Argentinians On Trial - 1998

The 1978 World Cup Finals provided a win for the host nation Argentina, and English football was buzzing a short time later with the news that two of their star players, Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa, were heading to Spurs and Division One of the Football League. It was certainly a good time for Norwich City to be involved as a top flight club. Twenty years later we tried to inject a little South American flair into our own set up, though our options were somewhat less exciting than those of our North London rivals. For the match against Chelsea Reserves on the 3rd of September 1998, manager Bruce Rioch gave trials to two Argentinian players. Defender German Tempone and diminutive midfielder Cristian Otero both played junior soccer in their homeland, but neither impressed sufficiently during the 1-0 defeat. In fact Rioch was not too happy with the agent involved, and felt the quality was a long way short of what was required in the second level of English football. The pair went on to have trials at lesser clubs than Norwich City, who also turned them down.
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