More fútbol argentino than you can shake a mullet at
The most frustrating thing about the fact that Argentina have had The Wrong Manager for the last two and a half years is that they never had to lose the right one in the first place. As winter moved towards spring of 2016 down here in the southern hemisphere, Gerardo Martino – frustrated at club... Continue Reading →
At the national team level, the Asociación de Fútbol Argentino is tearing itself apart as the search begins to replace Jorge Sampaoli. At the top flight domestic level, we're just three and a half weeks away from the start of the new season and there's still been no confirmation of the 2018–19 Superliga season fixtures (or... Continue Reading →
After months of speculation, Jorge Sampaoli announced Argentina's final 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup at lunchtime on Monday. As expected, there was no place for Mauro Icardi, who Sampaoli is said to feel struggled to integrate with the rest of the group, and who was disappointing when called up for Argentina last year.... Continue Reading →
As expected, on Monday morning the Argentine Football Association published Jorge Sampaoli's final squad list for Argentina's upcoming friendlies against Italy in Manchester on the 23rd, and against Spain in Madrid on the 27th of this month. Having already called up twenty-two players who play their club football abroad, Sampaoli added five 'locals' to the... Continue Reading →
On Thursday, Jorge Sampaoli announced the first part of Argentina's squad for the upcoming friendies against Italy (in Manchester on the 23rd March) and Spain (in Madrid on the 27th). This list consists of twenty-two players who play outside Argentina (all but one in Europe), to whom a few from the Argentine Superliga will be... Continue Reading →
My latest piece for The Bubble welcomes the new year with a look at how the Primera championship that will be held in the first half of the year is structured. Three and a half months, two groups, home-and-away clásicos and a final at the end of May to decide it all. Oh, and only one relegation.... Continue Reading →
2015 has just hours left to run (in Argentina that is; happy new year if it's already gone where you are), and the folk at The Bubble have asked me to take a look back on the last twelve months in Argentine football, as part of their Year In Review series. Here are my key moments... Continue Reading →
When does 38+38=75? When you're dealing with the Argentine Football Association's presidential elections. In fairness, they are a bit out of practice with this new-fangled 'voting' malarkey. I've written a piece for The Bubble about the result, what it means for the AFA, and some of the challenges facing the victorious candidate - whether that turns out... Continue Reading →
The new 30-team Primera División is now eight weeks old in Argentina and, if nothing else, it's proving so far that if you increase by 50% the number of top flight matches each weekend, you're going to get a bump in the amount of controversy, as well. On Saturday we saw perhaps the strangest such... Continue Reading →
Last Wednesday, AFA president and FIFA vice-president Julio Grondona died. I wrote about it here, for ESPNFC. Everyone knew that the organisation was in for a few changes, and it will be a while before we really get a handle on who has control at the new-look AFA. For the moment, though, Argentinos Juniors president Luis... Continue Reading →
Hasta El Gol Siempre 