Argentina vs. Brazil: High-Profile Teams Fail to Work on Flaws

Argentina and Brazil squared off in an international friendly that ended up being pretty friendly, but frankly it shouldn’t have been.

The final score was 0-0, which was exciting I’m sure.

The thing is, even though this was a match that pinned two teams that need to get things going, there was no urgency involved.

I know that this was a friendly, but both teams have a lot they need to work on.

Gone are the days where Brazil could walk onto a pitch and win a match just because of the color of their jersey and the fear their name brought to the opponent.

That being said, even Argentina could have used this as a great opportunity to get some good work, but every indication is that this friendly was just a waste of time.

Luis Ampuero and Luis Andres Henao of Reuters report on the outcome of the game:

"Ronaldinho failed to inspire Brazil to a win over rivals Argentina on Wednesday as the South American giants played to a drab 0-0 draw.

The first of two friendly games between the two failed to catch fire with both teams fielding second-string sides made up of home-based players.

Argentina went close in the first half through Mauro Boselli while Brazil's Damiao momentarily lifted the gloom in the 77th minute when he hit the crossbar after some superb close control.

'I'm happy, I hope this will give continuity to the coach's work,' Ronaldinho said. 'Argentina and Brazil is always a good game.'"

Now, I understand the concept behind friendlies, but second-string and home-based players?!

Why not just name it a scrimmage and call it a day?

It’s a rather unfortunate reality of friendlies I guess. They just don’t mean a lot to either team.

What makes it more unfortunate though is that both sides could have really used this match.

Neither of them has performed up to their international expectations as of late, so a high-profile tune up would have been just what the doctor ordered.

That wasn’t the case though as both teams wasted their time, and ours, in a 0-0 draw.