More fútbol argentino than you can shake a mullet at
Argentina's passage to the second round of the 2010 World Cup having been confirmed on Tuesday, the country's main concern during Wednesday's matches was who their rivals in the quarter-finals will be should they see off Mexico on Sunday. There was also time, though, for some reflection on the better-even-than-hoped-for group performance, and in particular... Continue Reading →
Argentina confirmed their place in the second round of the 2010 World Cup on Tuesday with a 2-0 win over a very defensive Greece side in Lionel Messi's first match as captain of the selección. It took a while for Diego Maradona's team to break the tightly-packed Greek defence but eventually Martín Demichelis and substitute... Continue Reading →
Lionel Messi will turn 23 years old on Thursday. He's managed quite a lot already in his club career (indeed, if he keeps scoring for Barcelona at his current rate he'll be their all-time highest scorer six months before he turns 26), but until this World Cup he's often been accused of failing to turn... Continue Reading →
Argentina will almost certainly secure their qualification for the second round of the 2010 World Cup on Tuesday when they take on Greece. They can afford to lose by five goals against Greece, and even then they might not go out, depending on the result of South Korea vs Nigeria of course. With qualification already... Continue Reading →
A quick note to say that those who are interested can now see a map of the birthplaces of all of the Argentina squad for the 2010 World Cup, provided to me by Bill's Sports Maps, on the new 'Squad map' page. Either hover your mouse over 'Map' above and click the drop-down menu, or... Continue Reading →
Argentina's preparation for the second match of their World Cup challenge gathers apace. The main issues following the flawed but encouraging performance in the 1-0 win against Nigeria on Saturday were the right back position - where Jonás Gutiérrez clearly wasn't comfortable - and the extent of Seba Verón's calf strain, which won't keep him... Continue Reading →
If simply knowing which players are in the squad isn't enough, Argentina-watchers can rejoice today: the full list of which players will use which shirt numbers during the 2010 World Cup has been released. Lionel Messi takes the number 10, of course, whilst other notable choices see Javier Mascherano stick with his preferred 14, first-choice... Continue Reading →
First, apologies to anyone who saw the starting XI I posted shortly before kick off, and accepted it as gospel. I was copying it from Cancha Llena (La Nación's sports website) and they got it completely wrong (it wasn't the only thing - they're now claiming that Welsh opera singer Katherine Jenkins, who sung the... Continue Reading →
Diego Maradona has confirmed the 23 names he's taking as members of the Argentina squad to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Ariel Garcé, of Colón de Santa Fe, is going to South Africa, as is Boca Juniors' Martín Palermo and Estudiantes' Juan Sebastián Verón, but the other Argentina-based players called up in... Continue Reading →
There were numerous lists before Maradona's preliminary squad of 30 was announced yesterday speculating on who might be included, and outlining who the author would include if they were the manager. Well, I thought I'd try something a little different. With the players Diego's already named, who would I pick for the starting XI and... Continue Reading →
Hasta El Gol Siempre 