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 →
Did we learn anything from Argentina v Haiti?
On Tuesday, Argentina continued their recent trend of bidding a pre-World Cup farewell to their fans with a friendly against opponents who, with no disrespect to Haiti, or to Canada in 2010 or Trinidad and Tobago in 2014, are not quite on the level of the opponents they'll face in the tournament. Did we learn... Continue Reading →
Supercopa Argentina highlights: River put in their best performance in months to beat Boca
The Supercopa Argentina was played on Wednesday night, and for a change it was all but impossible for it not to feel like at least a bit of an occasion. That was because however pointless the trophy, the identities of the two clubs playing for it guaranteed that this would be a big (if not necessarily... Continue Reading →
Lautaro Martínez: a Q&A for Football Italia
Following his hat trick in a brilliant all-round forward display on Sunday, as Racing thrashed Huracán 4-0 in Avellaneda, Lautaro Martínez is hot stuff at the moment. Jorge Sampaoli was watching, and there's talk of a national team call up for next month's friendlies against Spain and Italy; transfer rumours in Europe, meanwhile, have reached... Continue Reading →
Argentina-based players in contention for the World Cup
This week saw Jorge Sampaoli conclude a brief tour of some of Europe's biggest clubs, where he visited clubs whose squads include Argentina internationals. Also this week, Sampaoli started doing the same thing with clubs in Argentina. Wanting to leave nothing to chance, he wants to be informed about his players' daily training regimes. But... Continue Reading →
Tevez’s Boca return and more Saturday Superliga video highlights
The Superliga continued on Friday with four matches, the most notable of which saw league leaders Boca Juniors take full advantage of San Lorenzo's loss on Friday to move six points clear with a 2-0 win over Colón. Prior to that, Newell's Old Boys left it late against Arsenal de Sarandí, and Gabriel Heinze's time... Continue Reading →
Top five signings from Argentina’s summer transfer window
The blinds were lowered and the curtains drawn on Argentina's summer transfer window on Thursday night, and plenty of clubs were active right up to the last minute. As I outlined here a few days ago, some clubs (San Lorenzo especially) seem to be putting faith in the squads which got them through the first... Continue Reading →
Hand Of Pod episode 278
Hand Of Pod, the internet's only English-language Argentine football podcast, is back from the summer break, and you can listen to it right here. Or for details of how to subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher or TuneIn, follow this link to the HOP blog.
What Argentine clubs did on their summer holidays: a transfer roundup
The 2017-18 Superliga recommences on Wednesday, when Independiente host Rosario Central in a fixture postponed from the eleventh round of fixtures due to Independiente's involvement in the Copa Sudamericana final. So how have the clubs done in the transfer market and their pre-season friendlies? As I type this, I'm not much wiser about the answer... Continue Reading →
Are there changes on the way in the Argentine league?
Over the next few years, like, not necessarily immediately. AFA president Claudio Tapia spoke to the press on Wednesday, and at least one of the things he said gave hope to those of us who've hoped for improvements to the Argentine league system for ages. What did he say, exactly? Well, most excitingly, he said... Continue Reading →