It's been a good long while since I last posted here, but after so many years waiting to write that headline I had to write something. Argentina ended a 28-year wait for a trophy at full international level on Saturday night, and did it in the manner every Argentine fan had dreamed of: in the... Continue Reading →
Copa América 2015: two previews
The 2015 Copa América in Chile is just hours away, and here, as the title of this post suggests, are two previews. First, a link to a piece I wrote for ESPNFC examining whether Lionel Messi needs to win this tournament in order to secure his legacy, and secondly, episode 188 of Hand Of Pod, which looks... Continue Reading →
The 2011 Torneo Apertura is here!
Hasta El Gol Siempre is back, ladies and gents. I apologise for the long absence of any posts on here since the Copa América final, but I've been just as busy working as I was during the Copa itself, if not more (more of that in a short while), and it's been quite pleasant in some... Continue Reading →
Apologies that I've not been posting on HEGS since the Copa América final on Sunday, but it's been a busy week. Normal service will soon be resumed, honest. The twenty-seventh episode of Hand Of Pod is our look back on an eventful and historic Copa América Argentina 2011, and Sam, Australian Dan, English Dan and Seba... Continue Reading →
On Sunday afternoon, the first match in Buenos Aires of the 2011 Copa América is played. It's the tournament final, and the lineup for it illustrates perfectly how iconoclastic this edition of the tournament has proven. Uruguay and Paraguay are the unexpected sides battling it out in the Estadio Monumental for the title of champions... Continue Reading →
Copa América 2011: Uruguay beat Peru to advance to the final (video)
On Tuesday night, Uruguay and Peru met in the first semi-final of the 2011 Copa América, and Uruguay ran out 2-0 winners thanks to a second half brace from Luis Suárez after some spirited Peruvian resistance in the first half. Juan Vargas was sent off for Peru late on for an elbow on Diego Lugano,... Continue Reading →
Copa América 2011: Brazil’s exit and Venezuela’s best-ever campaign (video)
I never got round to posting the highlight videos from Sunday's quarter-final action, which saw Copa América holders Brazil go out to Paraguay on penalties in La Plata, and Venezuela dump Chile out 2-1 in a thrilling battle between the only two countries in the quarters to have never won the title before. Those videos... Continue Reading →
Copa América 2011: Uruguay dump hosts Argentina out, Peru get past Colombia (video)
The 2011 Copa América knockout stage started heating up on Saturday with Peru's 2-0 extra time win over Colombia through two superbly taken goals, and got white hot a little later in the day with a brilliant match between great rivals Argentina and Uruguay, which finished in a 1-1 draw, and which Uruguay - sixty-one... Continue Reading →
The quarter-finals of the 2011 Copa América begin on Saturday afternoon, and in my latest piece for ESPNSoccernet I take a look at the final round of matches in the group stage, during which a previously slow-burning (if interesting) competition really sprang into life. Sergio Markarián's outburst, the awful state of the La Plata pitch,... Continue Reading →
Copa América 2011: one-third of the group stage goals come in last two matches (video)
Having had twenty-five goals in the first sixteen matches of the group stage of the Copa América Argentina 2011, we were treated on Wednesday to a much more impressive twelve in two games as Group B closed. Venezuela went into stoppage time trailing 1-3 to Paraguay (having led 1-0), and scored twice in the dying... Continue Reading →
Hasta El Gol Siempre 