Tragedy in Argentina

what a tragedy!!!!

[...] A moment of silence was held for Emmanuel Alvarez, a fan killed yesterday while on his way to see Vélez at San Lorenzo’s stadium. … One [...]

The more things change the more they stay the same. Italy, Netherlands, Brazil and many more countries throughout the world continue to be plagued by Ultras or Firms. These Ultra’s are nothing more than gangs flying the colours of their teams often with the support of the clubs.

England is the example of how to take back the game. What they have achieved over a ten year period is remarkable. Look at the games in the premiership today compared to what we use to see. The English have shown the world what can be achieved but there is a lack of will to do it. The body count isn’t high enough yet it seems.

regards,

nice article about mascherano.

http://goal.com/en-US/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=625492

Mascherano’s first goal
for Liverpool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZJiZqkjlHU

Quality goal by Masche. Hard to believe that squad as struggled as much as it has.

Mascherano is possibly the greatest footballer of all time! Think of it

Ezequiel75 is the nick-name of a young football fan who’s comment on a blog on “La Nación”, gives us a little picture of the sub-world most football fans have to live in and survive in Buenos Aires.

Ezequiel75:
“This is only getting worse. I’m a fan of Racing, I’m cool, like most of us, we just like to watch our football team.
To get from Padua to Avellaneda on that train is something else…
There’s gangs on the trains, and they mug you, even for your shoes. The train on Sundays is suicidal, so I started using the buses from Merlo. Yes” he says, “the same ones that were attacked by “Barras” de River a while ago.
It’s dangerous because either, wearing a team’s jersey or carrying a flag, just makes you an automatic target.
Also the buses would approach the stadium either from the toll-road in Dock Sud or across the Pueyrredón Bridge. Both are heavy areas filled with violent people.
What happened last Sunday has made me consider having to quit doing what I like the most: to go to the game…”

exactly…please refer to my post dated March 16th, 2008 at 7:42 pm. glad to hear agreement on my post

regards,

ALBO,
Nice story about Bielsa at the monumental stadium. Seems that Aguilar needs money.
Concerning the sad one, the death of a fan going to the stadium, someone needs to find a solution about Grondona. He is responsible of all the fans deaths since he has the futbol power in Argentina. He should have resigned for decades now. All he’s gonna do is cry a little and forget all this the day after…

AIMAR10,
Yes, I agree, we have the players to build 2 excellent teams with 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 systems, unlike the 4-3-1-2 which is really dependent on side defenders that we don’t have.

ajNYHC,
De Michelis has his heart full of passion for the NT. I don’t understand why the situation about his positioning in his employer’s team is brought to the press. Hitzfeld should have solved the problem with an internal way and didn’t manage this well. There is nothing to worry about Dimi’s future under the albiceleste colors.

JAMES,
Coloccini is a very good player. I like him a lot. The problem for him is that he has always been used as a right back for Argentina, which is not his position. We need him for 2010 even if he’s responsible of Klose’s gol against Germany. I even prefer Coloccini than Milito…

Cavegol scored once more. It’s like this every week-end now…

Higuain must get out of the circus as soon as possible otherwise he will last his career in Russia or in Poland…

Diego Maradona said to the press: “Sepp Blatter has never played futbol. He has never shot a penalty and plays with people’s passion”. Thank you El Pibe d’oro.

AURELIUS,
When I was a kid, my idol and favourite player was English. A sort of tall Messi, slower but with amazing dribbling skills and incredible long passes accuracy! He played with Marseille until 1992 and ended his career at Sheffield United. He is responsible of Jean Pierre Papin’s success and golden ball. I believe he was also the nicest and the funniest player I have ever seen. I will never forget Chris Waddle.

Benitez angry about next Argentina friendly.
http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=83718

Benitez should shut his mouth. He’s known about this friendly for some time, to complain about it now is pointless.

demichelis back in squad
http://goal.com/en-US/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=625362

olympic squad

http://goal.com/fr/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=626133

Maxilopez,

You being french can you sum this up, Thanks

http://goal.com/fr/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=626133

Ok so here is the low down on a new prodigy. He is 15 and he plays for River plate he is 6′0 and just turn 15. His name is Willy Yemba???……. it doesn’t sound Argentine doesn’t right?

Well it is because he is not. He is from Congo. He has two brother who are also footballers. His Dad woks in the Congo embassy in B.A.

He is a supporter of Argentine football and was willing to play for the selecion but he was born in Congo and on the bighter side he was lively in Argentina for half of his life so he has dual citizenship so Willy can pick for what country he wants to represent,

Hey whats wrong with us stealing a good one for a change

Golazo its just the olympic article in French. Thats all.

Yea I know that there more to it then the players names. And I don’t know french so I can’t read it.

German Denis seems on his way to Torino. This is a good and clever choice for starting in Europe. Some should’ve done the same instead of joining the giants in Spain…

GOLAZO,
The list is an extended Olympic games list. Only 23 of these 30 players will be in Pekin. With the plenty of talents that we have in Argentina, Diego Milito, Cruz or Cambiasso appear on the list. And I don’t understand it. Also, I love Riquelme but wasn’t it the time to give a chance to Diego Valeri, his younger clone? And the list of 30 names includes very few defenders. Does it means that the coach is gonna play 3-5-2?

EVERYONE,
I am preparing something for weeks at each free moment. I am not gonna tell you what it is. All I can say is that’s incredible. You’ll see, you won’t be disappointed. I think Aurelius knows what it is

Golazo,

I don’t think Argentina should be poaching players from other countries. No-one likes it when Argentines choose to play for other countries.

regards,

Sivori’s Son Urges Juve To Sign Cavenaghi
Nestor Sivori, son of Juventus legend Omar, has urged the Bianconeri to sign Bordeaux striker Fernando Cavenaghi.
»Comments (12) Print This Story Send To A Friend Contact Us
galleria zoom Omar Sivori is widely regarded as one of the best players, not only in Juventus’ history, but in the history of football itself.

The Argentine played for Juve from 1957 to 1965, achieving great success, while after his playing days he worked as a full-time scout for the club in Argentina, until his death in 2005.

Sivori’s son, Nestor, is a scout and agent himself, and he has urged his father’s beloved club to sign Bordeaux hitman Fernando Cavenaghi.

“If you asked me to suggest the names of three River Plate players: I would say the striker Radamel Falcao, the midfielder Oscar Ahumada, and the 19-year-old attacker Andrés Rios,” said Sivori, whose father also had a big attachment with River.

“But there is an ace who more than anyone else deserves to be a Bianconero. Fernando Cavenaghi of Bordeaux. He is 24 and he scored again at the weekend.

“He is a bomber like Crespo. He is already Juventino in his soul. My father made him love the Old Lady, as they always used to speak when Cavenaghi was in the River Plate youth team. My dad was like a father to Cavenaghi.”

Sivori also criticised the Juventus hierarchy for their transfer policy last summer, saying that many of the players bought were not up-to-standard.

“It is not easy to play for Juve, we need to know the level of players. For example, I saw that last summer Almirón, Criscito, Tiago and Andrade joined. They are not Juve players,” he concluded

Hey guys, the latest episode of The Offside Podcast is up, where I give my take on the tragic events this past week in Argentina, and what needs to be done to ensure this never happens again. Also, Inara takes us through all things related to France.

Remember, if you haven’t done so already, make sure to sign up for this week’s contest for your chance to win the Giants of Brazil DVD. Head over to the link below for more information.

Thanks for supporting the show, and please gives us your thoughts.

Christian

http://podcast.theoffside.com/weekly-podcast/episode-15-tragedy-in-argentina.html

Cavenghi scored again yesterday.

RVN is now out let see how much Higuain wants it and how much he wants to become a regulaler for Argentina.

Maxilopez,

Thanks

John,

Now AFA is fed up with Argentine born players playing for other countries. AFa wants to keep this guy Willy Yemba and also want to take the 17 year old South Korean who plays fo Huracan.

Argentina vs Egypt just about week away

My formation

—————Ustari—
–Zabaleta–Milito–Demichelis—Heinze
————–Mascherano————–
Cambiasso——Gago—————Lucho
——-Cavenghi——Lopez————

Christian, well said on the podcast.
My two cents on violence:

Taking measures against violence related to football can be achieved.
I have seen argentineans taking their sweet time, but eventually learning to stop at a red light (not all of them though), buckle up, quit smoking, return to democracy, and what not. None of them easy tasks.
Argy football fans can learn if the law is fully behind the measure.
Also supported by intelligent publicity.

But the problem is that this thing is not only related to football, so it won’t go away unless we change the order of certain values our society lives by.

What starts with a fancy or a passion for an entity or an idea somehow suffers a change along the way till it becomes more important to destroy the enemy than to praise and enjoy your own cause.
This happens between 5 year old kids (peer pressure), all the way to adults.
It also happens between countries, religions, states and provinces, ethnic groups, football teams, schools, social classes, etc, etc, it never ends.

Says the diccionary:
Fanaticism: excessive intolerance of opposing views. Zealotry.
Intolerance: unwillingness to recognize and respect differences in opinions or beliefs.

I think it all starts with the education a kid gets at home from his/her parents.
Kids are a mirror of what they see at home.
Targeting the education of good moral values is what could provoke a change. And obviously if it ever does, it will take some time to complete.

I’m not gonna talk about countries other than mine.
But I’ve been around and seen the old hatred almost everywhere.
Saludos

http://goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=627913

Golazo you lost me with Lopez as a forward? Who is he? And to be honest it looks a little defensive to me. Why not have lavenzzi at left mid and lucho at right with cambiaso in the middle. gago can come in the second half.

He means Lisandro Lopez. I’d personally pair-up Cavenaghi and Aguero upfront, with a midfield of Lucho, Gago, Mascherano and Maxi. Imagine if Messi and Riquelme were playing. I’d throw Messi in midfield with Riquelme and Cambiasso and Mascherano.

Kind words by the French legend: http://www.goal.com/en-US/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=627878

Ok thanks and yes Aguero should be upfront with cavenaghi.

Tonight, Boca Juniors will play Colo-Colo in Chile for Copa Libertadores’ group stage.
The game will be televised on Fox Sports.
Boca is the only team in the continent to stay unbeaten in both the league and Copa.
Riquelme, Ibarra, Battaglia, Ledesma, Palermo, Palacio, etc are all in the lineup.

Even I plan on watching that one. Should be a great atmosphere.

Albo, What time is the game and what channel? I couldnt find the listing in Fox Sports. Thanks.

It’s on Fox Sports Español, at midnight ET.

Christian, are you sure the game is that late?
It’s advertised at 21:40. If that is argy time than it should be 8:40pm ET.
Can you confirm?
Thanks

I’m going off what’s listed on Fox Soccer’s printable schedule, and I just checked on DirecTv’s site and it’s the same. For some reason they’re showing some rubbish tie from the Champions Cup.

http://msn.foxsports.com/id/7934984_37_1.pdf

interesing article, worth reading.

http://goal.com/en-US/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=629382

beware argentinians….egypt will rock you!!!

just kidding!!

The Willy Yemba story is fascinating. I hope he does play. So Boca goes down, and Riquelme gets injured. Any word on the injury? (he’s not playing against Egypt anyway, right?)

Lopez should get the starting role because he has scored in 19 out of the 21 games in portugal. It is better the Cavenaghi and Aguero scoring sheet.

well Barcelona loses again and so does Boca. bad night for Argys accept of course banega. Hey can anyone find out what barcelonas record is this year when Messi starts and then when he does not start? It seems to me that they are just averrage at best when he does not start and when he does start that almost never lose?

Messi Back In A Month
Lionel Messi is likely to return to action for his Barcelona side within a month and half as it seems as if his injury is healing as expected.
»Comments (10) Print This Story Send To A Friend Contact Us
galleria zoom The Argentine sensation has been out after he hobbled off the pitch against Celtic in the Champions League a few weeks ago.

On Thursday he was examined by the Argentina medical staff and they have some good news.

Homero D’Agostino who is the head of the medical team of the Argetina national side believes Messi’s injury is improving all the time and that the striker could return to action by the end of April.

“We examined the injury and it seems as if he is making a good recovery,” said D’Agostino.

“The healing is good, very good. The old injury has completely healed and the new one is healing very well.

“He’s feeling good and he is no longer in pain, he should be able to begin work on the pitch very soon.”

“I think six weeks will favor a complete heal of the muscular injury,” concluded the doctor.

No doubt that Barcelona fans will be happy to hear that all is going to plan for the brilliant forward. Messi is arguably one of the Blaugrana’s best players and a swift return to action would be a massive boost for his side given their designs on both the Champions League as well as the Primera Division.

Terrible night for Boca. Colo-Colo 2-0 Boca
They created many chances to score, but couldn’t convert.
Coco-Colo played defensive and score both times in counter-attack.
Riquelme has an injury that might keep him from playing Egypt.
Bummer

Atletico Madrid settle Velez Sarsfield dispute over teenage duo
tribalfootball.com – March 21, 2008

Atletico Madrid have settled a transfer dispute with Velez Sarsfield over the signing of two teenagers.

Gonzalo Bozzoni, 18, and 16-year-old German Pacheco were at the centre of the row after their move to Atletico upset Velez directors.

Following threats of taking the case to FIFA, the two clubs reached a compromise agreement which will see Atletico pay appearances fees and also include a sell-on clause in each players’ contract.

who are these kids?

About Riquelme,
It looks now like Riquelme will be ready to play Egypt afer all.
He’ll miss the league game this Sunday against Colon (Santa Fe) but might be back for the second match against Colo-Colo at La Bombonera.

I thought Riquelme wasn’t in the squad for Egypt?

[...] for Vélez, they are coming off one of their worst weeks in recent history after the death of one of their fans, so look for them to make a statement in front of their home crowd at the [...]

ajNYHC, you’re right. Riquelme is not in that list.
He’s been selected for the olympic team, not the friendly against Egypt.
My bad.

Mascherano is sooooo under rated at Liverpool its always Torres-Gerrad but without a doubt he is the best player in Liverpool.

GOLAZO,
I agree concerning Lisandro Lopez. He deserves to start.

Mascherano is the best defensive midfielder in the galaxy, far from the others. But he plays far too much and Benitez is absolutely right complaining about how he’s used with the Argentina NT. How many players must be injured because of games high frequency? I remind you guys that we’ve lost Maxi Rodriguez (who had almost his carreer ended) and Crespo for la Copa 07. Messi was recovering of his “Ridjkaard” injury in 2006 too.

TAMIM,
This is a friendly. Winning is not that important. It will be a very entertaining friendly with lots of gol. Egypt are very tactical and play a nice futbol. It’s a good test for Argentina. I hope our team will do its tactical job after attacking on 4-1-3-2 style.

If Basile plays 4-3-1-2 with this group, i would do this:

———-Ustari————
Zabaleta–Colo–Dimi–Heinze
–Zanetti–Masche–Maxi—–
———-Lucho————-
—–Lopez——-Cavegol—-

This team would amazingly collective and Egypt wouldn’t touch a single ball

In the second half, Test Aguero as a #9 with Lavezzi and Gago at Mascherano’s place. Il Capitano should be subbed with Burdisso too, with Zabaleta moving upfront.

Zanetti, Cambiasso, Mascherano should have not been called by Basile. They are dying physically…

Its Tevez vs Mascherano at sunday,Manchester united vs Liverpool going to be a great match. I want tevez to score again!!!!!!

I’ve read that Roman might be out for 4 weeks?

JAMES,
Yes, he has played too much for 1 year, he teared his thigh, the classical injury when you play too much. It’s a warning. Next time, it could be worst. It’s the same kind of injury that Crespo (at la Copa) and Messi lately with Barca, suffered…

Tonight’s match between Racing and Estudiantes was suspended in the second half. After Racing were left with 8 men and a goal disallowed, fans began throwing projectiles at the pitch, and the ref was forced to call the game off after police told him that order could not be guaranteed. Racing fans were seen walking across the pitch, often times walking near the ref, but no one seemed to think this could be a security risk.

Another embarrassment in the Primera tonight.

wow, Tevez not playing for Man U cause Sir Alex decided to go with an ultra defensive lineup. And Masche picked up a 2nd yellow and is out for the game. a pity, as he was playing really well up to that point. still not sure what happened as it was close to half time, but Liverpool won a free kick, and Torres was given a Yellow for some reason and Masche went to complain on Torres’ behalf and got his 2nd booking. Very strange…

I’ve watched Inter – Juve yesterday.

Burdisso showed his limits once more. He was really bad and gave the second gol to Trezegol. He isn’t good enough to play with the NT.

Zanetti was dying on the field. Really tired. He was very elegant thanks to his technique, but in defence, he didn’t even have the strenght to press. He gave to much space to the nerobianchi. I wonder if he’s gonna play against Egypt. I think it would be a mistake.

Trezeguet was at the right place, at the right time, as always.

Cambiasso didn’t play.
(Mancini does the bad choices, he played horrible Stankovic once more and subbed his chilean playmaker when it was really not needed..)

Concerning the other boys, Cavenaghi rested and didn’t play with Bordeaux (who lost). Maxi Rodriguez, one of our most important players, played like always: very collective, moved a lot and created spaces. He scored. Aguero is really an excellent second forward and was very disturbing for Sevilla who is losing the battle with Athletico for the Liga 4th place.

Ferguson doesn’t play Tevez? It’s a shame.

Drogba is my favourite striker of all. Sorry Bati.
Chelsea and Man-U are a notch above the rest of the teams of the world, the way I see it.
Those two teams can play power-football without converting the pitch into a pinball machine.
Watching any other PL teams, feels like watching a ping-pong match. Long kick to the opponent, long kick back…
Just an opinion.

too bad for mascherano today — but i’m glad he’s learning this stuff at liverpool — just as long as he doesn’t get kicked out of a world cup quarterfinal

how was neri cardozo today? and who is that new kid cristian chavez for boca and bou for river?

J-Argie, Neri Cardozo was not in his best night during Boca 2-1 Colón Santa Fé.
Dátolo was. Gracián played well too.
Great game by RONCAGLIA: (remember that name), and Monzón.
Morel is as good as they come but he belongs to Paraguay…
Don’t know much about Cristian Chávez, other than: he is an 18 year old player with less than a year of experience and very few minutes played. He’s a midfielder who currently subs for Gracián, who at the time subs for Riquelme.

River has been showing good football too.
And Carrizo is probably the best GK we have at the moment. Hello Coco…?
BTW, Esteban Cambiasso misses the friendly in Egypt due to injury.

Alexa,
Messi is also learning his stuff at Barca so that he doesnt get injred in a world cup quarterfinal. I am glad Mascherano and Messi are learning.

Hi all!
Mascherano really screwed things up yesterday. You can not run 20 meters and complain to the referee when you already have been booked. Tevez is tired and is not the same player now as he was some weeks ago. He said some months ago himself that he needs a break. I think we will see the real Tevez the next season. Aguero is such a great player. I get so impressed by him almost every time I see him play.

Gago was excellent yesterday. He was very dynamic and was surprisingly physically impressive.

I’m sure the Higuain fans here have seen how he played yesterday. As a winger by Schuster. Worrying for him. He never plays and when he does a little, he wastes HUGE opportunities like yesterday when he couldn’t even score at 2 meters from a lying golkeeper. Higuain will maybe be a good player one day, but now he’s nothing except a very marketed player since he left River. He’s nothing. He needs to get out of the circus quickly.

ALBO,
I believe Manchester are absolutely over-rated. I’m sure they will be eliminated by Roma in The Champions. Roma will block the wings and use their tactical 4-5-1. The first game at Rome will be very important.

Yes ALEXA, you are right. It’s better for them to learn this kind of things at their clubs. But this time, unlike Tevez or Aguero’s exclusions, it made me laugh. Mascherano is pretty funny when he shows his feelings. Giants like Patrick Vieira were sent off many times in this league were players must never complain about the refering.

RUNE,
The risk is that we could never see the real Argentina if players such as Riquelme, Masche or De Michelis are never fit. Man, Tevez is even frightened to play Brazil because he’s afraid of being too tired…

ALBO,
I didn’t know that Cambiasso was injured. Wow. It is VERY worrying.

Players who generally play each 3 days, Riquelme, Messi, Cambiasso are all injured in a month. Zanetti is dead each time he plays. Tevez doesn’t even wanna play anymore. Fuc#… And nobody moves a single finger except Wenger, Benitez or Mourinho or Houllier in the past. The powerfull coaches never stop complaining but nobody cares. WC 2002 was the demonstration that players need to be fit to play good football. This situation is just amazing.

The clever guy is Crespo. He has always done the same at Parma, Lazio or Inter: each time he gets a new contract at his club, you don’t see him unless there is an international competition or if his contract ends…

Well Argy of the weekend was Aguero. I will state again that Aguero can and should be a number 9 for the national team. Anyone watching the game can see that Aguero switches back and forth to the number 9 with Forlan. Most of the time he is playing a number 9 role!

Starting Midfeild with cambiassso out is most likely Mascerano and gago in the center with Lucho on the left and mazi on the right. What i would like to see is a 4 1 3 2 with mascerano in front of the defense and then Gago Maxi and Levenssi in the midfeild with Aguero and caveniggi upfront.

Mascherano pleads ignorance over red card

Javier Mascherano still has no idea why he was sent off against Manchester United during Liverpool’s 3-0 Premier League defeat at Old Trafford.

While the possibility persists that the Argentinian could yet have to serve more than the mandatory one-match ban – because he failed to leave the pitch immediately after being red-carded – Mascherano remains non-plussed over the initial reason for yesterday’s dismissal.

Referee Steve Bennett had already booked him for a foul when Mascherano sought to make his feelings known to the official after Fernando Torres had also been given a yellow card.

It was then the referee gave the midfielder his second booking for dissent.

But Mascherano claimed: ‘I do not know why I was sent off.

‘I asked the referee what was happening. I did not swear; I was not aggressive and I did not confront him.

‘All I did was ask him what was happening, nothing else.’

Mascherano, who subsequently lost his cool as he made his way off the field, told the Liverpool Echo: ‘When he showed me the second yellow card and sent me off I could not believe it.

‘I am sorry to my team-mates because that meant we went down to 10 men – and that made things even more difficult for us.’