I'm on my way to the stadium!

Yes, I wanted to write a match preview or something rich in content but my life is a mess(i) at the moment.

So much stuff to do and so little time. So I'm checking out some appartments today (looking for a place to rent in Buenos Aires) and then I'll meet Johnny so we go together to River Plate's Stadium.

I'm sure you'll follow the match through our comments' box and we'll be your eyes at El Monumental.

Don't try and spot us on TV because our seats are in the highest tier of the stadium.

Enjoy the match. I know we will.

VAMOS ARGENTINA!

Pumas At Full Strength Against Boks

Pumas coach Marcelo LOFFREDA has announced the starting 15 that will take on the South Africans SPRINGBOKS in their World Cup semi-finals clash at Stade De France.

Starting 15 :-

1 Rodrigo RONCERO
2 Mario Ledesma AROCENA
3 Martín SCELZO
4 Carlos Ignacio Fernandez LOBBE
5 Patricio ALBACETE
6 Lucas OSTIGLIA
7 Juan Martín Fernandez LOBBE
8 Gonzalo Longo ELIA
9 Agustín PICHOT (c)
10 Juan Martín HERNANDEZ
11 Horacio AGULLA
12 Felipe CONTEPOMI
13 Manuel CONTEPOMI
14 Lucas BORGES
15 Ignacio CORLETO

Replacements :-

16 Alberto Vernet BASUALDO
17 Omar Hasan JALIL
18 Rimas Álvarez KAIRELIS
19 Juan Manuel LEGUIZAMON
20 Nicolás Fernandez MIRANDA
21 Federico TODESCHINI
22 Gonzalo TIESI

Argentina team news to face Chile

The lineup is pretty much confirmed. There are a couple of players still giving Coco some doubts as to which one will he prefer.

But here's what we know so far:

ABBONDANZIERI

ZANETTI (captain) - DEMICHELIS - Gabriel MILITO - HEINZE

Maxi RODRIGUEZ - MASCHERANO - CAMBIASSO

RIQUELME

MESSI - TEVEZ

My analysis:

I love it!

What can I say?

Pato should be playing his last few matches and we still don't have a replacement that stands head and shoulder above the rest.

ZANETTI is a different case. Yes, his age is not an advantage and it'll be very difficult to see him still going strong for the next World Cup. But his fitness is as good as ever and his experience makes him the best choice for captain. Happy to see him as a starter.

I'm curious about DEMICHELIS but I've got to admit that he is looking good as of late. Scored against Australia (Pablo D. will remember quite well!) and deserves a chance.

Gabriel MILITO has the chance to make-up for the horrible Copa America he's had. Not playing bad for Barcelona in their start of the season.

HEINZE? You know I'm not his fan, but should do the job.

Maxi RODRIGUEZ!!! Another player for whom I'd pay the money for the ticket. It's one of the key members of our starting eleven and should continue being so for a very long time.

Same for MASCHERADONA! He'll be back in the stadium where he started chasing players professionaly! River fans love him. Boca fans too! To be honest, he plays more a Boca style of football and that's why he is one of the darlings of our fans.

CAMBIASSO. I need to see CAMBIASSO this season. I don't know which version of him are we going to see on Saturday. But he can be everywhere and when he shines, the team has a lot of chances of winning.

RIQUELME. Always debate around him. Always controversy. Now, after playing a sensational Copa America, his inclussion is questioned because of his lack of match-fitness. Ignored at Villarreal, on Saturday he'll get to 90 days without playing a professional match. The last one? Yes, you guessed right: Argentina 0-3 Brazil in that Copa America final. RIQUELME says he won't suffer from his lack of activity and if he is right, then we are up for a wonderful evening.

TEVEZ. He is starting to show some magic at Old Trafford (last Saturday's goal against Wigan was superb!). He scored 2 goals in training and he looks ready to make a statement to become the target man Coco is looking for. Unlike CRESPO (very unfair with Hernan), Carlitos will have the people on his side.

MESSI will be the main attraction. And he knows it. If he wasn't the way he is, I would be worried. But knowing how well he copes with pressure, I'm thinking he'll know how to use the situation to his advantage. I imagine a very nervy start of the game and if we can't break Chile playing as a team, then MESSI will be the difference and will give Argentina the edge.

Time to debate!

SOLD OUT! SOLD OUT!

Yes. I saw it coming, but now I can say it's a reality. Argentina-Chile will be played in front of a sold-out crowd on Saturday.

Apart from being the start of the World Cup Qualifying campaing, there were other reasons to explain this hunger for tickets.

This will be Lionel MESSI's second match in Buenos Aires, but the first one with his now acquired status of football superstar. He is nominated (together with fellow Argentines Juan Roman RIQUELME and Carlos TEVEZ) to win the footballer of the year award. He is the top-scorer of La Liga (with 6 goals, followed by his friend Sergio Kun AGÜERO with 5) and he showed a lot of what he can do in an Albiceleste shirt during the last Copa America.

Marcelo BIELSA, the only manager in history to win an Olympic Gold with Argentina, will be seated in Chile's bench as he starts his tenure for them. Much has been said of BIELSA and he was one character that used to divide the waters when he was in charge. Some loved him, some hated him. That didn't change that much and I expect some applauses and some booing coming from the crowd in similar proportions.

Players like RIQUELME and TEVEZ are also crowd-pleasers and I'm sure a fair bit of fans bought their tickets just to watch them.

All and all, I think there are a lot of positive signs these players could use to raise their game. It's always good to have the supporters on your side and Saturday present these players with a great opportunity to make the Copa America final image slowly go away.

A fresh start with some not-so-fresh faces, but positive atmosphere in the camp.

Los Pumas are taking over as the main stars of the present and the football national team will look forward to regain their historical place in the highest step of the podium.

The people have responded. Now it's the players' time.

A boy became a man...by Pablo D.

Back in action and the first thing I want to do after securing our tickets for Argentina-Chile is spice up a little bit the build up for the match and pay my debt with a regular reader of Mundo Albiceleste.

Last month, in preparation for the World Cup Qualifiers, Argentina went to Melbourne to play Australia. I was in France at the moment and I couldn't even watch the match. I was unable to keep my posts in this blog coming and John did a great job in updating it.

But now, because it's never too late, I would like to publish this report from one of our readers.

Pablo lives in New Zealand and he never had the chance to see Argentina playing live at the stadium. He took his chance and, just like Roy did when he went to watch Argentina v North Korea in the latest U20 World Cup in Canada, Pablo became our correspondent for a day.

Here's Pablo's story of that day and some pictures to go with it!

Muchas gracias Pablo!

Today a boy became a man...

There are many defining moments in a boy's life to push him closer to the so called manhood.

The first time you have to shave, the first kiss, the first time "it happens" and today I really became a man.

I finally saw my beloved country play, score and win...live!

Living in New Zealand there's no chance to see Argentina play and when the game against Australia in Melbourne was announced, it was a done deal I was on my way. It's only about 3 hours away from where I live.

The trip over was most uneventful. I did wear my shirt and scarve in anticipation of the upcoming event.

Game day was a little cold with rain. Kick-0ff was Aussie 7.30 PM so we left at 5. The good news was their were a lot of blue and white everywhere. It was beautiful! The drums, the noise and the very colourful and always happy Argentine supporters. Even my German friends had to bow in honour of the support and yes, they even held up the scarve and chanted "Vamos Vamos Argentina!".

We were seated beside the Argentine supporters, sadly I was unable to get tickets in their section. The noise, flag waving and chanting was simple beautiful and on the big screen they showed the greatest goals of the past. As expected, "The Hand of God" brought the laudest roar from the crowd. The game was good and bad. The good was the section all of us were is behind the goal and this end was were the game was for the first half. But in the second half we were a long way from the other end. There were 70,000 in the M.C.G. A lot of action and a fair score would have been 3-1 to us.

Overall a very good but not brilliant performance. MESSI was amazing. His footwork, speed and control were just incredible. TEVEZ looked very off and we really do missed CRESPO a lot. In fact it is a real problem that there were no real tall hitman-type striker. If we dont find one soon we will have problems. We do a lot of good work to get the ball in the middle but there is no one to finish it off...where are they???

TEVEZ is better just in behind the front 2 not up the front. Because big tall defenders win the ball way to easily whereas if he has space to run at them he can turn quickly and shoot. Defence looked very solid. I was impressed with our defending and i thought HEINZE was very impressive. The midfield was also solid although lacked a little imagination and down the wings were slow apart from the Atomic Flea (MESSI) who was everywhere.

There are no words to say how amazing it felt being part of a dream for me and I'm sure every Argentine and every Argentina supporter who has not been to a live game will understand how I felt watching the blue and white live for the first time. I really hope it happens again soon for me maybe 2010 in South Africa.

Just to cap of an incredible time while I was in the airport after customs some members of the team were also leaving and I got to talk and shake hands with some of them. I can rest a very happy man now.....

Pablo.d

Buying tickets for Argentina v Chile

It's proving to be a very tough task!

I'm back in Buenos Aires after leaving in January and one of the first things I did was to get to the Luna Park Stadium (traditional sporting venue with a history of boxing and basketball events) where they are selling tickets to watch Argentina v Chile on Saturday. A match that will mark the start of the World Cup Qualifiers for South Africa 2010.

I met Johnny (one of our regular posters here) and we wanted to join the queue at 4:30 PM. It turned out to be a very long one! Covering the whole of 400 meters. As we got to the end of it, a couple of policemen said: "You have to come back tomorrow".

So that's what I'll do. I want to see MESSI live for the first time in my life. I want to be a part of the start of a new era for our national team.

Who knows...maybe in four years time, we will all remember this Saturday as the day when it all began.

I believe. I never stopped believing.

Keep the faith, Johnny...we'll get the tickets and we'll become the eye witness for all the readers of our blog to give them our review just after the match.

Pumas World Cup Dream Alive

Los Pumas created history by qualifying for the Rugby World Cup semi-final for the first after defeating the brave hearts from Scotland 19-13. Even before the match kicked off, the Los Pumas were already creating airwaves in Argentina as the “El Classico” derby between Boca/River had to be re-schedule so that everyone could watch this crucial match.

As for me, waking up as early as 2.30a.m was all worth it and for this I thank God for making this entire magical moment happening during my time.

The Pumas got the first try, after Gonzalo Longo ELIA, who went charging down a kick subsequently gathering a loose ball, to covert a try in the 33rd minute. Filipe CONTEPOMI went on to complete the conversion to give Argentina 13-3 lead.

However a penalty by Chris PATERSON, who has never failed to convert a penalty throughout this tournament, reduced the score line to 13-6 at half time.
After the re-start, another penalty from CONTEPOMI and a field goal from Juan Martin HERNANDEZ made the score line 19-6 and it looks almost certain that the Pumas were on their way to face the Springboks.
But the Scots were rejuvenated when substitute scrum half Chris CUSITER scored a try in the 63rd minute, with PATERSON completing the conversion to bring the score line down to 6 points.

Scotland pushed for another try towards the ending of the game only to see a resilience Pumas defending prevailing at the end of the game.
Though it wasn’t the kind of performance I would have expected from the Pumas (after last week superb display against the Irish) but being "A quarter Scottish" myself I am extremely happy the way both sides performed.

VAMOS LOS PUMAS!!! VAMOS TARTAN ARMY!!!

Pumas Line Up Against Brave Tartan Army's

Los Pumas head coach Marcelo LOFFREDA has announced the team that will take on Scotland in the quarter-final. The match will be played at Stade de France on Sunday.

LOFFREDA has decided to keep the same team that took on Ireland last Sunday.
The biggest mystery surrounding this team was the condition of Felipe CONTEPOMI who has shaken off the flu he was having for the past few days. The illness has forced him to miss two training sessions.

Starting 15 :-

1 Rodrigo RONCERO

2 Mario Ledesma AROCENA

3 Juan Martín SCELZO

4 Carlos Ignacio Fernandez LOBBE

5 Patricio ALBACETE

6 Lucas OSTIGLIA

7 Juan Martín Fernandez LOBBE

8 Gonzalo Longo ELIA

9 Agustín PICHOT (c)

10 Juan Martín HERNANDEZ

11 Horacio AGULLA

12 Felipe CONTEPOMI

13 Manuel CONTEPOMI

14 Lucas BORGES

15 Ignacio CORLETO

Replacements:

16 Alberto Vernet BASUALDO

17 Omar Hasan JALIL

18 Rimas Álvarez KAIRELIS

19 Juan Manuel LEGUIZAMON

20 Nicolás Fernandez MIRANDA

21 Federico TODESCHINI

22 Hernán SENILLOSA

Plenty Of Names Involved

Besiktas JK 0 FC Porto 1

A very important win for the Portuguese side with both Lucho GONZALEZ and Lisandro LOPEZ were starters. Mariano GONZALEZ was on the bench but did not see any action.

On the other hand, Besiktas had Matias DELGADO in the starting line up Federico HIGUAIN coming in as a second half substitute.

Liverpool 0 Olympique de Marseille 1

The good news is that Javier MASCHERANO was on the bench and not involved in all so, perhaps by now Rafa BENITEZ should know who is the best player to partner GERRARD in the center.

SS Lazio 2 Real Madrid 2

Christian LEDESMA of LAZIO and Gabriel HEINZE of Real were both starters. Lionel SCALONI (Lazio) and Javier SAVIOLA and Gonzalo HIGUAIN (both Real Madrid) all came in as second half substitute.

Werder Bremen 1 Olympiacos 3

A wonderful away result for the Greek side, with both Christian Raul LEDESMA and Luciano GALETTI pulling the string in midfield. Leonel NUNEZ was on the bench and did not see any action.

Champions League News - Messi Does It Again

VFB Stuttgart 0 FC Barcelona 2

Despite twice being denied a goal by the excellent Raphael SCHAFER, Lionel MESSI did manage to get himself in the score sheet in the 67th minute as Barca won 2-0.

Not only that, he was also chosen as the Fan’s Man Of The Match. This only goes to show that this young lad will continue strife to do what he does best despite the presence of such heavyweights like RONALDHINO and HENRY.

Manchester United 1 AS Roma 0

Carlos TEVEZ only came in as a second half substitute in which ROONEY scored the only goal of the night to give the Red Devils the 3 points.

Internazionale 2 PSV Eindhoven 0

Inter have recovered from their first game defeat with 2-0 win over PSV with Hernan CRESPO, Walter SAMUEL, Santiago SOLARI, Esteban CAMBIASSO and Javier ZANETTI were all in the starting eleven.

Dynamo Kyiv 1 Sporting Lisbon 2

Important win for the Portuguese with Leandro ROMAGNOLI in their starting line up.