ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

On the verge of joining Liverpool, Uruguay centre back was last seen on the pitch in Buenos Aires in the Copa America, and then accepting an award for the best young player of the tournament.

These are impressive credentials for a player who is not 21 until October.

Coates is shaping up as a potential future captain of his country but, assuming the deal goes through, the challenge he now faces at club level is very different, and is surely going to stretch the youngster with the gangling frame.

Tournament football is played to its own rhythm - look at Paraguay, beaten convincingly by Coates and his Uruguay team-mates in the final. They reached the decider without winning a single game.

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Has Javier Zanetti's international career finally come to an end?

paid tribute to him last week - and then to face . He has forced his way back before after being dropped but at the age of 38 can he really come back again?

One of the most remarkable aspects of Zanetti's haul of 145 international caps is that the total could have been even higher. The was controversially left out of the squad for both of the last two World Cups - despite the fact that have had such difficulty producing full-backs.

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One of my favourite pieces of football writing is by the splendid Argentine coach Angel Cappa, a romantic of the old school, reflecting on his good fortune at being in Spain to watch Brazil’s midfield in the 1982 World Cup.

β€œThe ball arrived in this zone [midfield],” he wrote, β€œand would then disappear to reappear in the form of a rabbit and also a dove and then was hidden again from anguished opponents who would look for it in the most unlikely places without being able to find it….

"The crowd, myself included, looked at the watch with the intention of making time stand still because we all wanted the game to last for ever.”

Since then, though, no one has really been able to write about Brazil in quite the same terms. Not through any lack of quality - in the last 30 years the production line of great attacking full backs and magnificent strikers has been working overtime.

Μύ

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The semi-serious aside, friendlies are all Brazil have at senior level between now and the World Cup they host in three year's time.

This is a legitimate cause for concern. Part of the story of South Africa 2010 is how well the South American qualifiers had prepared the continent's teams - all five put up a respectable showing, with Paraguay reaching the quarter finals for the first time and Uruguay, who had qualified in fifth place, reaching the semis. And one of the lessons of the recently concluded Copa America is that the next set of South American qualifiers are likely to be even more competitive.

Another lesson from the Copa is, in the current circumstances, even more unfortunate for Brazil. Because the 2011 Copa America showed that friendlies can be very unreliable witnesses.

This was most clearly seen with Argentina, whose attempt to imitate Barcelona appeared viable in warm up matches, only to be be revealed as unworkable when the real stuff started. They and their have a marathon series of qualifiers in which to whip a new team into shape. Brazil, as we have seen, only have friendlies.

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Just before the he signed a contract to be Argentina boss in the coming set of World Cup qualifiers. Argentina had not sacked a coach in decades - either they had resigned or had reached the end of their contract. Why would it be any different now?

On his record over the past year, Sergio Batista is unfortunate to have been ousted - with former Leeds and Sheffield United midfielder Alejandro Sabella lined up to replace him.

True, the Copa did not go as planned, with the . Batista's plans to form a Buenos Aires imitation Barcelona clearly did not work, and he had to rethink his team after two disappointing draws.

But it is easy to be wise after the event. He was perfectly entitled to try out the system, with Lionel Messi in his club 'false number nine' position.

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