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"Villarreal" club and Argentine national team midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme unexpectedly announced his withdrawal from the national team. The player motivated this decision with family reasons. The elegant 28-year-old midfielder Riquelme stated that the decision that surprised everyone was made because of his mother, who is suffering from health problems. "Since the World Cup, my mother has been hospitalized twice, and my responsibility is to take care of her. The decision was easy to make. Family comes before football. It will be very painful for me not to wear the Argentine national team jersey anymore, but my mother's health is more important," said J. Riquelme, who recently played in unsuccessful matches against Brazil. The player expressed concern that criticism of the Argentine national team could worsen his mother's health: "There were many bad words said, and I do not want my mother to suffer. My mom is my mom and I cannot compare her to the Argentine team jerseys or anything else." Representing the Spanish club "Villarreal," J. Riquelme played 37 matches for the national team over nine years. Fans of the midfielder say that he can dictate the pace of the game and break through defenses with his precise passes, but critics of the Argentine claim that he is sometimes too passive and does not demonstrate good play in crucial moments. In 1997, the player won the Youth World Cup and was invited to the national team in the same year, but he did not play often until October 2004 when Jose Pekerman took over as the team's coach. The midfielder did not make it into the roster of the team coached by Marcelo Bielsa at the 2002 World Cup, but four years later, he was the main driving force behind Jose Pekerman's team, helping them reach the quarterfinals, where they were defeated by penalties by the hosts, Germany. However, the Argentine player played impressively in the group stage matches against Ivory Coast and Serbia and Montenegro, but was substituted in the match against Germany. J. R. Riquelme started his club career at Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires and became a true star in his country. In 2002, he moved to Barcelona but did not fit in there, later transferring to the much smaller Spanish team Villarreal, where he again began to demonstrate excellent play.
