As for Vuoso, what a star he could have been in the Prem had he been handled properly by Kevin Keegan. Bought for five million on a whim, then treated very poorly – he was even behind converted midfielders in the pecking order for a spot up front at MCFC. And these Newcastle fans think Keegan is a good manager?!

And another baffling decision is that Gonzalo wasn’t called up for the qualifiers. The guy is one of the top defenders in Europe as far as raw defending goes. I’m not too disappointed though considering the mileage involved and the amount of other South Americans in our squad.

Thanks for your update on Mexico, I’ll be trying to cover Argentina’s less heralded footballing ambassadors across the Latin American leagues this season as well.

Continue to appreciate your industrious evangelism for the Argentine footballing diaspora, but wished you’d dropped a word or two for the nomadic 25-year-old former bricklayer of Mercedes, Juan “El Zurdo” Culio (aka “Coolio” in Transylvania) in honor of his rare night of glory two weeks ago for CFR Cluj against AS Roma. Admittedly Juan didn’t make it at Independiente and hasn’t done much in the Romanian league either, but his two wonder goals certainly struck terror into the heart of Rotella Sensi, president of Roma, who was heard to shriek “I didn’t believe it could be as bad as this!” (After some of the humiliations Roma has endured in the Champions League in recent years, that’s saying something.)

Otherwise, fine coverage as always.

I might contribute a few notes on this year’s Argentine presence in the Mexican league, significant as always.

At América, Federico “Pocho” Insua has returned after a bad knee injury that cost him the 08 Clausura and played well again, scoring three and making several others. The three important Argentines at Atlante, the keeper Federico Vilar, defender Javier David Munoz and forward Gabi Pereyra, remain close to the heart of the club. Atlas lost Bruno Marioni to Pachuca and Diego Colotto to La Coruna but have brought in Dario Botinelli, the Argentine midfielder last seen at U. Catolica (Chile), and he has played brilliantly, perhaps the best of this year’s crop of Argentines in Mexico. Marcelo Carrusca at Cruz Azul and now Martin Bravo, both forwards, have been playing regularly with Cruz Azul and Pumas respectively. Defender Pablo Quattrochi is still a mainstay at Necaxa. Pachuca, perennially the “Argentine club” of Mexico, now has Marioni playing and scoring up front, while Christian “Chaco” Gimenez, now age 36, is up among the league leaders in goals; fellow fountain of youth sippers Damien Alvarez (39) and Gabriel Caballero (37) are also still playing regularly. The midfielder Eduardo “Chaco” Coudet is a big reason why San Luis stands at the top of the league table. Midfielder Lucas Lobos has already scored three times for Tigres and another midfielder Martin Romagnoli is playing regularly at Toluca. And for last season’s champions Santos, two Argentines remain midfield mainstays, Walter Jimenez and Daniel “Hachita” Luduena (now back from injury after playing a critical role in last season’s title run), while Vicente Matias Vuoso has been playing at his highest level, showing real intensity and scoring four times in the last month or so; this is perhaps the best he’s played yet in Mexico. (I should mention Vuoso has been “nationalized” at the behest of Eriksson and called up to the Seleccion–just as, it seems, may now happen with Coolio the Transylvanian Terror in Romania).

Anyway, thanks again for your very useful site and keep up the good work. Cheers,

Tom