Argentina's shocking 6-1 humiliation at the hands of hosts Bolivia only worsened Juan Pablo Carrizo's nightmare season. 10 months ago he won the Clausura title with River Plate, then left for the riches of Lazio and Serie A that summer. Not much has gone right since then: he's lost his place at Lazio to Fernando Muslera after some less-than-convincing displays, and made himself a target of the fans by speaking of his desire to leave.
At least Diego Maradona has stood by him, but he'll be under fire to pick another keeper after the disaster in the mountains. Only the final goal could reasonably be blamed on Carrizo, but the result will leave few confident about the keeper's mindset, if not his ability.
I said from the beginning that Lazio was the wrong club for Juan Pablo: their fans expect and demand too much (their ultras ran Alessandro Nesta, one of the premier players of his generation, out of Rome), and the team is simply not good enough to live up to those expectations. Someone always takes the blame. Often it's the goalkeeper.
Carrizo's surprising fall from grace mirrors the one suffered last year by former Boca Juniors keeper Mauricio Caranta, who saw his career at la Bombonera come crashing down in spectacular fashion. He has recently joined Lanus. Perhaps a change of scenery is also in the cards for Carrizo. They are both too talented to stay down for long.
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