Futsal World Cup 2008 - Futsalbiceleste Prepares To Tango In Brazil

The sixth edition of the Futsal World Cup will be held in Brazil starting from 30th September until the 19th October. Argentina has an amazing record of having qualified for every tournament since its inception in Holland, 1989. Our best achievement so far is finishing fourth place in the last edition in Chinese Taipei, 2004.

I'm sure many of you would have read about the Albi-Malaysian gang experience watching the Futsalbiceleste in action live on their previous two occasions here in Malaysia. Plenty of fond memories for all of us. For the record, I saw them defeating Brazil for the first time back in 2003(thanks to one hell of a freak goal)!

Argentina is placed in Group C alongside Ukraine, China, Guatemala and Egypt. Their will open their campaign against China on the 1st October. The following are the full squad list that will travel to Brazil:-

Goalkeeper
Javier GUISANDE
Santiago ELIAS

Defender
Sebastian CORAZZA
Diego GIUSTOZZI
Leandro PLANAS
Carlos SANCHEZ

Midfielder
Hernan GRACIAS
Marcelo GIMENEZ
Matias LUCUIX
Maximilliano RESCIA

Forward
Martin AMAS
Cristian BORRUTO
Esteban GONZALEZ
Fernando WILHELM

Coach
Sergio LOPEZ

I still remember some of the names very well. Particularly seasoned veteran players such as Carlos SANCHEZ, Javier GUISANDE, Leandro PLANAS & Esteban GONZALEZ (all of whom were in Kuala Lumpur back in 2003). Their experience will be vital to the team especially on SANCHEZ who is playing in his fourth tournament. Then there are the likes of CORAZZA and RESCIA whom will bring youth and energy.

About our chances? Well it's pretty much hard to say as the likes Brazil, Italy and Spain are overwhelming favourites. A place in the semi-final sounds quite realistic and then we'll see how things go. Nevertheless as always at Mundo, our support will go out to them all the way.

VAMOS FUTSALBICELESTE!!!

UCL – Group Stage, Round 2 Thread

Another week of action packed matches from the UEFA Champions League waits for us. Certainly after plenty of surprises from Round 1, who know what is in store for us this time.

 

The best fixture from Day 1 has to be FC Porto's trip to the Emirates to play Arsenal. Lucho, Licha & Gang will look forward to unleash more misery on the Gunners after their stunning defeat to Hull City during the weekend.

 

Other interesting matches from the same Day are the Villareal/Celtic and Bayern/Lyon encounter. Hoping to see another solid performance from Gonzalo RODRIGUEZ after being excluded from next months World Cup qualifier.

 

In Day 2, CFR Cluj will look forward to their first home game in the Group Stage when they take on Chelsea. There is still plenty of déjà vu from the footballing world after their stunning win over Roma.

 

Another interesting match to look forward is Atletico Madrid against Marseille. Hopefully it will be another European night to remember for Kun AGUERO after his brilliant performance at PSV two weeks ago.

 

Also, Lionel MESSI & Barcelona will travel to the Ukraine to face Shaktar Donestk. While the Albiceleste gang from Inter will hope to recover from their derby defeat when they take on Werder Bremen at home.

 

Here are all the other fixtures taking place in the next two days

 

Day 1 – 30/09/2008

 

AaB vs Man. United

Fiorentina vs Steaua Bucharest

Fenerbahce vs Dynamo Kyiv

Zenit vs Real Madrid

BATE vs Juventus

 

Day 2 – 01/10/2008

 

Bordeaux vs Roma

Anorthosis vs Panathinaikos

Sporting vs Basel

Liverpool vs PSV

Coco's Provisional Squad For November Qualifiers

Coco BASILE has announced a provisional squad of 18 overseas based players for next month's World Cup qualifiers. Argentina will host close rivals Uruguay on the 11th of October before going on the road to face Chile four days later. Before we get into further discussions, here is the list: -

Goalkeepers

Juan Pablo CARRIZO (Lazio)
Sergio ROMERO (AZ Alkmaar)

Defenders

Javier ZANETTI (Inter Milan)
Pablo ZABALETA (Manchester City)
Martín DEMICHELIS (Bayern Munich)
Cata DIAZ (Getafe)
Fabricio COLOCCINI (Newcastle United)
Nicolás BURDISSO (Inter Milan)
Gabriel HEINZE (Real Madrid)
Luciano MONZON (Real Betis)

Midfielders

Maxi RODRIGUEZ (Atlético Madrid)
Javier MASCHERANO (Liverpool)
Esteban CAMBIASSO (Inter Milan)
Ángel DI MARIA (Benfica)

Forwards

Carlos TEVEZ (Manchester United)
Sergio Kun AGUERO (Atlético Madrid)
Diego MILITO (Genoa)
Lionel MESSI (Barcelona)

The most obvious inclusion has to Luciano MONZON. The gold medalist left back is having a great start to his career in Spain. I would love to see him getting some action in place of Gabriel HEINZE.

Among the returnee are Maxi RODRIGUEZ and Gabriel MILITO. The latter has been on fire ever since he moved to Genoa.

I'm sure the rest of the additions are likely to be home based player, most notably Juan Roman RIQUELME. However I have no idea at the moment whether Coco has made up his mind on those players based in Europe.

Once again, Coco has been pretty ignorant towards Fernando CAVENAGHI. At the same time, I keep asking myself where is Mauro ZARATE and Gonzalo HIGUAIN? All these players are in good form and I don't see any reason for them not to be included into this team.

Unless Coco has some surprise left for us when he names the full squad.

The Zarate Kid Show

Football – A Big Performance from Mauro Zarate

Not much of highlights from Spain as on Saturday, the big two needed a last minute goal to win in their respective matches.

Gabriel HEINZE opened the scoring in the 19th minute as the defending champions Real Madrid defeated Real Betis away.While Lionel MESSI scored the winning goal for Barcelona from the penalty spot against their city rival Espanyol.
In Italy, with three minutes left to play, German DENIS strikes the winner for Napoli in their 1-0 win over Bologna away.While Lazio produce a sensation performance away to Torino as they defeated the Turin side 3-1 with two goals and an assist from in-form striker Mauro ZARATE. He first set up Goran PANDEV's opener in the 30th minute and later fired a swerving shot to double Lazio's lead in the 64th minute. With seven minutes from time, Lazio were awarded a penalty which also saw Torino's goalkeeper Matteo SERENI sent off. ZARATE step up to take the kick from the spot and converted it comfortably.

In the French league, Fernando CAVENAGHI was on target as he scored Bordeaux equalizer in their 1-1 draw against St Etienne.

In Russia, Clemente RODRIGUEZ was on target for Spartak Moscow in their 2-0 win away to YFK Shinnik Yaroslav. While UEFA Cup winner Zenit St Petersburg came away with a 3-0 win over Lokomotiv Moscow with Alejandro DOMINGUEZ among the scorer. Hector BRACAMONTE was the hero in FC Moscow in their 1-0 win over FK Rubin Kazan in the Russian Premier League.

Nacho SCOCCO scored for AEK Athens in their 2-2 draw with Panionios in the Greek Super League.While Larissa came away with a 3-1 win over Panserraikos with Marcelo SARMIENTO and Facundo PARRA among the goal scorer.

Gustavo COLMAN scored the opening goal for Trabzonspor in their 3-2 win over Antalyaspor in the Turkish Super League.

In Cyprus, Francisco AGUIRRE scored the second goal for Omonia Nicosia against Atromitos Yeroskipou.

Sebastian DUBARBIER scored for CFR Cluj in their 1-1 draw against Steaua Bucharest in the Romanian League.

Finally, Seba's beloved QPR were defeated at home by Derby County in the English Championship with Emanuel VILLA scoring the second goal for the Rams.

NFL – Another Perfect Kicking From Gramatica

The New Orleans Saints return to winning ways after 31-17 win against the San Francisco 49ers. After missing a couple field goals against the Broncos last week, Martin GRAMATICA was perfect on the kicking duties.

He made four extra points after touchdowns from Lance MOORE (2), Robert MEACHEM and Deuce McALLISTER. He also converted a 31 yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

Another Milestone For Zanetti

When Javier ZANETTI took to the field against Lecce during the week, it was his 600th appearance for Inter. Indeed another milestone in his long and illustrious career for the Nerazzuri. Now he is on target to overtake Giacinto FACCHETTI's record of 634 appearances in total. With a long season ahead, he should achieve that record pretty soon.

Since leaving Banfield in 1995, El Pupi has won 3 Scudetto's, 2 Copa Italia, 3 Super Copa Italia and one UEFA Cup in his 13 years in Italy. However the honours have always eluded him in an Argentina's jersey. Who knows, 2010 might just be the year for him.

If there was one highlight in his career that I would choose to remember the most, it must that left footed strike against England in France'98.

I came across this interesting article from Goal.com about our captain marvel. I really do want all of you to read it and hopefully you might enjoy it as much as I did. Perhaps we can have our own discussion right here about this living legend.

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=879679

For The 3rd Time – We’re In The Final, Vamos Del Potro!

Davis Cup – Del Potro Sends Argentina into the Final

What a day it must have been for those entire supporter in the Estadio Parque Rocca. Juan Martin DEL POTRO victory in the final rubber against Igor ANDREEV ensured that Argentina will play in its third Davis Cup final.
David NALBANDIAN, who perhaps was tired from the doubles event a day earlier, suffered a defeat in the hand Nikolay DAVYDENKO 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 & 0-6. The result means that Russian has evened the score to 2-2.

Which means everything was rest upon the shoulder of DEL POTRO, to deliver us to the promise land. He repeated his near perfect performance (as he did against DAVYDENKO on Friday) with a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 & 6-1 win.
Argentina will play Spain who eliminated the United States 4-1 in the final. The best part of this story is that the final will be played in Buenos Aires for the first time. More on the final later but for now, a BIG VAMOS to the racquet kings.

Football – Goals & Highlights

Well our friend Akash has done wonderful job in summarizing all the goals scored from Sunday's action in the previous article's comment box. Thanks a lot mate! Here some of them which I've manage to upload from Youtube. Oh yes! Thanks Jack for the links!

Lionel MESSI's Double Against Sporting Gijon


Mauro ZARATE's Goal in Lazio Defeat To AC Milan


Diego MILITO Against Genoa


Luciano GALLETI For Olympiakos


Mauro CANTORO's Power Strike In Poland


NFL – Gramatica Miss Field Goal Try

Martin GRAMATICA's 43-yard field goal try with 1:55 remaining was wide right, and the Denver Broncos escaped with a 34-32 win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
GRAMATICA did earlier convert a field goal from 43 yard in the first quarter. He also had 3 extra points made after touchdowns from Pierre THOMAS and Reggie BUSH (2).

He did miss another field goal attempt just before half time. This is the first time that Martin had missed his kicking attempt this season.

Russia Pull Back, Kun On Target Again

Davis Cup – Unfortunate Moment For David/Willy

It took nearly three hours 37 minutes for the entire match to conclude but not so much luck for our pairing of David NALBANDIAN & Guillermo CANAS. Despite taking a 3-1 lead in the fifth set, the Russian pairing of Igor KUNITSYN/Dmitry TURSUNOV rallied back to win the final set 8-6.

The Russian secured comfortable win in the first two sets 6-2 & 6-1 but Argentina pulled back in the next two, winning 7-6 & 8-6. Our lead now is cut to 2-1. This was NALBANDIAN first loss on home soil in the Davis Cup since 2002.

For Day 3, NALBANDIAN is scheduled to play Nikolay DAVYDENKO while Juan Martin DEL POTRO will take on Igor ANDREEV.

Interview with Alberto MANCINI

Interview with NALBANDIAN/CANAS

Football – Kun Does It Again For Atletico

Atletico Madrid increased their lead at the top of La Liga after a comfortable 4-0 win over Recreativo Huelva. Kun AGUERO opened the scoring the 8th minute. He was left unmarked from Cesar ARZO's free kick and easily nodded home to score his fifth goal in as many games.

In Portugal, Sporting Lisbon secured 2-0 win over Belenenses with Leandro ROMAGNOLI scoring from the penalty spot.

While in the English League One championship, Leeds United defeated Carlisle 2-0 away with Luciano BECCHIO opening the scoring for them.

We still have plenty of action coming from Sunday's fixtures. Will Carlos TEVEZ be the first main to inflicted pain on Chelsea and their Brazilian coach SCOLARI in Stamford Bridge? Will Lionel MESSI silenced the critics with a solid performance when Barcelona travel to Sporting Gijon? Or how abut Mauro ZARATE adding more salt into AC Milan's wound?

David & Del Potro Gives Argentina 2-0 Lead

If there was one place that the REAL David NALBANDIAN will turn up, that has to be at the Estadio Parque Roca. Of course, we should never forget that man of the moment, Juan Martin DEL POTRO. In what was expected to be a tough contest against the Russian, both players made it look so easily to give Argentina a 2-0 lead from Day 1.
NALBANDIAN went in first to face Igor ANDREEV but did had a scary moment in the first set. ANDREEV took a 4-1 lead but NALBANDIAN rallied back to win the game in a tie breaker 7-6. he went on to win the next two sets 6-2 & 6-4.

On the other hand, DEL POTRO did had any trouble dispatching Nikolay DAVYDENKO winning his match 6-1, 6-4 & 6-2. On his Davis Cup debut, he showed no signs of nerves in front of the raucous sellout crowd of 14,000, making DAVYDENKO hustle for nearly every point. Here is an interview with the match winner.
For Day 2, team captain Alberto MANCINI has indicated that he might partner NALBANDIAN and Guillermo CANAS in the doubles match. Now all is left, just for one more win and we are back in the final to face either Spain or USA. Spain are currently leading the other semi-final 2-0.

Davis Cup - Argentina Ready To Face Russia

Repeat or Revenge?

 

This is the question that will be running in every Albiceleste supporter's mind when Argentina takes on Russia in the upcoming Davis Cup semi-final.

 

I'm sure many of us still remember that painful defeat from the 2006 final. David NALBANDIAN gave a heroic performance in Moscow against the likes of Marat SAFIN and Nikolay DAVYDENKO to force Russia until the final game.

 

Now fast forward to 2008, let's hope that this time, the table will turn in our favour.

 

For a start, this time we will have home court advantage, something which the Russian may not want to think about too much. The last time when both sides met in Buenos Aires was back in 2003, the Russian were hammered 5-0 in the World Group stage. 

 

It is confirmed that ALL tickets has been sold out at the 14,000 plus Estadio Parque Roca, for almost like a month ago.

 

The Team

 

Team Captain Alberto MANCINI has selected a strong line-up which consists of David NALBANDIAN, Agustin CALLERI, Guillermo CANAS and teen sensation Juan Martin DEL POTRO.

 

As always, the focal point for this team has to be NALBANDIAN, being our top seed. However just like last year, 2008 has not been kind to him. His form has been poor and unpredictable but improves recently. So if there is a time for him to come out of his bad patch, that time is now (remember his back to back Master series triumph).

 

However unlike previous Davis Cup teams, the spotlight this time will also be on another player besides NALBANDIAN. The young DEL POTRO is already having a great summer and a splendid run in the recent US Open. His versatility to play on both clay and hard court has given MANCINI an extra edge to this team. He provides this team a second option and should ease the pressure on everyone else.

 

While the likes of CALLERI and CANAS are seasoned campaigners in the Davis Cup. Their experience will be crucial as ever.

 

By the way, here is an interview with NALBANDIAN, CANAS & DEL POTRO.

 

Is This Our Year?

 

I have a strong feeling about this, but I will only choose to answer this question only after this tie has been completed. There has been a solid sentiment on this from many in the tennis circles including the great Guillermo VILAS.  

 

At the moment, things are not looking good for the Russians. Their top players SAFIN and Mikhail YOUZNY are not in the team. The only problem that I foresee is that they too can be dangerous playing on clay.

 

MANCINI has confirmed that both NALBANDIAN and DEL POTRO will start as the singles players on Day 1. If both players can win their respective matches, than we are just one step away from the Final. After that, it will be carnival atmosphere at the Parque Roca.

 

The following are the fixtures that will take place for the next three days

 

Friday – 19/09/2008

David NALBANDIAN v Igor ANDREEV

Juan Martin DEL POTRO v Nikolay DAVYDENKO

 

Saturday – 20/09/2008

Agustin CALLERI/Guillermo CANAS v Igor KUNITSYN/Dmitry TURSUNOV

 

Sunday – 21/09/2008

David NALBANDIAN v Nikolay DAVYDENKO

Juan Martin DEL POTRO v Igor ANDREEV

 

Of course, our unofficial Chef De Mission for the 2008 Beijing Olympic contingent, Diego MARADONA is also expected to be there leading the partisan crowd.

UCL - Group Stage, Round 1 (Goals)

For Match Thread, please click here

Kun's double strike against PSV

Culio and Cluj shocker in Rome

Consolation from Abraham in Basel

UCL – Group Stage, Round 1 Thread

The 2008/09 Champions League will kick off today. There is plenty of exciting matches to look ahead after what turned out to be another great weekend of football. Here are some of my pick for this week clashes.

 

Day 1 – 16/09/2008

 

Can Barcelona put their poor start in La Liga behind them when they entertain Sporting Lisbon? I hope to see Lionel MESSI, after having being criticized by Diego MARADONA, will put up a big performance and restore some confidence in the Nou Camp.

 

Next up, welcome to the Champions League Kun AGUERO! Atlético Madrid will have a tough encounter when they travel to play PSV.

 

Another big game will be Javier MASCHERANO & Liverpool traveling to Marseille. Confidence must be running high for them after their win against Manchester United.

 

The Anglo-French battle will also take place in London, with Chelsea playing host to Fernando CAVENAGHI's Bordeaux. I would love to see him getting his name on the score sheet.

 

Day 2 – 17/09/2008

 

It has to be defending champion, Manchester United's visit to Villareal. It will be interesting to see whether the Red Devils will bounce back from their weekend misery. There will be interesting match up between Carlos TEVEZ and Gonzalo RODRIGUEZ.

 

The Albiceleste Dragon's of FC Porto's match against Fenerbahce looks interesting as well. What about the Real Madrid and debutant BATE match? From what I've heard, many Real fans are calling the coach to start Gonzalo HIGUAIN ahead of RAUL.

 

The following are the other matches taking place this week.

 

Day 1

 

Roma vs CFR

Panathinaikos vs. Internazionale

Werder Bremen vs. Anorthosis

FC Basel vs. Shaktar

 

Day 2

 

Celtic vs. AaB

FC Steaua Bucureşti vs. Bayern

Lyon vs. Fiorentina

Dynamo Kyiv vs. Arsenal

Juventus vs. Zenit

Weekend Roundup – Masche One Over Tevez, More Goals Elsewhere

Greetings my friends, I’m sorry that I was unable to post any article during the weekend as I was outstation on some personal matters. But that did not stop me from watching any football matches on television. So let’s recap on what the Albiceleste was up to during the last two days.

English Premier League

Not one of the best performances in my opinion but a worthy result for Javier MASCHERANO and Liverpool. I could not ask for better start when Carlos TEVEZ hammered in the opener courtesy of a pass from United’s new signing Dimitar BERBATOV.An own goal from Wes BROWN brought some glimmer of hope for the Mighty Reds before half time. Then in the 77th minute, MASCHERANO battled his way down the right and to the line, before Dirk KUYT took control of the ball and set up Ryan BABEL for the winner.

Later on, I did manage to catch the Manchester City/Chelsea game and was happy to see Pablo ZABALETA named in the starting line up. Of course, what a goal from ROBINHO!

Spanish Primera Liga

Another bad night for Barcelona, as they were held at home to 1-1 draw against Racing Santander at home. Lionel MESSI scored from the penalty spot in the 71st minute to put Barca in the lead but Racing equalized in the 77th minute through Jonathan.A bad night also Atletico Madrid after going down 1-2 to 10-men Valladolid. Kun AGUERO scored the consolation for goal for Atletico.Real Madrid notches their first win of the season against Numancia in what turned out to be an exciting game. Numancia surprise Barca in their first game put up a brave performance before going down 4-3. Gonzalo HIGUAIN scored Real’s third goal in the 33rd minute.Almeria was held to a 2-2 draw at home against Valencia with Pablo PIATTI opening the scoring for them.

Italian Serie A

Diego MILITO celebrated his return to Genoa by scoring a penalty in the last minute against AC Milan as the Rossaneri crashed to a 2-0 defeat. Another disappointing result for Milan, despite having Andrei SHEVCHENKO, RONALDHINO & KAKA in their starting line up.Lazio maintained their 100% win after defeating Sampdoria 2-0 with Mauro ZARATE opening the scoring for them in the 7th minute. That goal brings his tally to three goals in two matches.Jose Ignacio CASTILLO was on target for Lecce in their 2-0 win over Chievo VERONA.

Turkish Super League

Leonardo IGLESIAS scored for Ankaragucu in their 2-2 draw against Gaziantepspor.

Greek Super League

Levadiakos defeated Thrasivoulos 1-0 courtesy of a goal from Pareira LEONARDO. AEK Athens snatches 1-1 draw away to PAOK with a goal from Ismael BLANCO.

Russian Premier League

Hector BRACAMONTE scored from the penalty in FC Moscow 2-1 win over city rival Spartak Moscow.

NFL – Saints Go Down Against the Redskins

The Washington Redskins came from behind to defeat the New Orleans Saints 29-24. Martin GRAMATICA was again 100% on his kicking duties.

He first made a PAT after a touchdown from Pierre THOMAS and later on converted a 49 yard field goal to bring the score to 10-9 in favour of the Redskins at half time.
In the third quarter, he converted two more extra points after touchdowns from Robert MEACHEM and Reggie BUSH. However that wasn’t enough to stop the Redskins from inflicting the first defeat of the season for the Saints.

Interview - Carlos Bilardo

From our recent disappointing draw against Peru, from what I can summarized based on everyone's comments (including myself) is that our problem in the team lies with Coco BASILE. Whether should he get the boot/not, or is best to replace him, is a different argument altogether.

 

In the meantime, let's just find out what does it take to coach a World Cup winning side from the man who has done it before. So here is an interview of Senor Carlos BILARDO from the official FIFA website which I hope you all will enjoy reading it.

 

http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/winners/code=68/player=2147483647/interview.html

 

On top of that, you can also check out further interviews from players who were part of that World Cup winning team (Hector ENRIQUE, Jorge BURRUCHAGA, Jorge VOLDANO & Oscar RUGGERI).

 

Have a great weekend ahead. Oh yes! Don't forget the El Clasico from the English Premiership, Liverpool vs. Manchester United. Between MASCHERANO and TEVEZ, who is going to have big impact after a disappointing week with Argentina?

Perú vs. Argentina (Goals)

2010 WCQ - Peru vs. Argentina (Match Thread)

The Albiceleste has arrived in Lima. Speaking of the word LIMA; if you translate that word in Malay (the national language of Malaysia) it means FIVE. And speaking of Mambo No.5; our match against Peru is the fifth game since we last won a World Cup qualifier. To be exact, a 3-0 against Bolivia on the 17^th of November 2007.

 

At the moment we have drop to third place in the standings as Brazil have leapfrog to second place, with a better goal difference. I have to admit that overall I am disappointed. I was expecting all the aura of power from Beijing that will transpire into the senior side.

 

But wait a sec! There's no telling that the match in Lima could just be a turning point of something great. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

On the team news, a total of 21 players will be part of the squad for the trip to Peru. The only absentees are Carlos TEVEZ, Javier MASCHERANO (both suspended) and Pato ABBONDANZIERI (injured).

 

Should Coco decide to maintain the same team, then Juan Pablo CARRIZZO will start in place of Pato. Fernando GAGO will be brought to partner CAMBIASSO in central midfield. So far I've got no issues on this.

 

As for the striker, Kun AGUERO looks to be the favourite to come in. Personally, I would prefer someone who is more of a hit-man such as Lisandro LOPEZ or German DENIS. However, we will only know this once Coco reveals the starting line up.

 

What about the match prediction? Well I supposed at this point of time, a 1-0 win from either DI MARIA, RIQUELME or MESSI will do just fine for me. More than that is a bonus.

 

Let's just hope for the best. Vamos Argentina!

 

The match will kick off at 2130 hours local time at Estadio Monumental "U", Lima, Peru

Toast of the Weekend - Murcielagos & Martin

So how was your weekend everybody? I'm pretty sure it must be a mixed feeling after that disappointing draw against Paraguay on Saturday. I hate to say this but in my humble opinion we were quite lucky to get away with draw.

 

Now we'll just have to look towards the next match against Peru. Once again, thanks to all of you for keeping those comments coming in our match thread. Really wish I could be there with you.

 

Now, to some other news.

 

Murcielagos Beats Spain 2-0 in Paralympic 5-a-side Football Opener

 

Hopefully, we will get to hear more about this from Seba who was there covering this event. In the meantime let me share this good news with you.

 

Forward Silvio VELO scored twice to gift Argentina a 2-0 win over Spain in the Beijing Paralympic 5-a-side football opener at the Olympic Green Hockey Stadium on Sunday.

 

Only seven minutes into the first half, VELO opened the scoring when his powerful volley beat goalkeeper Spanish goalkeeper Jose Manuel GOMEZ. After dancing past several Spanish defenders, VELO sealed the win with his second goal.

 

"My goals were important because we won our first crucial match. We took a step forward and this is a great start if we want to get to the podium," said VELO, who is nicknamed "the blind MARADONA".

 

Spain squandered a golden scoring opportunity when Antonio Jesus MARTIN's penalty kick was saved by Argentine keeper Gonzalo Abbas HACHACHE only seven minutes to go.

 

Meanwhile, good luck to all the athletes at the 2008 Paralympics Games, regardless of which nation. You are already a winner here in Mundo Albiceleste.

 

Gramatica Perfect Kicking in Saints Win Over Bucs

 

Martin GRAMATICA was 100% on the kicking duties as his team the New Orleans Saints defeated his former side the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-20.

 

He converted the extra point for the Saints in the first quarter after a touchdown from David PATTEN. In the third quarter, he successfully made a 34 yard field gold to tie the score at 10-10.

 

GRAMATICA went on to convert two more extra points after further touchdowns by Devery HENDERSON and Reggie BUSH. He was a Super Bowl for the Bucs in 2003.

Argentina vs. Paraguay (Goals)

2010 WCQ – Argentina vs. Paraguay (Match Thread)

Yeah! International football is back. I'm sure many of us are still in that mood from our Olympic success but the time has come now for us to move forward towards 2010.

 

I'm pretty sure all of us here just can't wait for the upcoming World Cup Qualifier. I know that because I've realized that I have been missing something for the past couple of weeks.

 

This weekend we will face Paraguay, who currently lead the South American Qualifying table ahead us. For the record, we never had good times against them in the past three campaigns (1998, 2002 & 2006). We have only won once, draw four times and lost once.

 

Our recent results have not been that good either as we drawn in our last four games (including friendly matches). Therefore, my personal message to Coco BASILE & the team; let's start winning guys!

 

If you wish to know the full squad details, just click here. So far no news from Coco on the starting line up yet.

 

In the meantime, let's kick start our discussion about the game. I'll give you my personal choice on the first eleven later.

 

VAMOS ARGENTINA!!!

Del Potro Advance To Last Eight

Juan Martin DEL POTRO continued his unbeaten streak to 24 matches after defeating Kei NISHIKORI of Japan in the fourth round. In this highly anticipated encounter dubbed as the “Battle of Teen Star” DEL POTRO had no problems in defeating his opponent 6-3, 6-4 & 6-3.

The 6-foot-6 Argentine deployed his towering serve and big windup forehand to push the baby-faced Nishikori around the court and swat winners into the corners. This might be a surprise to many as prior to this game, he wont a five set thriller in the previous round.

“Sometimes you don’t have much left in your legs,” DEL POTRO said after the match. “But thanks to all of you, I’m able to find the energy.”

As a result, DEL POTRO will play in his first ever career Grand Slam quarter-finals. This has already been a remarkable journey for the 19 years old as his ranking has vaulted from No.65 to No.17.

Next up in the quarter-final, will be another test of character for the youngster in the form of Andy MURRAY (6th seed) of Great Britain. The Brit had no trouble seeing off 10th seeded Stanislas WAWRINKA of Switzerland 6-1, 6-3 & 6-3.

Best of luck to DEL POTRO on making it into the semis.

Some Highlights From Sunday's Action

Wow what weekend! Argentine footballer making their mark with goals from France to Ukraine to Cyprus. There can only be one person that makes it possible for us to know all this and is non other than Akash. A Big thanks to you mate! (you seems to know the whereabout of Argentine players anywhere at your fingertips!).

Here are some of the goals that I've manage to find from Youtube for your viewing.

Fernando CAVENAGHI's amazing strike from outside the box against Lille


Mauro ZARATE's double delight debut for Lazio


Ismael BLANCO's penalty for AEK Athens (taken from the fan's view)

Also, congratulation to our women's paddle tennis team on winning the World Championship. I have to admit that I have never heard of this game before but it's always good to know Argentina's success wherever they may be.
Finally Seba! Glad to hear from you again. Of course I do remember the Murcielagos, our best team for 2006. I'll do my best to follow the Paralympics Games and keep everyone update on the latest results involving the Albiceleste.