More fútbol argentino than you can shake a mullet at
On Thursday, Jorge Sampaoli announced the first part of Argentina's squad for the upcoming friendies against Italy (in Manchester on the 23rd March) and Spain (in Madrid on the 27th). This list consists of twenty-two players who play outside Argentina (all but one in Europe), to whom a few from the Argentine Superliga will be... Continue Reading →
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 →
The AFA have released Gerardo Martino's squad list for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers away to Chile and at home to Bolivia later this month, and the headline exclusion for the local media is Carlos Tevez, who admits himself he's been poor so far in 2016. There's a return for Javier Pinola of Rosario Central,... Continue Reading →
Gerardo Martino has announced Argentina's squad list for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers at home to Brazil (Thurs 12th November) and away to Colombia (Tues 17th), from which his side desperately need some good results after a disappointing start in which they lost at home to Ecuador and drew away to Paraguay. Lionel Messi won't... Continue Reading →
On Wednesday, Diego Maradona marked Juan Román Riquelme's birthday by telling the country that Riquelme will still be welcome back in the national team if he wants to return, but might have to explain himself directly to his team-mates. No doubt Riquelme will be unhappy Maradona's not said that to his face. Meanwhile, River Plate... Continue Reading →
In amongst the flurry of goals served up for us by Gimnasia de Jujuy and Rosario Central on Friday night, the fact got obscured (on HEGS at least - sorry) that Diego Maradona had named his first competitive squad as Argentina manager, in preparation for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers at home to Venezuela and... Continue Reading →
What will Diego Maradona's appointment as manager of Argentina mean for the fans and players of the national team? You can find out on Soccernet, where I've written a terrible first paragraph and an otherwise pretty good (I hope) article on the new technical team for the selección. You can read it here.
Argentina travelled to Lima on Monday, where they're now preparaing to take on Peru on Wednesday night. All is not well, however, for Alfio Basile's side. Following Carlos Tevez's second red card in three matches for the selección, they'll have to get ready for Peru with one forward fewer of Basile's squad. And as well... Continue Reading →
Argentina's friendly in Cairo has just kicked off and whilst I can't help you with any updates, I can give you the team. Julio Cruz gets the nod over Fernando Cavenaghi for the starting berth in the number 9 shirt, whilst Lucho González is the captain. Read on for the formation... Argentina starting XI vs.... Continue Reading →
On Wednesday, Alfio Basile announced the squad of 20 players to face Egypt in a friendly in Cairo on the 26th of March. The squad consists entirely of Europe-based players, since the home- (and one Mexico-) based ones are in action next week in the Copa Libertadores and their domestic leagues. Argentina squad to face... Continue Reading →
Hasta El Gol Siempre 