Argentina begin preparations to face Spain

Posted on Wednesday, 1 September 2010 by hastaelgolsiempre

Left to right: Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso, and Diego Milito apparently sharing a tracksuit top with a player I can't identify...

The highest-profile of the friendlies being played next week during the international break is almost certainly the one in Buenos Aires on Tuesday 7th September, when Argentina will host new world champions Spain in the Estadio Monumental. It’ll be the first time since 1987 that a highly-ranked European side (back then it was West Germany) has visited Buenos Aires, and the first time in 1999 (Lithuania) that any European team at all will have done so. Argentina’s squad are now together in the country, including the two big re-incorporations: Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso. Barcelona defender Gabriel Milito has also talked about his own feelings on re-joining the squad.

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Posted in Argentine football, Argentine national team, Esteban Cambiasso, Fixtures, Football, Football managers, Gabriel Milito, International football, Javier Zanetti, Players, Selección, Sergio Batista | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Some thoughts from the weekend: Huracán 1 – 1 Newell’s

Posted on Tuesday, 31 August 2010 by hastaelgolsiempre
Huracán 1 - 1 Newell's Old Boys

Huracán and Newell's line up, with the same interesting formation

I went to two matches in the weekend just gone, and one of them has already been covered by Daniel Colasimone over on the excellent Argentina Football World, so if you want to read about Tigre vs Quilmes, you can do so here. Although Huracán vs Newell’s was nowhere near as good a game, it seemed silly to duplicate, so I’m stuck with this one. Huracán vs Newell’s really wasn’t the best game (I know how to sell these, don’t I?), but it contained some superb pointers on why 3-4-1-2 isn’t the best formation to play at the top level. And not an awful lot else. But you want to read on anyway… don’t you?!

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Posted in 2010 Torneo Apertura, Argentine football, Argentine league, Domestic, Football, Football clubs, Football managers, Huracán, Héctor Rivoira, Newell's Old Boys, Primera A, Results, Roberto Sensini | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

RIP Francisco Varallo

Posted on Monday, 30 August 2010 by hastaelgolsiempre

Francisco Varallo (left) with Guillermo Barros Schelotto

The football World Cup today lost one of its final links with its origins, when Francisco Varallo, the former Boca Juniors forward, died in the early hours in La Plata, aged 100 years and six months. He had been the last living player to take part in the final of the inaugural tournament in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1930, when Argentina lost to the host nation 4-2. When Martín Palermo finally, in 2008, became Boca Juniors’ highest goalscorer of the professional era, it was Varallo’s record he’d surpassed.

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Posted in Argentine football, Argentine league, Argentine national team, Boca Juniors, Football, Football clubs, Former players, Gimnasia, Goal videos, History, Players, Selección, World Cup | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Torneo Apertura 2010: Boca finally win, and all the round 4 scores and scorers

Posted on Monday, 30 August 2010 by hastaelgolsiempre

Lucas Viatri pays tribute to the watching Juan Román Riquelme in celebrating his goal for Boca

Boca Juniors’ Apertura is going so poorly that it was almost inevitable. They’ve finally won a match, and the result is that their bitterest rivals River Plate remain top of the table, Boca having beaten previous joint-leaders Vélez Sarsfield 2-1 in La Bombonera. Elsewhere on Sunday, Olimpo got a narrow win over Racing in Bahía Blanca, Independiente lost at home to Arsenal de Sarandí thanks in part to an extraordinary goal for the visitors from Gonzalo Choy González, and River’s new striker Mariano Pavone came off the bench for his debut but couldn’t make the difference as the leaders drew 0-0 away to the champions, Argentinos Juniors, after a poor performance. You can watch all Sunday’s goals, and see the heroes and villains of the round, right here.

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Posted in 2010 Torneo Apertura, All Boys, Argentine football, Argentine league, Argentinos Juniors, Arsenal de Sarandí, Banfield, Boca Juniors, Clásicos, Colón de Santa Fé, Domestic, Estudiantes, Football, Football clubs, Gimnasia, Goal videos, Godoy Cruz, Huracán, Independiente, Lanús, Newell's Old Boys, Olimpo de Bahía Blanca, Primera A, Quilmes, Racing Club, Results, River Plate, San Lorenzo, Tigre, Vélez Sarsfield | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Tigre win at last, Godoy Cruz come from behind, and plenty of red cards

Posted on Sunday, 29 August 2010 by hastaelgolsiempre
Tigre 3 - 0 Quilmes

Tigre celebrate Mariano Echeverría's opener

Saturday’s matches saw a dull goalless clásico in the Zona Sur between Lanús and Banfield, before the round sprung into life in Victoria with Tigre’s not really deserved 3-0 win over Quilmes. There were eleven goals in total, and six red cards, including one for Lanús manager Luis Zubeldía. As well as Tigre’s first win of the season – for which I was in attendance along with Daniel Colasimone of Argentina Football World – Godoy Cruz also came from behind to leave Colón pointless at the normally formidable Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao López, and San Lorenzo brushed aside All Boys. You can watch all the goals right here, of course, as well as the main highlights from the Lanús vs Banfield match.

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Posted in 2010 Torneo Apertura, All Boys, Argentine football, Argentine league, Banfield, Clásicos, Colón de Santa Fé, Descenso, Domestic, Football, Football clubs, Goal videos, Godoy Cruz, Lanús, Primera A, Quilmes, Results, San Lorenzo, Tigre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Huracán 1 – 1 Newell’s Old Boys: the goals

Posted on Saturday, 28 August 2010 by hastaelgolsiempre
Huracán 1 - 1 Newell's Old Boys

Rolando Schiavi has his penalty saved by Huracán goalie Gastón Monzón (photo by me on Flickr)

Huracán and Newell’s played out Friday’s only Primera División game in Parque Caseros on Friday evening, and HEGS was there to see an utterly, utterly dull game characterised by two defences vulnerable to wide play, and two attacks seemingly unwilling to exploit that weakness. Rolando Schiavi had a penalty saved early on, and Rolando Zárate’s 19th minute goal was cancelled out in the second half by Mauricio Sperdutti. Huracán dominated the first half but ended the game lucky to get a point. You can watch the goals here and also, as a bonus, see Thursday night’s goal from the Copa Sudamericana game between Independiente and Argentinos Juniors (won 1-0 by El Rojo).

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Posted in 2010 Torneo Apertura, Argentine football, Argentine league, Argentinos Juniors, Continental football, Copa Sudamericana, Domestic, Football, Football clubs, Goal videos, Huracán, Independiente, Newell's Old Boys, Primera A, Results | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A clarification from Claudio Borghi

Posted on Friday, 27 August 2010 by hastaelgolsiempre

Claudio Borghi said some words earlier in the week which were universally interpreted by the Argentine press as meaning he’d stand down in the event that Boca Juniors fail to win on Sunday against Vélez Sarsfield. He’s now been up in front of the press to insist that that wasn’t strictly what he meant. ‘I said that we’d be left in a very complicated situation,’ he insisted.

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Posted in 2010 Torneo Apertura, Argentine football, Argentine league, Boca Juniors, Claudio Borghi, Domestic, Football, Football clubs, Football managers, Primera A | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Torneo Apertura 2010: round 4 fixtures

Posted on Friday, 27 August 2010 by hastaelgolsiempre

It's not quite the UEFA Champions League group stage draw, is it?

The fourth round of the Torneo Apertura begins this evening with Huracán hosting Newell’s Old Boys, and ends on the 29th September with the La Plata derby, suspended for now due to Estudiantes’ preparations for the second leg of the incredibly important (ahem) Recopa Sudamericana. Olimpo vs Racing will the weekend’s last match, though. River Plate have the chance, depending on results elsewhere, to jump clear of the relegation places altogether by Monday, but to do so they’ll first have to beat the champions, Argentinos Juniors, in their own stadium. And if Boca Juniors can’t overcome Vélez Sarsfield in La Bombonera on Sunday, Claudio Borghi could become their shortest-ever-serving manager. Oh, and there’s a clásico down in the Zona Sur, too.

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Posted in 2010 Torneo Apertura, All Boys, Argentine football, Argentine league, Argentinos Juniors, Arsenal de Sarandí, Banfield, Boca Juniors, Clásicos, Colón de Santa Fé, Domestic, Estudiantes, Fixtures, Football, Football clubs, Gimnasia, Godoy Cruz, Huracán, Independiente, Lanús, Newell's Old Boys, Olimpo de Bahía Blanca, Primera A, Quilmes, Racing Club, River Plate, San Lorenzo, Tigre, Vélez Sarsfield | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Team news from the Boca Juniors camp before the weekend

Posted on Friday, 27 August 2010 by hastaelgolsiempre

There are some do-or-die matches coming up in the Torneo Apertura this weekend. Boca Juniors have to win to keep Claudio Borghi in a job, and play Vélez Sarsfield, never easy opponents at the best of times. And Borghi’s got no fewer than four changes (and possibly one or two more) planned for Sunday’s game, if Thursday’s training sessions are anything to by.

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Posted in 2010 Torneo Apertura, Argentine football, Argentine league, Boca Juniors, Claudio Borghi, Domestic, Football, Football clubs, Football managers, Juan Román Riquelme, Lucas Viatri, Martín Palermo, Players, Primera A | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Verón admits he might not play again for Argentina

Posted on Thursday, 26 August 2010 by hastaelgolsiempre

Seba Verón could be turning his back on the selección

Juan Sebastián Verón has confirmed that he thinks it unlikely he’ll play for Argentina for much longer, if ever again, due to age and the need for Sergio Batista – who looks increasingly likely to be given charge of the side on a permanent basis – or his successor to build a team for the future. ‘It seems like my “cycle” in the selección has come to an end,’ he told Radio Del Plata on Thursday.

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Posted in Argentine football, Argentine national team, Estudiantes, Football, Football clubs, International football, Juan Sebastián Verón, Players, Selección | Tagged , , | 1 Comment