Diego set to celebrate 100th cap<\/p>\n
BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters): His name is Diego and he is the most
\ncapped player in Argentine soccer history.<\/p>\n
But he is not Maradona. He is Diego Simeone, who is expected
\nto win his 100th cap for Argentina against Venezuela on Tuesday
\nafter a 13-year career at the heart of his country's midfield.<\/p>\n
Few players can have clocked up a century of caps for a major
\nsoccer nation with so little fuss.<\/p>\n
While Maradona generally wins the plaudits as Argentina's
\ngreatest ever player and Gabriel Batistuta holds the all-time
\nArgentine scoring record, Simeone seldom takes the limelight.<\/p>\n
Notoriously combative on the pitch and reserved off it, the
\nman known as \"El Cholo\" -- a reference to his mixed European and
\nindigenous South American blood -- is always quick to deflect the
\npraise onto someone else.<\/p>\n
\"If I think about Maradona it puts me to shame,\" 30-year-old
\nSimeone told reporters on the eve of his 99th cap -- against
\nItaly on his home turf at Rome's Olympic Stadium last month.<\/p>\n
\"He was a Martian. He was so good that he could be with us
\nstill today, even at the age of 40.\"<\/p>\n
\"I, on the other hand, am just a warrior, a fighter who aims
\nto give everything. But even Diego will be pleased for me (to win
\n100 caps). He knows how much I love the national team.\"<\/p>\n
Simeone is the only Argentine to have won the league title in
\nboth Italy and Spain -- the countries of choice for generations
\nof Argentines seeking to build careers in Europe.<\/p>\n
And he has done it with previously unfashionable teams.<\/p>\n
He won the Spanish title with Atletico Madrid in 1996, helping
\nto break the grip, albeit temporarily, of Real Madrid and
\nBarcelona on the coveted crown.<\/p>\n
Simeone then came to Italy and last May helped Lazio to only
\nthe second title in its history and its first in 26 years.<\/p>\n
His international career started in the late 1980s but in
\n1990, like Maradona in 1978, he suffered the disappointment of
\nbeing left out of the Argentine squad for the World Cup finals.<\/p>\n
\"I was a 20-year-old and I was left out of the final 22 at the
\nlast minute. It was a big blow,\" he recalled.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, he earned a move to Italy that summer, joining
\nPisa, which was then in Serie A.<\/p>\n
The Tuscan was relegated that year but Simeone stuck with it,
\njust as Batistuta was to do with Fiorentina when it went down to
\nthe Italian second division two years later.<\/p>\n
In 1992, Simeone joined Maradona at Seville and from there
\nwent to Madrid, where he was the heartbeat of an Atletico side
\nwhich won the title against all odds.<\/p>\n
In 1997 he moved to Inter, where he won the UEFA Cup, and then
\ncame to Lazio where he has formed a formidable midfield
\npartnership with the equally uncompromising Juan Veron.<\/p>\n
On April 1 last year he scored a goal which many feel swung
\nthe title Lazio's way.<\/p>\n
The Rome club was trailing Juventus by nine points with seven
\nmatches to play when Simeone headed home the only goal in a
\nstunning win at Juventus.<\/p>\n
The Turin side subsequently crumbled and Simeone scored a goal
\nin each of Lazio's last four league matches to help the Roman
\nwrench the scudetto away from the northern clubs.<\/p>\n
One of the toughest tacklers in the business, Simeone has not
\nalways been appreciated by his opponents.<\/p>\n
He was widely condemned for faking injury in a now infamous
\nincident at the 1998 World Cup, when he collapsed after being
\nclipped on the calf by England's David Beckham.<\/p>\n
Beckham was sent off for the offense while Simeone got up and
\nhelped Argentina complete an epic quarterfinals victory over its
\nold enemy.<\/p>",
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