibility as, “making sure that my team-mates can always find me to give me the ball."
The Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, is certainly a keen admirer of a player whose ability to dictate the tempo of matches is thought by many to be unparralled. "(Riquelme) is always able to slow the game down, then wait for a weak moment to kill you," was the Frenchman's verdict.
It is fitting, however, that the final word on this graceful, technically gifted and tactically astute midfielder should go to the coach widely agreed to be his number one fan.
"I've seen very few players with Riquelme's capacity to understand the game," says Pekerman. "He's one of those players who are disappearing from the game. Football is producing electrifying players, speed merchants. But it's losing the type of player who really knows what he's doing."