Argentina have been true to the faith placed in the Pumas by Agustin Pichot’s golden generation, who won the bronze medal at the 2007 World Cup, that if you believe you can win the tournament then you will grow as a team. Tomas de Vedia, a former member of that generation but not selected for the tournament in France, recalls an embrace between Pichot and Juan Martin Hernandez, “the Magician”, in tears after their semi-final defeat by South Africa. “The general reaction was that it had been a huge achievement, (reaching) a first semi-final with the chance (to play for) a place on the podium. “(But) for them it was the end of a possibility of becoming world champions,” de Vedia wrote in his column in the Buenos Aires daily La Nacion.
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