The FIFA inspectors gave thumbs up for the Gigante de Arroyito stadium to be able to host World Cup Qualifying matches.
Julio GRONDONA, the AFA President, said he doesn't mind playing at River Plate or at Rosario. He said it's up to the players and the coaching staff to decide. Which is the same as saying: "Yeah, Diego...go ahead and play against Brazil in Rosario".
This won't be the first time Argentina and Brazil will play in Rosario. During the 1978 Argentina World Cup, both teams played in the second round to a 0-0 draw. Argentina also defeated Poland and Peru in that stadium and qualified for the final to face Holland at River Plate.
Lets hope the change of venue will also bring some good fortune for Diego and his crew.
ReplyDeleteRosario being my home town i very much looking forward to the game more then eva now.
ReplyDeleteLets hope we can come away with the win, in fact i know we will.
Lucas
i was there just last year watching Central beat racing 3 2 in a great come from the back win... its get pretty crazy in that stadiumm your very close to the action lets hope the fans can play a part on this one
ReplyDeleteLucas
Vamos argentina vida Central....
Agree- one of the best atmospheres in Argentina, the large stand on the right hand side (of cameras on TV!) is always electric with that peculiar banner with speakers
ReplyDeletepisingh, I think you're mistaking the Rosario Central stadium with the other stadium from the city of Rosario (the Newell's Old Boys' stadium).
ReplyDeleteNewell's fans that at the Rosario Central stadium there were some speakers with chants from the fans being played. From that moment on, they use those images of speakers to make fun of Rosario Central fans and they call them "Sin aliento" or "sina" for short. Meaning "Without support".
The Rosario Central fans, at the Gigante de Arroyito stadium, tend to occupy the stand on the left hand side of the cameras, but there'll be no differences when it comes to left and right. The stadium will be absolutely packed and the fans will get 100% behind the team.
And Lucas...I didn't know you were from Rosario (like MESSI!). You didn't bring me happy memories with that 3-2 Rosario Central win over Racing. I remember that game pretty clearly as both teams were fighting against relegation and Kily GONZALEZ scored in the very last second with a fluke goal in which, in my opinion, he tried to cross the ball and instead it went in. Devastating!
yes thats the one seba i was at that game.. and a fluke it was haha
ReplyDeletethat was my first game i saw in argentina since i left when i was 4 years old good times :) great game it had everything and the crown was crazy.
Lucas
wow Kily and Sorin really dissapeared. What a duo both were for the national team.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great piece of writing from Brian Homewood. What he writes about Maradona speaks volumes. I guess we are not the only one who wants to see Higuain for the national team. Why can't we get some good news for once and read a headline that states" Maradona fired as head coach" the reason The AFA figured out his IQ is lower then an apes.
ReplyDeletehttp://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/world_soccer/07/22/diego.maradona/index.html
Jack!
Jack, I have a question for you.
ReplyDeleteIt's a simple one:
What are you going to do if MARADONA's Argentina defeats Brazil in September?
I know what you will do if Brazil win. That's easy.
But if Argentina win?
What if we win both of the next two matches? Yes, it's 'very difficult' as TEVEZ said in that famous interview, but it's not impossible.
I'm curious. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.
Great piece of writing from Brian, just as Jack said. Maradona is a disaster as a coach and nothing he has done merits his appointment. I feel sick and disillusioned every time I think about the fact that he is in charge.
ReplyDeleteI hope Argentina somehow get rid of him before the world cup but still qualifies. Then Simeone can take over. He has proven his coaching ability and will hopefully not bring in his pals to the team while leaving out players like Higuain and Cambiasso.
/El Burrito
Thanks Seba, so now we will be at the Los Guerrros, i would have preferred Newell's ground as a leper myself. Nah I wish, I live in London.
ReplyDeleteMaradona might join Portsmouth!!!! Is my dream coming true?
ReplyDeletehttp://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=662595&sec=england&cc=5901
Jack!
Seba, if Argentina beats Brasil they beat Brasil, I still will have no faith in Maradona to lead Argentina to a World Cup trophy. Since under the leadership of Maradona the team has played some horrible football. I have no faith in Maradona leading Argentina in winning anything. His refusal to call certain players, his foolish antics. We are turning into a joke. Seba, my concern is not getting in, I believe the team will so winning both of those games will be great and dandy but Maradona will not have the ability to lead us into anything but a KO round exit. I understand you're a journalist and trying to stay neutral but Maradona will cost one of our best generations into failure.
ReplyDeleteJack!
Yes, Jack, but how many training sessions did MARADONA have to work with his team for you to be able to judge him like that? And if it was HIDDINK, or CAPPELLO or anybody, I'd be saying the same.
ReplyDeleteNot enough time to judge a manager. That's the way I see it.
Your mentioning "his refusal to call certain players"...well...Jack...he is absolutely entitled to that. He can't call 2342 players for every match, can he?
I'm not trying to be the devil's advocate here, because I'd like to think I'm pretty objective when it comes to praising or criticizing MARADONA.
The same thing you say about "our best generations into failure" was said about PASSARELLA (with ORTEGA, BATISTUTA, AYALA, VERON or even CRESPO in his team), BASILE (with MARADONA, CANIGGIA, BATISTUTA, SIMEONE, BALBO, etc), BIELSA (VERON, AIMAR, CRESPO, BATISTUTA, AYALA, SAMUEL, SORIN) and PEKERMAN (AIMAR, RIQUELME, SAVIOLA, CRESPO, AYALA, TEVEZ, etc).
So...I see nothing new here. Let's not go over the top here. If MARADONA doesn't win the World Cup as a manager, he would be in the same position as BIELSA, PEKERMAN, BASILE and PASSARELLA. Don't you think?
You can argue that now we have MESSI and you may have a point, but all those managers I'm mentioning had a lot of the best players in the world when they went to the World Cup and failed to deliver the goods.
Not an easy thing to win the World Cup. It took Brazil 24 years since PELE retired before they won it back in 1994.
It'll be 24 years since 1986 (and Diego retired from WC activity in 1994). If that's something to go by, then go figure...
Seba, Maradona has no REAL coaching history, so if those coaches you named what makes you think a person with ZERO coaching will lead us to glory? Our team has played some of the worse football in about 11 years or so, yes Basile has a lot of the blame for our WCQ misery but Maradona is not doing the job either. I know there is an excuse for every game, Bolivia their is the altitude, Colombia always plays us tough but got the win, Ecuador if we had scored the goal by Messi and Tevez we would of won and again the altitude. See EXCUSES are for people who can not deliver the goods! Great teams manage to win away and win at all costs. Yes Maradona can not call up every single player who was born in Argentina but does he not get the picture that some of the players are not playing to the level we need them to?And he still calls them up and starts just because they appear to have a buddy buddy relationship with him and go have dinner with him. Like I said in the past if the teams plays with heart and plays with a creative mind I take pride in the team even in a loss such as the 2006 WC team. I have no shame in them. But this team lack leadership and that starts from the coaching staff and on. To be honest I do not think the team takes Maradona very seriously, sure they may respect him for what he has done for Argentine football in the past but as a coach? Not at all. He needs to go in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteJack!
Seba, i agree that maradona cannot call all the players that every fan want.however some exclusions just defy logic and make you wonder how in the name of god can a manager miss that!
ReplyDeletecalling Higuain, Cambiasso, Samuel, Zarate is not a matter of preference, it is a matter of pure logic based on numbers and facts. maradon just cannot follow logic because he has his own "preferred" players...
Let me rephrase about that 11 years, I meant 15 years.
ReplyDeleteJack!
What a big surprise here Maradona will call up Jesus Datolo in a friendly vs Russia in Aug. Datolo who I actually like is being called up for a very clear reasons, A, Fromer Boca player, B, he will be playing for Napoli this year in the Serie A. Nope, Maradona does not play favoritism at all. Good job Diego, let some of our best players not get called up and you do your thing.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goal.com/en/news/585/argentina/2009/07/23/1399669/diego-maradona-gives-jesus-datolo-argentina-call-up
Jack!
This is no team but a bunch of players. I went mad when they put this delicate situation in Maradona's hands, yet I tried not to completely lose my faith, but it's just not working.
ReplyDeleteSebastian correctly explained a hundred times how little time he was given to make his choices, to do his job, and how little work he can do with his men while they're out there playing for their teams. But he wasn't the indicated person to do this. We all knew that, and we all yelled about it. And Jack is right, why always the excuses? We KNOW he has zero capability as a coach because we saw him coaching teams before. When something goes wrong, you remember it and try not to repeat it; but yes, the press is always there to lie and make people believe that their common sense means nothing and it's useless.
It wasn't a surprise that the match against Colombia was horrible, not to talk about the one against Ecuador. And it's not JUST his lack of time, it's obvious he's not paying attention to very technical flaws the players seem to have, like the inhability to give two passes without making a mistake. No collective game (call it 'no leaders' if you want), defensive weaknesses, and a Messi-Agüero-Tevez forward (!) that's near Fiji-effectiveness. Who would have ever expected that? Nobody... but there you go, maybe this was the "mística" they were talking about. He shouldn't be there, and God saves him this time so, at least, we beat Brasil.
I'm being completely negative now, because after those inexcusable matches, it's over. The lobbying press got what they wanted: Maradona. Now go.
Looks like Diego is exploring options on the left flank if he is considering Datolo over there. Not a bad idea. Datolo is a digger like Jonas but with alot more firepower. That said, I don't think he has had much time on the pitch with Napoli after coming over from Boca. He was very inconsistent with Boca until his last year and a half or so there. I do know this, Boca struggled on the left side of the pitch after Datolo left. That was a big hole that didn't get filled.
ReplyDeleteHey -- special call to Boca fans -- or people in the know -- does anyone know if Boca will be returning to Gaithersburg Maryland to train during th off season like they've done for the last couple of years? Anyone?
ReplyDeleteNo idea Paulina. You mean-now ? I guess that would be doubtful. They are going to be in Europe before the opening of the season in Argentina, taking on some of the big clubs in Europe.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that's going to happen, Paulina.
ReplyDeleteAs Johnny correctly points out, Boca are going to Germany in the next few days (they'll play the Audi Cup with Man Utd, Bayern Munich and AC Milan -in a lineup of teams that, to put it politely, are REALLY far from my heart!-)
Then, the Torneo Apertura in Argentina will start (15 August) and I don't think there'll be plans for a trip to the USA.
I don't think so. I wish I could confirm it, but lets say it's 99% a no go.
harrumph... But they've gone to maryland for the last couple of years, even with their crazy schedule...Are they money starved -- and that's why all the friendlies? What a disappointment. I wanted to see Riquelme :(
ReplyDeleteThey are struggling financially, yes.
ReplyDeleteI suppose a friendly tournament involving the likes of Man Utd, B. Munich and AC Milan pays better than a tour of Maryland (which was my hometown when I was 6-month-old, by the way! Not that I remember much from that experience -I only stayed the for 7 or 8 months-).
Random irritation time: I just heard a "journalist" on TyC Sports saying: "MASCHERANO wants to leave Liverpool FC and go to Barcelona because he doesn't want to live in London anymore"
LONDON????? FFS! They speak because the air is free! Someone shuts this guy up! Dear Lord! What an idiot!
So what do you think the chances are Riquelme would go to either Mallorca or Corinthians ?! As Seba said, the air is free for any number of ideas to be thrown around. I am constantly amazed at the amount of rumors, gossip and whatnot bandied about during transfer season. I thought it was bad with the major sports in the USA. It doesn't compare at all to all the hot air in futbol !
ReplyDeleteto be fair to Maradona,i watched the games against Scotland and France and the team played very well.I think we should also put part of the blame on the players!!They absolutley sucked against Bolivia and against Ecuador Messi wasted a sitter when they were 0-0 which was so not him.I feel that the players are not giving a 100%.
ReplyDeleteReally? I didnt think the team played very wel in these two matches and you could see already the problems in our midfield (lack of ball possession mainly).
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