We are Diego's 23 - Forwards

 
Good lord, are we nearly at 23 already?  Indeed we are, dear reader, and it’s the final piece of the Argentina jigsaw; the jewels in the crown, that forward line.

Sergio Kun Aguero - Atletico Madrid (Spain), 22, 21 caps, 8 goals

IBWM’s type of player.  Really clever footballer.  Lots of guile, skill and a wonderful finisher with a good turn of speed to boot.  Maybe not scoring quite as many as he should alongside Diego Forlan at Atletico is the main reason he isn’t first choice for his country.  Maybe Diego fears a touch of nepotism (Sergio's lass is Diego’s daughter), but Aguero can conjure something out of nothing and is deadly cutting in from the left flank. 

Lionel Messi - Barcelona (Catalonia), 22, 44 caps, 13 goals

Fairly average.  No, that’s absolute twaddle.  He’s a genius and well worth his crown as the very best in the world.  Devastating for his club and entering the tournament in the form of his life, this is clearly Leo’s moment.  However, he has never looked as happy playing for his country as he does at the Camp Nou, mainly due to Argentina asking him to play a much more withdrawn role.  If Leo is to find himself discussed in the same breath as Pelé and Maradona, this is his time to shine.  Regardless of all that, he’s a joy to watch and IBWM salutes you for your general greatness sir!

 

Diego Milito - Internazionale (Italy), 31 (on Sunday), 20 caps, 4 goals

Blinking flip, most national sides would have been happy with those first two, but they keep coming.  Outstanding for his club side Internazionale, who he helped to three trophies this year; Milito is the best exponent of the lone striker role in world football today.  He holds the ball up, brings others in to play, scores goals for fun and works his nuts off for the cause.  Would be first name on the teamsheet of just about every other national side but is likely to keep the bench warm for his own. 

Gonzalo Higuain - Real Madrid (Spain), 22, 5 caps, 3 goals

And another.  Had the focus of European football not been on Leo Messi’s Barcelona, or Jose Mourinho’s Inter, we may well have all paid a lot more attention to the shrinking violets that are Real Madrid.  Of course, if we had, it would have been ‘Kaka this’ and ‘Ronaldo that’, which means that a particularly fine season for them, more or less goes unnoticed.  They’ve already decided it was a disaster, after all and booted their coach.  In amongst all that unnoticedness though, is a striker who has had a blinking marvellous season, weighing in with a massive 29 goals, and that’s exactly what Higuain has done.  Able to finish with both feet and his head (often all at once), Higuain never really looked to be Diego’s favourite, but he’s made his way in there, possibly due to pressure from fans.  Rarely on the radar of pundits talking about who is going to make an impact at South Africa, we could well be looking at the golden boot winner here.  He has all the attributes and right now, all the form.

 

Carlos Tévez - Manchester Citeh (England), 26, 52 caps, 9 goals

I was going to say ‘maintaining the galactico theme’, but I’m fairly sure we are well above galactico level now.  May I introduce Carlos Tévez.  Not exactly pin up material, but that’s exactly what he has become as an iconic star for moneybags Manchester City.  The sort of player that fans love, but somehow seems to rarely get that same warmth from his respective gaffers.  Tévez is another player hitting South Africa in top gear.  23 goals for Citeh this year an excellent showing for this buzzing striker.  Runs his socks off, scores goals galore and takes some knocking off the ball when he gets going.  But then, you knew all that anyway.

Martin Palermo - Boca Juniors (Argentina), 112, 14 caps, 8 goals

Surely it can’t continue…….it can’t?  Oh yes, it can’t; Palermo is here, isn’t he.  Very much the veteran, ‘decent in the air’ Palermo seems to have been on the scene for about 50 years now.  The reason? He has.  I’m being unfair on the old feller.  While he will be widely remembered for missing three whole penalties in one game, Palermo won’t lose too much sleep, he’s off to the World Cup and has already cemented his place in history as Boca Juniors all time record goalscorer.   Now that’s something to tell the grandkids……when they come back from the pub, in about an hour.