Football Update: Serie A- Inter Milan and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Argentina-c2841 legend Javier Zanetti
Football is an interesting sport where players peak by the time they reach 26 to 28 years old. After that, time begins to catch up to them, injuries become more prevalent, their role with their team begins to diminish and eventually a player will bounce
around from team to team before they eventually hang up their boots.
In Italy, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alessandro-Del-Piero-c4726 spent almost his entire career at Turin, in both their good times and recent struggles over the last few years. At the end of 2007-08 season, one of the greatest
defenders of all-time, Paolo Maldini, retired after playing his entire career with AC Milan.
Now at 37, Javier Zanetti, continues to play at the highest level and shows no signs of slowing down. Despite playing in Argentina for a couple of years before making the move to Inter Milan at 22 years old, Zanetti has embodied all the traits of a true
leader—reliability, versatility and consistency.
Massimo Moratti's first signing when he bought Inter Milan was http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Zanetti-c18096. Over the years at Inter, he established a reputation for his consistency and reliability. Since then, Zanetti has yet to let down his teammates and fans around the world by playing
at a world-class level in every game.
Zanetti preference has always been the right back position, but when Maicon joined Inter for the 2006-07 season he showed his true class. Instead of sitting on the bench or making a stink out of the situation, he showed his versatility by switching over
to the left back. He even played in midfield when key players were out due to injury and excel in the process.
Ever since he earned his first cap in 1994, Zanetti has become the most capped player of all-time for Argentina. Despite the fact that Zanetti has 14 trophies and counting from his time with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567, he has zero trophies with Argentina. Call it bad luck or poor
team form, Argentina has not been able to win anything in nearly 20 years at both the continental and international scene.
For all the caps and number of times Zanetti has been relied upon to anchor the defence, he has been controversially omitted from the 2006 and 2010 world cup squads. When he was head and shoulders above the best option at right back and left back and even
better than some of the midfielders used by the various managers over the years. In 2006 World Cup, Jose Pekerman picked http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Diego-Maradona-c11160 preferred Ariel Garce for Zanetti;
No one really knows why he was excluded from those squads. Perhaps it was jealousy or resentment from Maradona and Pekerman for how classy and legendary Zanetti has become over the years. It certainly had nothing to do with form. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gabriel-Heinze-c14310 and Martin
Demichelis, who have been regulars with the national team for several years, both have been cancers on the pitch, yet they continue to get called up.
Zanetti was controversially stripped off the captain's armband, with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 and his part-time status at Barcelona this year, Mascherano continues to
lead the national team. Calling on Zanetti for all the qualifier games but not the World Cup itself can be considered a crime against football.
In any case, he is the embodiment of a true leader. Despite being 37 years old, he is still reliable enough to maintain world class form in the Serie A, Champion's League and International stage. Zanetti still manages to play over 50 games a year, a feat
many players in their mid 20s fail to achieve.
Hopefully the football world will see him leading the Albiceleste in 2014. Chances are that even at 41, he will be the best option for Argentina in either fullback role. He shows no signs of slowing down, so chances are the football world will enjoy Javier
Zanetti for more years to come.
Not bad for a player who is supposed to be winding down his career. He is like fine wine; Zanetti continues to get better with time and experience.
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