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In a sport full of young prodigies make mid-teen professional
debuts, Batistuta is an anomaly. The Argentine striker
didn't begin taking soccer seriously until he was 17,
when he switched from basketball.
But in a testament to his natural athletic gifts, just
two years later he was playing for South American club
champions Newell's Old Boys. Now Batistuta, known as
Batigol to his fans, is one of the old boys on Argentina
at 33, making his third and, he says, final World Cup
appearance.
"My last game with his team at the World Cup will
be my last game for Argentina," he said.
"I'm calmer and mentally stronger than I was four
years ago in France," he said. "This is my
last World Cup, and I want to win it. Not everyone can
say they had the chance to do that."
A classic opportunist and natural finisher with an
explosive shot, "Batigol," as he is known
by fans, is Argentina's all-time leading scorer with
a remarkable 55 goals in 75 games. With five goals he
was the second-leading scorer at France '98 -- behind
only Davor Suker of Croatia -- and led Argentina with
four goals at USA '94.
He's only four off Gerd Mueller's record of 14 World
Cup goals.
After stints with River Plate in 1990 -- where he won
his first Argentinian championship -- and Boca Juniors
in 1991, Batistuta joined Fiorentina in Italy, eventually
leading Italy's Serie A league in scoring.
In 2000 he moved to AS Roma for what was the second-highest
transfer fee at the time and lead the team to its first
league championship in nearly 20 years.
Despite his World Cup credentials, it doesn't look
as though Batistuta will be starting. In Batistuta and
Hernan Crespo, Argentina boasts two of the world's great
strikers, but unfortunately for Batistuta, Argentine
coach Marcelo Biesla is convinced that the two players
are too similar to effectively complement each other
and will only player one or the other.
So far, it looks like Crespo is getting the nod on
the strength of a fine regular season with Lazio of
Italy's Serie A, while Batistuta struggled with injuries.
Batistuta seems resigned to whatever Biesla decides
for the World Cup.
"(Crespo and I) are not fighting with one another,"
Batistuta said. "We both want to play, and it's
the head coach who will decide. We think we can both
play together, but Biesla obviously doesn't. So I don't
think it's going to happen."
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