In his first season with a ‘big’ club, Diego Milito has excelled. After yesterdays Champions League final he has now brought his tally to 30 goals for the season; a very healthy return bettered only in the current Argentine squad by Lionel Messi. Yet, it is feasible that Milito may not feature at all in Diego Maradona’s plans.
Milito is a curious character. When one considers who the top strikers in the world are, Milito usually tends not to be considered. He only turned pro aged 20 and has struggled to hold down a consistent place in the Argentinean national squad since his debut in 2003. He has only moved to a ‘big’ club – Inter Milan – late on in his career, aged 30.
Only upon looking at his statistics I do feel that I may have underestimated him. Since he moved to Europe in 2003 he has scored more than 20 league goals on four occasions and never failed to score less than 12 league goals in a season. His goals to games ratio in all club games since 2003 is a goal every 1.8 games – for any striker this is impressive. It makes it all the more surprising that he has only moved to a larger Champions League playing club at such a late stage in his career.
Milito is more than a goal scorer though. He is a very hard working player; he is clever and very good at making space for himself; he is good all round when it comes to striking abilities – speed, aerial ability and finishing. He is more than a poacher; he can contribute deep or play off the last defender. He doesn’t require his teammates to do his running. Most importantly, he instinctively knows where the goal is.
In some quarters Milito was expected to be cut by Maradona from the 30-man provisional world cup squad. Instead, Maradona has opted for a whopping six strikers – Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Martin Palermo, Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez and Diego Milito. It is hard to see where Milito will fit in to a starting XI. Maradona will not leave out either Messi or Tevez and he has started to see that Higuain is too good to not be playing. Milito does offer something different, he is an all-rounder, unlike the other strikers there are no stand-out features to game – that is no criticism though, he can do a bit of everything.
Milito is in form now and is playing with a real confidence. Maradona must not overlook this. He could play Milito and Higuain up top, flanked with Tevez and Messi out wide. Risky and attacking but bold. It makes a statement. Argentina must focus on their strength; which in this current squad is in the striking department. Maradona must find a way to accommodate as many strikers as possible. Argentina must play attacking football. Maradona has been much criticised and has been branded as being fairly clueless. He of all people knows about attacking football and I would hope he would recognise the extraordinary attacking qualities within his squad and try and play a brand of football that reflects that.
I think Diego Milito could be important. Argentina struggled through qualifying in which he only featured briefly at the beginning. In what will probably be his only World Cup, Milito has a role to play. He is one of a deadly set of strikers who have accumulated more than 160 goals between them this year. Argentina would benefit from having someone as clever as him leading their forward play. The year he has had, the record he has, the fact that other teams will no doubt focus primarily on Messi, his style of play all mean I would select him to start at the World Cup. It is time for Maradona to recognise this and potentially turn a feared strike force into a World Cup-winning one.
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Tags: Argentina, Diego Maradona, Diego Milito, Doron, Maradona, Milito, World Cup
