retaliated. In the following match, against the Netherlands, Simeone was injured by a tackle from Arthur Numan during his team's defeat. In the 2002 World Cup, his last, Argentina was eliminated in the group stage, which included a 1–0 loss to England in which Beckham converted a penalty. Simeone said he was "embarrassed" at having surpassed Diego Maradona as Argentina's most capped player, though Simeone has since been surpassed by Roberto Ayala, Javier Mascherano, Javier Zanetti, and Lionel Messi. Style of play Simeone was regarded as a tenacious, versatile, hard-working and complete two-way midfielder who was mobile, good in the air, and capable both of winning balls and starting attacking plays, while also having a penchant for scoring several goals himself. This enabled him to play anywhere in midfield throughout his career, although he was usually deployed in the centre in a box-to-box or defensive midfield role. He was also used in an offensive midfield role on occasion, even if it was not his optimal playing position. A talented yet combative player, he was primarily known for his leadership, tactical versatility, intelligence, strength and stamina, although he was also praised by pundits for his technique, vision and passing range. Simeone once described his style as "holding a knife between his teeth". His main inspirations as a player were Brazilian midfielder Falcão and German midfielder Lothar Matthäus. Managerial career Early years Simeone ended his playing career for Racing Club, playing his last match on 17 February 2006, and then became manager for the same team. After a rough start, the team made an impressive finish in the 2006 Clausura. When a new club president was elected, Simeone left Racing in May 2006 and was replaced by Reinaldo Merlo. On 18 May, Simeone became head coach of Estudiantes de La Plata and soon led them to their Second league title in 23 years after defeating Boca Juniors 2–1 in a final match played on 13 December 2006. In an October 2006 poll in the sports daily Olé, Simeone was voted as the best manager in the Argentine league. He was also praised as a "born manager" by former Argentine international Roberto Perfumo. Simeone left Estudiantes after the end of the 2007 Apertura, where Estudiantes was not a contender after a poor start, but had a strong finish of nine games without defeat. On 15 December 2007, Simeone was unveiled as the new