The twenty-second round of Superliga action ended on Monday night with yet another late winner for Defensa y Justicia, who emerged victorious from a five-goal thriller against Banfield thanks to Nicolás Fernández's hat trick. The win meant that Defensa have qualified for the Copa Libertadores for the first time in their history – they'll be in... Continue Reading →
Saturday’s Superliga highlights: Patronato beat Vélez; Racing make it two in a row
Saturday only featured three Superliga matches, because San Lorenzo v Independiente has been postponed to allow Independiente time to prepare for the Recopa Sudamericana (the South American Supercup). We had the clásico de La Plata, which turned out to be a less than thrilling affair in which Estudiantes probably should have got an away win over... Continue Reading →
Hand Of Pod episode 280
In the two-hundred and eightieth episode of Hand Of Pod, Andrés and I look back on last weekend's Superliga action - including Nacho Scocco's solo show (and Fernando Quintero's highly impressive debut) for RIver Plate, and Lautaro Martínez's hat trick for Racing, as well as the 1-1 draw between the top two, San Lorenzo and Boca... 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 →
Sunday’s Superliga round 13 highlights, including defeat for River
Former Borussia Dortmund striker Lucas Barrios made his return for Argentinos Juniors on Sunday, which also saw Belgrano get an away win over relegation-threatened Olimpo, and two Big Five clubs lose. Racing went down to Unión thanks to a golazo from Diego Zabala, and River Plate – in a match delayed by a bomb threat – lost 1-0... Continue Reading →
Top five signings from Argentina’s summer transfer window
The blinds were lowered and the curtains drawn on Argentina's summer transfer window on Thursday night, and plenty of clubs were active right up to the last minute. As I outlined here a few days ago, some clubs (San Lorenzo especially) seem to be putting faith in the squads which got them through the first... Continue Reading →
2016 Primera preview: round 5
A new round of Primera División action begins tonight - albeit tonight's matches aren't themselves the most attractive of the weekend. As ever, I'm back for The Bubble, previewing the weekend and highlighting the matches you should definitely make sure not to miss. You can read that here. And if you want to listen to episode... Continue Reading →
2016 Primera, fourth round: all the goals
Here are all the goals from the fourth round of matches in the Primera championship, which include two wonderful matches as San Lorenzo pipped Vélez Sarsfield by the odd goal in five, Independiente and Racing produced a thrilling finish to what had otherwise been a deadly dull clásico in Avellaneda, Boca Juniors thrashed Newell's Old Boys... Continue Reading →
Weekly opinion: 2016 Primera preview, part 1
In this week's opinion piece for The Bubble, I've written the first part of two which will serve as a preview to the 2016 Primera División transitional championship, which kicks off at the end of next week and runs until late May. This week, I run the rule over the Big Five and the summer transfers... Continue Reading →
Argentine football in 2014: two best XIs
As the clock ticks towards 2015, I present here not one but two best XIs of Argentina-based players during 2014. The reason it's two is simple: the sides who won the main trophies (the two domestic leagues and the two continental cups) dominate the actual best XI, and I felt sorry for the others. At... Continue Reading →