(Well it's not like I get many chances to reference Shuggie Otis in a headline, is it?) The Superliga season still has six matches to run, but continental qualification could be the only live issue for most of the run-in. Boca Juniors are eight points clear at the top, and in the relegation table –... Continue Reading →
Lautaro Martínez: a Q&A for Football Italia
Following his hat trick in a brilliant all-round forward display on Sunday, as Racing thrashed Huracán 4-0 in Avellaneda, Lautaro Martínez is hot stuff at the moment. Jorge Sampaoli was watching, and there's talk of a national team call up for next month's friendlies against Spain and Italy; transfer rumours in Europe, meanwhile, have reached... Continue Reading →
Hand Of Pod episode 279
Episode 279 of the internet's longest-running (but no longer only!) English-language Argentine football podcast is available right here. Andrés and I discuss the action from round 13 of the Superliga, and other talking points.
Hand Of Pod episode 278
Hand Of Pod, the internet's only English-language Argentine football podcast, is back from the summer break, and you can listen to it right here. Or for details of how to subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher or TuneIn, follow this link to the HOP blog.
For ESPNFC: five reasons behind Boca Juniors’ title win
With the Argentine Primera División season over, I wrote an article this week for ESPNFC looking at some of the main factors in Boca Juniors' title victory, from the personality of their sometimes embattled manager Guillermo Barros Schelotto to the potency of their front three, and how it helped them recover from the blow of Carlos... Continue Reading →
Talking to Lionel Messi’s youth coach ahead of the Copa América Centenario
In April, I headed up from Buenos Aires to Rosario, Lionel Messi's hometown, for a feature for ESPNFC ahead of the Copa América Centenario. Whilst there, I talked to Ernesto Vecchio, the youth coach who oversaw Lionel Messi's childhood development for longer than anyone before Messi moved to Barcelona, and to Nicolás Canessa, an occasional team-mate of... Continue Reading →
This week in The Libero: what is the Copa América Centenario, exactly?
On Friday, the Copa América Centenario kicks off in the United States, and in this week's issue of The Libero, I was asked to preview it. I've gone for a piece looking at why although it's going to be a good tournament, it's still important to remember it's not an actual Copa América. To give you... Continue Reading →
A new place to find my writing: The Libero
Today The Libero launches. It's an online football magazine, and the deal is simple: you get a weekly email containing four articles covering world football, as long as you subscribe. You can subscribe by credit or debit card, or by PayPal, and it costs you £3 per month (about US$4.50 or AR$63). So for the... Continue Reading →
Boca Juniors’ Copa Libertadores disqualification: trying to summarise the fall-out
Four links here, three audio and one written. It's just under a week since River Plate players were attacked with home-made pepper spray by a Boca Juniors barra brava, causing the cancellation of the second half of their Copa Libertadores last sixteen superclásico, and Boca's disqualification from the tournament (as well as first degree burns to four... Continue Reading →
Teo Gutiérrez: South American Footballer of The Year 2014
As I mentioned in the previous post on HEGS, which was two Best XIs from last year in Argentine football, River Plate did quite well in the nominations for the 2014 South American Footballer of The Year, which was announced as usual on the 31st December. Leonardo Pisculichi finished third in the voting, Carlos Sánchez came... Continue Reading →