Sunday, April 19, 2009

Superclasico & The Weekend Round Up In Football

There were not many high profile goal scorers from the Albiceleste camp throughout Europe on Sunday’s fixtures. Probably the most notable name came from Portugal as FC Porto manage to put their Champions League blues behind them with 3-0 away win over Academica. Lisandro LOPEZ scored from the spot in the 60th minute and Mariano GONZALEZ scoring in stoppage time.

In Ligue 1, Olympique Marseille stretch their lead to the top of the table with 2-1 win at Lorient. Renato CIVELLI got himself in the score sheet in the 60th minute. In the Russian Premier League, Rubin Kazan were 3-0 winners over Dynamo Moscow with Alejandro DOMINGUEZ scoring their second of the match. Whilst in Turkey, Leonardo IGLESIAS became the hero for Ankaragucu as he scored the winning goal in their 3-2 win over Eskisehirspor K.

Not to forget, it was Superclasico weekend in Argentina as Boca Juniors and River Plate both settled for 1-1 draw. Martin PALERMO celebrated his return to the National Team, opened the score in 58th minute. Marcelo GALLARDO equalized for River in the 68th minute.

At last in Brazil, Pablo GUINAZU and Andres D’ALLESANDRO both scored for Internacional in their 8-1 trashing of Caxias in the Futebol Brasileiro.

Some Transfer News & Speculations

So looks like Carlos TEVEZ might (depends whether will he stay at Old Trafford next season) not win a FA Cup medal as Manchester United crashed out against Everton in the semis. During the game, a friend of mine (also a Red Devil fan) sends me a text message asking me about Javier PASTORE.

I must admit at first I had no clue, so I decided to Google search him. Turns out to be he is a highly rated 19 years old midfielder from Huracan, who just rejected a £8.8m offer from Premier League champions. His main reason is to believe due to high competition for places. Fair enough.


Well maybe Seba (or anyone else) might want to share a little bit more about this player. I mean for the Red Devils to offer that kind of money for a teenager, there must something special about him.

Meanwhile TEVEZ is not the only Albiceleste still uncertain about where he would play next season. Lazio apparently have not made any move to offer Mauro ZARATE a permanent deal to stay at Rome.

His brother Sergio - who also acts as one of his agents - says the Roman club have little more than two weeks to take up their option on the player. If they do not agree to any terms, then other clubs will be allowed to make a move for him - although he insists his brother wants to stay in the Eternal City.

ZARATE is still under contract with Al-Sadd from Qatar. A number of Premier League sides, including Liverpool and Manchester City, are reportedly keen to bring him back to England and have been linked with big-money bids for the striker for months.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here is some news from the U-17 South American championship.They won the game 2-0 vs Venz. Did not see the game. I do not know much about most of the player but I have heard good things about Daniel Villalva. I try to follow the youths as much as I can. Surprised that Mauro Icardi is not in the lineup, but maybe we may see him in the U-17 WC if Argentina qualifies. I am hearing he is doing just fine in Barcelona youth program.

Jack!

Argentina got their Sudamericano Sub 17 campaign off to winning start, after taking maximum points in a bad tempered encounter with Venezuela.

A goal in each half was enough to claim victory for Jose Luis Brown’s side in a game which ended with both teams reduced to ten men.

The Argentine performance may not have their opponents quaking, but a potential banana skin has been avoided and the 2-0 win puts them joint top of Group B.

Both teams flooded the midfield, as Argentina opted for a 3-5-2 system, mirroring the senior team’s formation when the sides met in Buenos Aires last month.

Venezuela went for damage limitation, with Fernando Aristeguieta operating as a lone frontman in front of a five man midfield.

With space in the middle of the park at a premium, it was no surprise that both goals came from set plays.

With the game still in its infancy, Ezequiel Quintulen decided to test the Venezuelan keeper with a fizzed free-kick from outside the box. Jesus Escalona duly found the shot too hot to handle and handed Argentina a corner kick.

Quintulen, again, put in a testing delivery and as skipper Ezequiel Espindola rose to meet it, he was bundled over and referee Victor Carrillo pointed to the spot.

Espindola dusted himself down and elected to take the penalty himself, planting it way beyond the reach of Escalona.

Argentina’s corners continued to be a problem for Venezuela all night, as they persisted in sending up three centre backs each time.

Despite being a goal up, Brown looked more nervous than his Venezuela counterpart, maybe he realized how far short his team’s performance was compared to that of the Brazilian masterclass he had witnessed the previous night.

Brown was constantly out of his seat as he remonstrated with referee Carrillo whenever he felt his players were not getting adequate protection from the official.

The coach’s concerns were not shared with the largely Chilean crowd, however, and they frequently vented their frustration at what they saw as play acting by the Argentines.

With the referee under increasing pressure from all sides, and wild tackles frequenting the second half, it was inevitable someone would be heading for an early bath, sooner rather than later.

The player to end up receiving the first red card of the 2009 Sudamericano Sub 17 turned out to being Venezuelan defender Rafaelle Centofanti.

His dismissal came for the double offence of upending Alberto Villalva and then booting the ball against him as he lay on the deck.

It did not take Argentina long to capitalize on the numerical advantage and a Sebastian Gonzalez free-kick was converted by Ezequiel Araujo.
Araujo’s performance was well worth a goal, as he hassled and harried the Venezuelan defense from start to finish.

After going two goals down, Venezuela had no option but to throw caution to the wind in an attempt to get back into the game.

They shifted the ball across to Romulo Otero on the right wing at every opportunity and he got joy down the flank, putting in some telling deliveries which the strikers were unable to convert.

With twenty minutes left on the clock, Otero set off on yet other mazy dribble but this time he beat Argentine defender Gabriel Rosales once too often for the centre back’s liking.

Rosales responded to the wingers trickery by kicking out and left Carrillo no option but to give his red card another taste of the sea breeze.

With parity restored to the numbers on the pitch, the crowd got more and more behind Venezuela but despite Josmar Zambrano’s introduction they failed to produce any real threat as the game drew to a close.

Next up for Argentina is the hosts Chile, while Venezuela will pit themselves against Ecuador.

Brown’s team will still want that big display which makes the others, Brazil in particular, stand up and take notice. Venezuela, on the other hand, know that if they don’t start picking up points soon, this Sudamericano could be over for them before it begins.

Anonymous said...

I heard that Argentina will play a friendly vs Uruguay in Uruguay in late May. Sounds like a good match. But I do wonder if the European players will cross the pond and make the trip, or will it be more of a home based squad.

Jack!

Anonymous said...

Seba you may shed some light on this. Is Riquelme actually trying to play for the US team? Rumor has it that he has filled papers works to FIFA so he can try to join the US national team.

Jack!

Anonymous said...

lol nevermind, my friend send me a April fools joke. It looked pretty good. I was like wait a second, how can somebody play for other nation when they already played for another.

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/66/united-states/2009/04/01/1186244/riquelme-petitioning-to-join-us-mens-national-team

Jack

snake75 said...

Icardi was born in 1993, one year later than the others. I suspect he hasnt been taken for that reason.

messidona19 said...

I would have liked to see Eric Lamela in the team , unfortunately he's injured. I once heard of him when he was 12 and was likened to riquelme.

snake75 said...

After the 2010 WC, Angel Cappa must be Dt of the albiceleste! Huracan is playing so well.

Anonymous said...

Higuain scores 2 goals for Real Madrid today and netted the winner. Hmmm, what else does the guy have to do for him to get called up?

Jack!

messidona19 said...

Yea true! Higauin and Messi seem to be our best current strikers nowadays , Higuain fully deserves a starting line up place.

Anonymous said...

Here is Pipita's goal. I have to say it was QUALITY!!! Are you watching this Senior Diego?

Jack!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnfIrHZMgMg

Anonymous said...

His game winner*

Anonymous said...

he is the best of best of best