"I follow all of the soccer news in Argentina on the website of the daily sports newspaper Olé,” said Di Lorenzo, who first arrived in Montreal in 2006. “I like to follow our best players who are playing in Europe, but also some of my friends who play for various clubs around the country.”
Playing his sixth season with the Impact, Di Lorenzo remains one of the club’s most consistent players. Back in 2007, the Argentina midfielder was awarded the Giuseppe-Saputo Trophy as the club’s most valuable player of the year.
Having honed his technical skills with the academy of one of Argentina’s top clubs, CA San Lorenzo de Almagro, Di Lorenzo’s passion for the game developed at an early age and is at an all time high right now. He’s anxiously awaiting the end of June, as the Copa America, the most prestigious tournament for South American national sides (plus two invited teams), gets underway on July 1.
“From my perspective, it will be twice as interesting because Argentina is the host nation this year,” added Di Lorenzo, who just turned 30. “We’ve always done well in big tournaments that are played in our country. The best example was back in 1978 when Argentina won the World Cup at Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires.”
That first World Cup victory was on June 25, 1978, when Argentina defeated the Netherlands 3-1 in extra time.
As far as the Copa America goes, Argentina’s most recent title came back in 1993, the nation’s 14th championship since the tournament started in 1916.
“I’d love to see Argentina win it because it’s been a while,” underlined Di Lorenzo. “The hardest thing to swallow is that our arch nemesis, Brazil, defeated us in the last two finals (2004 and 2007).”
“My compatriots on the national team will be under a lot of pressure playing at home, but they’ll have to take advantage of the situation. Our players like pressure situations and they’ll get exactly that when they play in front of a crowd that loves them, but expects a lot.”
In order to be successful, Argentina must field a team that is more balanced than the offensively-slanted club selected by Diego Maradona for the last World Cup in South Africa. The Germans eliminated that squad with a crushing 4-0 victory in the quarterfinals.
“I think this team will be more balanced. I would also expect to see some excellent defensive players like Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti, who were ignored by Maradona, back on the team for the Copa America.”
“That being said, I can only imagine how difficult it must be for someone selecting Argentina’s national side to not lean towards more offense, considering we have some of the best forwards in the world, like Carlos Tevez, Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Ezequiel Lavezzi. It’s hard to leave anyone like that out of the equation.”
Di Lorenzo’s confidence in an Argentine championship also rests on the fact that his country is in a favourable group for the first stage of the 2011 Copa America.
“We start the tournament against Bolivia in the opening match on July 1. Then, it’s Columbia and Costa Rica, which is replacing Japan. The Japanese team was invited but decided not to come after the devastating earthquake in March.”
“Overall, it’s a group that shouldn’t give us any problems. Bolivia is one of South America’s weakest teams and Costa Rica certainly isn’t a superpower. It’ll be much more difficult for Brazil, whose group includes Ecuador, Paraguay and Venezuela.”
Leonardo Di Lorenzo hopes to watch as many games as possible, either on television or the web. Nothing would make him happier than to see Argentina repeat the scenario of 1978 with a victory in the final at Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires, on July 24.
“It would do everyone in the country a lot of good,” he concluded. “The party would last a very long time... especially if we beat Brazil for the title!”
Martin Smith, Impact Média
