How much blame should Roman shoulder?

Definition of a 'good playmaker' from Wiki:

Perhaps the most important quality of a playmaker is the ability to read the game, and get into good positions making for effective receipt and distribution of the ball. Intuition is another key element of a playmakers' game, as they need to know where different players are at different times, without taking too long to dwell on the ball. A good playmaker will often hold possession, allowing other team members to make attacking runs. The ostensible role of the playmaker is to then provide or facilitate the final pass which leads to a goal. In football terminology this is often known as a killer ball or the final ball and is officially recorded as an assist.

These are all qualities Roman possesses and had frequently displayed. But on Sunday, he wasn't able to meet any of these criterias, and that's why we lost.

Brazil shut Roman down from the start. For a team build around the enganche system, this meant our entire offense was shut down. Seeking support, Roman ordered our defense to add offensive pressure by pushing fullbacks, which opened our rear up for Brazilian counter.

For a person at such critical position, Roman is too easy to shut down because he isn't very fast. Other similar players had faced similar problem, Roberto Baggio, Zinedine Zidane, Glenn Hoddle, Rui Costa... Sometimes their teams were able to adjust, sometimes not. We cannot blame Riquelme for getting shut down, but why weren't we able to make adjustments? Because our inflexible system was build around Roman, and we did not have the freedom to significantly alter our strategy.

People who understood the Argentine NT knew Riquelme was coming back before his official reenlistment, eventhough he had declared retirement from NT months ago. Because there isn't an Argentine player that suits the role better than Roman.

Which brings up the following:
How did we know the formation and strategy
Before the tournament had started?
Before the selection was called up?
Before Basile had even been given his job?

The key to defeating Argentina is shutting down Roman. Brazil made lengthened and careful preparation to realize that. Argentina on other hand, made zero adjustment to encounter this slowly approaching threat. On the day we met, they knew exactly how to beat us, we had no clue.

Los Albicelestes is an Idol of offensive, creative and attractive football. Its success encourages the playing of this beautiful style not only within Argentina, but also at much broader international levels. Vise versa, its failure also discourages other teams from playing offensive football.


Ironically, the direct reflections of such influence are the careers of Argentine playmakers. In the present case, Juan Román Riquelme.

We saw many transfer rumors linked to Roman before Copa America. The 'fight for Roman' involving giant clubs such as Atletico, Real Madrid and Manchester City continued to heat up during the tournament. Then suddently Argentina lost, and european club managers immediately started distancing themselves from such associations.

Is it moral to make Roman shoulder these turmoil? Is it fair to blame him for our losses?

Watching Boca people rubbing their hands with evil smiles on their faces, I'm completely speechless...

Video highlights of the match.