More fútbol argentino than you can shake a mullet at
If you're an Argentine football fan and a bit of a glutton for punishment - or if you're otherwise interested in what exactly Diego Maradona demonstrated to us during Argentina's World Cup campaign - you can click here to read my post-match reaction from Buenos Aires for ESPN Soccernet. There'll be a post along the... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
It's yet to be officially announced, but the Argentina starting eleven for the first match of their World Cup campaign is now widely known and there are unlikely to be any surprises, barring injuries. Jonás Gutiérrez is in at right back with a licence to roam forward, as Maradona has decided to opt for a... Continue Reading →
Boca Juniors are currently going through something of a miserable post-season tour of the United States - a few evenings ago they lost 1-0 to Los Angeles Galaxy and on Wednesday night they crashed 3-0 against Seattle Sounders (you can see the goals here). That's largely a reserve side though, lead by outgoing manager Roberto... Continue Reading →
With the World Cup squad set to fly out to South Africa from Ezeiza airport on Friday, I thought I'd revisit the questionnaire I set two weeks ago today asking who HEGS readers felt should have been included (but weren't) and who shouldn't have been included (but were). I'm delighted to say that in the... 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 →
A bit of a paradox, this torneo corto (short championship), because in spite of it only lasting 19 matches, it's been an absolute epic. We've seen four teams in contention for the title, two of whom couldn't have been expected to do so well at the turn of the year, as well as the (sort... Continue Reading →
Hasta El Gol Siempre 