More fútbol argentino than you can shake a mullet at
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 →
The AFA have released Gerardo Martino's squad list for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers away to Chile and at home to Bolivia later this month, and the headline exclusion for the local media is Carlos Tevez, who admits himself he's been poor so far in 2016. There's a return for Javier Pinola of Rosario Central,... Continue Reading →
Gerardo Martino has announced Argentina's squad list for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers at home to Brazil (Thurs 12th November) and away to Colombia (Tues 17th), from which his side desperately need some good results after a disappointing start in which they lost at home to Ecuador and drew away to Paraguay. Lionel Messi won't... Continue Reading →
In the ninety-seventh episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan and Joel are joined (eventually) by Daniel Schweimler, another Englishman in Buenos Aires, who runs the Hand Of Dan blog looking at Argentine society through the prism of life on the terraces of Argentinos Juniors. We discuss Argentina's impressive World Cup qualifying results (a... Continue Reading →
In Spain on Saturday and in England on Sunday, three Argentine strikers helped their sides to wins. Gonzalo Higuaín scored for Real Madrid as they beat Deportivo La Coruña 2-1 away, Lionel Messi got Barcelona's winner in a 2-1 home win over Sevilla, and Carlos Tevez scored Manchester City's second with a screamer as they... Continue Reading →
Wednesday brought a round of international friendlies around the world, and among them was Argentina's visit to Stockholm, where they took on Sweden in a match the Argentine press were hyping as the chance to get 'revenge' for the result which put Argentina out of the 2002 World Cup at the group stage. This one... Continue Reading →
On Tuesday night, Argentina's national side stepped onto the pitch in Santiago to begin the second half of their World Cup qualifying campaign, away to Chile, who they'd beaten 4-1 just over a year ago in Buenos Aires at the start of qualifying. Chile came out of the blocks quicker, but two strikes close together,... Continue Reading →
Friday evening didn't bring any Torneo Inicial matches - those will be played over Saturday, Sunday and Monday - but it did feature a World Cup qualifying match in which Argentina dispatched Paraguay 3-1 in Córdoba with an expertly-finished goal from Ezequiel Lavezzi (flicking it in off his back - a real genius finish), a... Continue Reading →
Wednesday afternoon in Argentina brought the chance to sit down in front of the TV for a couple of hours and catch an international friendly; one last bit of international sporting competition to enjoy before the post-Olympic world kicks in and the European club football season returns to our screens in earnest this weekend. Argentina... Continue Reading →
Saturday saw Argentina take on Ecuador in the Estadio Monumental in a World Cup qualifier, and in spite of a midfield supposedly lacking in creativity (yes, some people had that complaint), they won 4-0 with goals from Sergio Agüero, Gonzalo Higuaín, Lionel Messi and Ángel Di María. Messi set up one and played a part... Continue Reading →
Hasta El Gol Siempre 