After having fallen behind in the first minute of the bronze medal match at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, Argentina's Blind Futsal team fought back to claim the medal on penalties after a 1-1 draw during the standard 50 minutes on Wednesday. After the early Spanish goal, the Murciélagos struggled to find their rhythm, but in the... Continue Reading →
Paralympic 5-a-side: China 1 – 0 Argentina
Argentina's blind football team played their second match of the Paralympic Games on Tuesday, and followed up their convincing 2-0 win over European champions Spain with a 1-0 loss to the hosts. China, who've been playing behind closed doors for the last three years, served notice of their intention to shock the Games by beating... Continue Reading →
Paralympic 5-a-side: Argentina 2 – 0 Spain
With the Paralympic Games in Beijing now underway, the Argentine futsal side which won the Blind World Cup in Buenos Aires in 2006 are setting out to emulate the pros who took Olympic gold a couple of weeks ago, and began their campaign by beating European champions Spain 2-0. Silvio Velo, known since the World... Continue Reading →
Angel the golden boy
Four years ago it was Carlos Tevez, on Saturday Benfica's Angel Di María secured his place in Argentine football history by becoming the second man to score a gold medal-winning goal for his country in the Olympic Football Tournament. In a final played in scorching heat in the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing, Argentina rode... Continue Reading →
Going for gold
In a couple of hours' time, Argentina will be going for a second gold medal of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games when the men's football team take on Nigeria, their conquerors in Atlanta 1996, in the OFT final. Argentina are seeking to defend their title, having demolished arch-rivals Brazil 3-0 in the semi, with Liverpool... Continue Reading →
Olympic Football Tournament: Argentina 3 – 0 Brazil
The Olympic Football Tournament is the one international tournament Brazil have never won (of the ones they compete in of course, because obviously they've never been crowned champions of Europe or what have you), and it will have to remain as such for at least the next four years. On Tuesday the selecção met the... Continue Reading →
Olympic Football Tournament: Argentina 2 – 1 Netherlands (AET)
Argentina advanced to the semi-finals of the Olympic Football Tournament in China on Saturday, after beating the Netherlands 2-1 after extra time in Shanghai. Barcelona star Lionel Messi was the key man for an Argentine side who found it hard, at times, to get out of first gear, but who still created more good chances... Continue Reading →
Olympic Football Tournament: Argentina 2 – 0 Serbia
Argentina rounded off their Olympic Football Tournament group campaign with an academic defeat of Serbia on Wednesday. Having already qualified for the quarter-finals, Sergio Batista rested Juan Román Riquelme, Javier Mascherano and (to the disappointment of a Chinese crowd who'd turned up specially to see him) Lionel Messi, and was rewarded with a 2-0 win... Continue Reading →
Two setbacks
The sporting security authorities suffered a blow on Tuesday, when it was announced that Javier Castrilli, 'El Sheriff', Subsecretary of Sporting Events Security, had resigned from his post. Disagreements with Aníbal Fernández, the Minister of Justice and Security, led Castrilli to feel that, 'the most healthy and least traumatic option [for me] was to resign.'... Continue Reading →
Olympic Football Tournament: Argentina 1 – 0 Australia
Argentina are still a long way from shining as brightly as they might do, but they confirmed their place in the quarter-finals of the Olympic Football Tournament on Sunday, beating Australia by a solitary goal after an underwhelming performance which saw the Aussies' spirited rearguard eventually broken by a brilliant counter-attacking goal from Napoli's Ezequiel... Continue Reading →