New year downtime

On Saturday I’m off to Manchester for a few days to see in the new year with some friends, so the site may well not be updated for a few days. I’ll return on the 2nd January, and when I do HEGS will be kicking off 2008 in earnest. For now, however, I’d just like to wish [...]

The new Verón

Diego Simeone’s management career thus far has been marked by one particular trait: all his teams have included one midfielder around whom the side’s play is based, who operates from deep and pulls the strings. At Estudiantes, it was Juan Sebastián Verón. At River Plate, if El Cholo gets his wish, it could soon be [...]

The trouble worsens at Racing

More bad news for fans of La Academia. Racing fans’ favourite Claudio ‘Piojo‘ López spoke to Miguel Rosello, director of football at Blanquiceleste, the enterprise which controls the club, and told him that he wants to rescind his contract. It’s another blow for Blanquiceleste’s hold on the club following Thursday’s protest from the fans.

A mixed day in Avellaneda

2006 World Cup Final referee Horacio Elizondo took charge on Thursday of the AFA’s new Refereeing Training committee, which replaces the previous ‘School of Referees’. But the real news came in Avellaneda, where Racing are in the headlines after yet another fans’ protest against their regime, and Independiente are rather happier with themselves – or [...]

Pompilio’s man

On Wednesday, Miguel Russo’s twelve-month tenure at the helm of Boca Juniors was laid once and for all to rest as Carlos Ischia was officially announced as the club’s new manager. In an appointment which has little to do with what Boca’s fans, members, or even club legends like Diego Maradona had to say on [...]

R.I.P. Raúl Emilio Bernao

Former Argentina and Independiente forward Raúl Emilio Bernao died of a hepatitis-related illness on Wednesday, aged 66. Bernao was born in Sarandí on the 4th November 1941, and played in nearby Avellaneda for Independiente from 1961 to 1970, scoring 41 goals from his position on the right wing.

Christmas behind bars

Several of River Plate’s most notorious barra bravas have spent Christmas this year in jail, and now they’re to be joined for the new year by their boss, Alan Schlenker, after a senior judge ordered the capo of Los Borrachos del Tablón to do time in a preventative institute for his suspected ‘intellectual’ part in [...]

Feliz Navidad a todos

What with Christmas and the fact that I’m working on the 24th, I may not have the time, or the motivation, or indeed the material to post very much / anything at all on the site in the coming days. If anything happens, something may go up on the 26th but the site will be much [...]

The best of times, the worst of times

It’s been a mixed pre-Christmas weekend for Argentine footballers in Europe. On the good side, we had Gabriel Heinze and Fernando Gago included in the Real Madrid side who beat Barcelona 1-0 in the Camp Nou, and the irony of two ex-River Plate players, Julio Cruz and Esteban Cambiasso, scoring to down the side who [...]

Ischia in

A couple of days after Estudiantes, Gimnasia and Huracán appointed their new bosses, Boca have decided to get in on the act, and will be announcing Carlos Ischia as their new boss at 8pm on Wednesday. It’s an unusual situation, not only because the majority of Boca’s fans would probably rather not have Ischia, but [...]