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 →
In a special edition of Hand Of Pod, Sam and the Dans are joined by Ralph Hannah, an English expert on Paraguayan football who was kind enough to drop in on us when visiting Buenos Aires with his wife for the weekend from Asunción. We discuss Paraguay's chances in the forthcoming Copa América, who the... Continue Reading →
World Cup 2010 qualifying: Paraguay 1 – 0 Argentina
We've been here before, and there's not a lot else more to say. In Asunción on Wednesday night, needing a point to remain in the automatic qualification spots for the 2010 World Cup, Argentina slumped to a defeat which sees Paraguay qualify for South Africa. Seba Verón was sent off early in the second half... Continue Reading →
The Enganche Podcast – part two
Argentina travel to Asunción to take on Paraguay later tonight, with the team unlikely to be announced until very shortly before kick off. Whether Diego Maradona has any idea what it's going to be himself is anyone's guess. There are some educated guesses to be made, though. There's also some discussion to be had of... Continue Reading →
Goalkeeping uncertainty
In the wake of Saturday night's humiliation in Rosario at the hands of Brazil, Diego Maradona has been experimenting with personnel (if not formation) during Monday's training sessions. Whilst the outfield positions are still up in the air, one position that does look guaranteed to change is in goal, where Maradona seems set to use... Continue Reading →
Copa Libertadores: Estudiantes 3 – 0 Libertad
It could have been a tricky tie for Estudiantes, facing Paraguayans Libertad. The visitors are adept at getting on the nerves of sides from bigger countries, and a visit to Asunción in the second leg won't have been what Alejandro Sabella and his boys were dreaming of. It took just 28 seconds for Gastón 'La... Continue Reading →
Copa Libertadores 2009: Libertad 2 – 0 San Lorenzo and San Martín 2 – 1 River Plate – the goals
San Lorenzo gave River Plate a pasting in the league back on Sunday, but in midweek in the Copa Libertadores both sides suffered the same fate, losing limply to their hosts. Whilst River's season will be in danger - yet again - of descending into freefall if they can't pick things up again against Arsenal at... Continue Reading →
Copa Libertadores – preview 2, and the goals so far
Technical issues (on my internet providers' end, not my own) have prevented me from posting all of this previously, but things now seem to be (just about) rolling again just as I was starting to get ready for bed and an early start tomorrow for my plane. First up: you can read my preview of... Continue Reading →
River finally win
It was only Néstor Gorosito's second competitive match in charge of River Plate, but their first win of 2009 already seems like it's been a long time coming, following the disappointments of the Torneo de Verano. On Thursday night, in their first Copa Libertadores group game against Paraguayans Nacional, they were disappointing again, but Diego... Continue Reading →
World Cup 2010: Argentina 1 – 1 Paraguay
It was second versus first in the Estadio Monumental on Saturday afternoon, as Argentina hosted leaders Paraguay in the South American qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup. The selección didn't look particularly hot in front of their own fans, falling a goal down early on after dominating the opening exchanges before going a man down... Continue Reading →
Hasta El Gol Siempre 