More fútbol argentino than you can shake a mullet at
Argentina's win against Mexico on Sunday was their first in 90 minutes in the knockout rounds of a World Cup for twenty years, believe it or not. To read what I thought of a generally impressive performance, especially from Carlos Tevez, click here to be taken to ESPN Soccernet. You can follow Argentina's World Cup... Continue Reading →
Carlos Tevez is, according to Diego Maradona, el jugador del pueblo ('the player of the people'). On Sunday, hours after the controversy during Germany's 4-1 thrashing of England, linesman Stefano Ayroldi confirmed to the world that he was indeed one of those 'people', allowing Tevez to open the scoring from a long way offside after... Continue Reading →
Diego Maradona's been keeping everyone second-guessing for the last few days. It looked a day or two ago like there would only be a couple of changes to the Argentina side that beat Nigeria 1-0 in their first match of the World Cup, but as of Saturday afternoon things were looking a bit different. Maradona... Continue Reading →
Following Friday afternoon's training session, Diego Maradona looks like he's making two changes to the Argentina team that started the first match of the World Cup against Nigeria. Maxi Rodríguez keeps his place on the right of midfield ahead of Seba Verón (Ángel Di María is back in on the left) and... wait for it...... Continue Reading →
Argentina's preparations for their World Cup second round match on Sunday against Mexico continue apace, with FIFA officially confirming that Juan Sebastián Verón's 135 successful passes against Greece is a new record for a single player in a single match in World Cups (statistics started in 1966). On the squad's day off, Jonás Gutiérrez -... Continue Reading →
Argentina's passage to the second round of the 2010 World Cup having been confirmed on Tuesday, the country's main concern during Wednesday's matches was who their rivals in the quarter-finals will be should they see off Mexico on Sunday. There was also time, though, for some reflection on the better-even-than-hoped-for group performance, and in particular... Continue Reading →
Argentina confirmed their place in the second round of the 2010 World Cup on Tuesday with a 2-0 win over a very defensive Greece side in Lionel Messi's first match as captain of the selección. It took a while for Diego Maradona's team to break the tightly-packed Greek defence but eventually Martín Demichelis and substitute... Continue Reading →
Lionel Messi will turn 23 years old on Thursday. He's managed quite a lot already in his club career (indeed, if he keeps scoring for Barcelona at his current rate he'll be their all-time highest scorer six months before he turns 26), but until this World Cup he's often been accused of failing to turn... Continue Reading →
Argentina will almost certainly secure their qualification for the second round of the 2010 World Cup on Tuesday when they take on Greece. They can afford to lose by five goals against Greece, and even then they might not go out, depending on the result of South Korea vs Nigeria of course. With qualification already... Continue Reading →
A quick note to say that those who are interested can now see a map of the birthplaces of all of the Argentina squad for the 2010 World Cup, provided to me by Bill's Sports Maps, on the new 'Squad map' page. Either hover your mouse over 'Map' above and click the drop-down menu, or... Continue Reading →
Hasta El Gol Siempre 