Saturday has brought news that's been expected for some time in Argentine football; Juan Román Riquelme, who announced he wouldn't be playing for Boca Juniors again in the wake of their defeat in last year's Copa Libertadores final, has agreed terms with his local club Tigre (of whom he's a lifelong fan), defeated finalists in... Continue Reading →
Copa Sudamericana: Tigre and Millionarios fight out a goalless draw in semi-final first leg
In Victoria on Tuesday night, Tigre played in a continental semi-final for the first time in their history, in spite of the fact that in the league their form has been so poor they're still without a domestic win this season. In each of their previous Sudamericana home matches, they'd scored four goals. The pattern... Continue Reading →
Argentines Abroad: 6th & 7th March 2010
A truncated Argentines Abroad this week, because I'm typing this up late as ever but even more tired than usual. The weekend just gone deserves some mention, though. Lionel Messi hit a double but couldn't win the match for Barcelona, Javier Saviola scored a fine goal for Benfica and Jonás Gutiérrez finally got his mask... Continue Reading →
Argentines Abroad: 30th & 31st January 2010
Before we begin, a quick feliz cumpleaños to Gabriel Batistuta, the all-time highest goalscorer in the history of the Argentine national team, who turned forty on Monday. There was no Argentine action from his old team Fiorentina on Sunday (they drew 2-2 away to Cagliari), but a move for his heir in the selección; after... Continue Reading →
San Lorenzo give Gorosito a send-off
On Friday Néstor Gorosito announced that win, lose or draw against San Lorenzo today, he'd be stepping down as manager of River Plate. Fitting that he should do so against the man he replaced in the Núñez hot seat, in a way. Simeone seems to have rediscovered his touch after leaving River - San Lorenzo's... Continue Reading →
Struggling rivalry
I've been in Barcelona on holiday since Wednesday, hence the lack of action on HEGS during the past few days, but before I left I still kept myself busy off-blog by writing a piece for ESPN Soccernet on the managerial pressures at Argentina's two domestic giants, River Plate and Boca Juniors. If you'd like to... Continue Reading →
Two giants losing their managers
Some news that's breaking as I go to bed on Sunday night: Néstor Gorosito looks certain to resign as River Plate manager on Monday after his side's 1-0 loss to Arsenal de Sarandí, but now Alfio Basile could well be joining him in the dole queue after he presented his resignation to Carlos Bianchi in... Continue Reading →
Torneo Apertura 2009: Round 5 scores and scorers
The weekend's clásico was a damp squib, with San Lorenzo and Racing cancelling each other out in Boedo. Earlier on Sunday Newell's beat Lanús to go fifth, whilst on Saturday Chacarita's pointless start to the season continued with a 3-1 defeat to Colón, and Independiente took a point from the champions, Vélez Sársfield. Godoy Cruz... Continue Reading →
Copa Sudamericana – River Plate 1 – 2 Lanús: the goals
The second Copa Sudamericana preliminary round in El Monumental on Wednesday night was Ariel Ortega's fourth debut for the club, and things seemed to be going swimmingly when Cristian Fabbiani scored a cracker just before the hour. That was all overshadowed, though, when Eduardo Salvio popped up with ten minutes to spare to equalise -... Continue Reading →
Movement of jah people
Next season's Argentines Abroad (on which note, the HEGS / MA Award winner will be announced on Thursday) are swelling their ranks in the annual exodus from the banks of the Paraná and Río de la Plata (the rivers of Babyl... I'll stop, shall I? OK). Rodrigo Palacio is finally leaving La Bombonera and Santiago... Continue Reading →
Hasta El Gol Siempre 