Argentina primera division

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Valon

Guest
He meant didn't you mean Ryan since it's Ry's bro who's posting it not Adams.
 

thezone

New member
I ilke this shirt

002128_1-lu.jpg
 

Lemmi

The Reckoner
A Week’s a Long Time in Fútbol: Fecha 1

by: Daniel Edwards | 03 February 2010
section: Sport
How far would you go to earn 35 Euros? Strange question to open a round up of Argentine football I admit, but it is related. I found out my distance this weekend- roughly 640km. Yes, I made a round trip of over nine hours in one day to watch a fairly stale 0-0 draw between Newell’s and Independiente in Rosario, walked essentially the entire city waiting for a 2am bus and ended up getting home at 7 with just a few hours of bus sleep to start the new day on. Would I make this hellish round trip again? Well yes, probably. For 35 Euros, what can I say, times are hard.

Anyway the new season is off with a bang, and no team has started in a more positive mood than the mighty Racing Club. Accustomed to suffering greatly when watching football, the faithful La Academia hinchas don’t quite know how to handle this new-found optimism; as far as I can tell, a mixture of premature title dreams and a suspicion that it’s all going to fall to pieces sums it up best. It’s certainly going to be an interesting season following the boys, and every twist and turn will be reported here don’t worry about that. First though, let’s just get out of the relegation zone shall we??

And here come the highlights of Fecha 1 of the Clausura, a blank slate and fresh start for every team:


After a fantastic pre-season the faithful of Racing Club went to el cilindro with a rare optimism for the clausura, and it was well justified as 35,000 people watched them win comfortably 3-0 against Rosario Central. After a nervous start la academia took full control, with new signing Lucas Licht the stand out player with a fantastic performance. Licht set up one goal and constantly tormented Rosario down the left wing, and with other reinforcements Gabriel Hauche and Claudio Bieler impressing Racing put in one of the best performances of the round.

The Big Two Continue to Struggle:

At monumental on Sunday it was the team expected to win the title every year, against the team who can’t quite believe they won the title. And it was the latter that came out on top, with Banfield downing River Plate 1-0 away from home. Banfield, expected to struggle after losing top scorer Santiago Silva in pre-season, were never really tested by los millionarios and deserved their win, sealed after Sebastián Fernandez made space on the edge of the area and fired past Daniel Vega. After a poor aperture River were hoping to start brightly, but its clear that new President Daniel Passarella has work on his hands to improve the struggling nuñez outfit.

No team suffered in pre-season as much as Boca Juniors. They lost their manager and trainer, Carlos Bianchi and ‘Coco’ Basile respectively shortly before the season started, and also were defeated by arch rivals River in Mendoza. All this seemed to be forgotten at la paternal on Sunday though, as goals from legends Martin Palermo and Juan Riquelme either side of an equalising own goal appeared to have buried home side Argentinos Juniors. In the second minute of injury time however a free kick into the Boca area found Ismael Sosa completely free and unmarked, and the substitute forward slotted home to give los bichos a rather undeserved point. Two points thrown away for Boca, as happened so many times the previous season.

Best of the Rest:

Santiago Silva was hero and villain for new club Vélez Sarsfield on Saturday, who drew 1-1 against a resolute Colón. The Uruguayan opened the scoring for the Liniers club in the first half, but then 10 minutes from full time stupidly gave away a penalty, from which Colón’s Lucas Acosta was more than happy to convert.

Newell’s Old Boys and Independiente are tipped by many as candidates for the title this season. They will both have to improve to achieve this however judging on Sunday’s display, after playing out a tame 0-0 draw in Rosario. Both sides had spells of decent football, but lacked any penetration into the defence and real chances were few and far between. Having attended the game, I can confirm the highlight was a spectacular firework display with 10 minutes left, which occurred roughly 20m from where I stood and was rather disconcerting.

Most exciting game of the round goes to Lanús-Huracán. Huracán looked set to upset the home side after having rushed to an early 2-0 lead. Luis Zubeldia’s Libertadores qualifiers then turned the game round in spectacular fashion, with two goals from new boy Ganzalo Castillejos and a penalty from Maxi Velázquez robbing three points from Huracán in the last 15 minutes.

Full Results of Fecha 1:


Godoy Cruz (Mza.) 1 0 G. y Esgrima L.P.
Estudiantes L.P. 3 0 Arsenal F.C.
Tigre 0 2 Chacarita Jrs.
Vélez Sarsfield 1 1 Colón
Racing Club 3 0 Rosario Ctral.
At. Tucumán 0 1 San Lorenzo de A.
River Plate 0 1 Banfield
N.O. Boys 0 0 Independiente
Lanús 3 2 Huracán
Argentinos Jrs. 2 2 Boca Jrs.


In honour of the first round of fixtures, I’m now going to stick my neck out and make some predictions, undoubtedly destined to be horribly wrong by the end of the season. Here goes…..

Champions: One of the most open seasons for a long time is ahead of us, and many teams could take this honour. For me though, with the arrival of goalscorer extraordinaire Silva, Vélez Sarsfield are going to take some beating this Clausura, and I expect the best team of 2009™ to carry on where they left off. Chased all the way by San Lorenzo however.

Going Down:

I wouldn’t dare to predict the playoff places, it is far far too complicated to even try. But for the two automatic relegation spots, there are two I’m tipping. Much improved Chacarita Juniors I’m expecting to just squeak out of the bottom, which leaves:

Atletico Tucuman: Not a disgraceful first season in the Premier, but severely handicapped by the ridiculous nature of the Argentine relegation system.

Gimnasia La Plata: Severely handicapped by their consistently shocking performances, this club is sunk.

Racing Watch:

Vivas has put together a much-improved squad together in Avellaneda, and the arrival of legend Roberto Ayala next week will only improve a defence still prone to lapses in concentration. Talk of champions, while it would be an absolute dream, may be premature, but I think if the team finds consistency 4th or 5th in the table is not out of the question.

Manager Watch:

Now the fun part; how many coaches and managers will be receiving their marching orders over this season? Since most clubs tend to fit a revolving door onto their coaches offices, and change management personnel more often than the toilet rolls in the stadiums, my guess is nine, counting Basile of Boca last week. The first?? Judged on this weekend, Leonardo Astrada of River should start checking the help-wanted ads very soon if his team doesn’t start playing.

So a frankly exhausting first round is done and dusted, but football fanatics are straight back into it midweek with another round. It’s going to be coming thick and fast this season with the World Cup in June, and by August if I ever see a round leather ball again it’ll be too soon. Suerte!!!
 
F

Fener Barça

Guest
I like so much Boca Juniors by reason of their colours,supporters,songs,Riquelme & Maradona :beer2:

In River,I like only Ortega.
 

ClaretBarca

New member
I have a friend who supports independiente so going off that i would like them to win the title. Roberto Ayala is a great signing for Racing Club though, its just a shame there is no coverage in England :(
 

Lemmi

The Reckoner
A Week’s a Long Time in Fútbol: Fecha 2

by: Daniel Edwards | 05 February 2010
section: Sport
‘I’m singing in the rain, just singing in the rain. What a glorious feeling I’m…. actually soaked to my skin’. After weeks where the great city of Buenos Aires felt more like an oven, the heavens finally opened just in time for the second round of Clausura fixtures. The conditions definitely allowed for some surprises, stopping many teams playing the lovely ‘tiki-tiki’ football Argentines are renowned for. There was even a casualty of the weather in the south, as Banfield and Argentinos Juniors managed only 8 minutes before the game was called off. Why it took referee Javier Collado this long to realise it was unplayable is hard to fathom- the ball couldn’t roll for than a couple of metres at a time. But then again, if it comes down to a choice between getting soaking wet and pneumonia and facing two sets of angry hinchada… I’d pick the pneumonia as well.

Elsewhere El Diego announced his squad for upcoming friendly against Jamaica, and with the players included brought the number of players used during his reign to 101!! Not bad for someone in the job just over a year. I’m not sure what criteria goes into the selection of a Maradona national team; it could be the result of methodical preparation and scouting, combined with a willingness to try unheralded players plying their trade in the domestic league: or equally it could come down to the little man blindfolding himself and throwing darts into Clarin’s team of the week every Monday. I’ll let you decide.

Onwards to the highlights of a soggy second round of fixtures in the Argentine Clausura:


Gimnasia win the battle of La Plata:

Estudiantes are South American champions and came within a whisker of being champions of the world in December. Gimnasia are struggling at the foot, and no-one could remember the last time they won a match. However, to dust off an old cliché a derby game is always a cup final, and so it proved as Gimnasia shocked their La Plata rivals in a 3-1 home victory. The game was played without away supporters after crowd trouble at previous matches, and the home team struck first blood 26 minutes into the second half, with a headed goal by Stracqualursi capping a fluid passing move. Stracaqualursi then doubled the advantage with a strong finish from the edge of the box. Veron gave the visitors hope two minutes from time, but the result was sealed in injury time when a horrible mistake from Estudiantes keeper Orion let in Cuevas. This was el lobo’s first victory in the derby for over five years, and they enjoyed it greatly.

‘Big Two’ Back to Winning Ways:


After indifferent starts to the Clausura both Boca Juniors and River Plate needed wins to silence angry mutterings from the stands. Both came through on this, taking much-appreciated points off Lanús and Chacarita Juniors respectively. Boca always looked in control at La Bombonera, even after going into half time 1-1, Lanús forward Gonzalo Castillejos scoring his third in two games to cancel out Gary Medel’s opener. Los Bosteros pulled away in the second half, with goals from Martin Palermo and Cristian Erbes early in the second half putting the game beyond doubt.

River on the other hand were made to suffer for their points against a decent Chacarita side. Los funebreros were the better side for large stretches of the game, but once again poor defending let them down as they went into half time 2-0 down. The game then became incredibly scary for River as goals from Chaca’s Grabinski and Parra brought the game back to 3-2 in the final minutes, River’s Gustavo Bou striking in between to provide breathing space. Deep into injury time Chacarita thought the equaliser had come after Parra bundled in, only for it to be disallowed for an earlier foul.

Best of the Rest:


Mendoza outfit Godoy Cruz went top and have the distinction of being the only team in the league to win both their games so far, after an impressive 1-0 victory away at title challengers San Lorenzo. A goal 35 minutes into the first half proved to be decisive, provided by forward Cesar Carranza after bamboozling the keeper and firing home from short range. Godoy aren’t considered as candidates this year flirting closer with the relegation places, but at the least if they keep up this form they will secure a place in the top flight for next year without doubt.

Racing meanwhile melted in the Santa Fe heat as they succumbed to a 2-1 loss against home side Colón. La Academia were visibly tired after Saturday’s exertions and struggled in a heat approaching 50°, while the home side had rested most of their first team at the weekend and so on Tuesday came out much fresher. Despite this Racing took a surprise lead after 12 minutes, after Colón goalie Diego Pozo completely misjudged an over hit Falcón free kick and the ball rolled apologetically into the net. Colón slowly found their rhythm though, and equalised on 38 after poor defending gave Esteban Fuertes a free header expertly converted. The equaliser just before half-time knocked the stuffing out of Racing, and never really recovered. It was no surprise when Juan Manuel Lucero sealed the game for the home side early in the second half.

Full Results of Fecha 2:


Rosario Ctral. 0 1 Tigre
Arsenal F.C. 0 3 Vélez Sarsfield
Colón 2 1 Racing Club
G. y Esgrima L.P. 3 1 Estudiantes L.P.
Huracán 2 1 N.O. Boys
Banfield 0 0 Argentinos Jrs.
Boca Jrs. 3 1 Lanús
Chacarita Jrs. 2 3 River Plate
San Lorenzo de A. 0 1 Godoy Cruz (Mza.)
Independiente 3 1 At. Tucumán

Tragedy in Rosario:

A bus carrying back Newell’s Old Boys supporters Tuesday night after the loss at Tigre was stopped on the motorway after two tires burst, and fired upon by unidentified gunmen around 3am. A 14 year old fan travelling on the bus was hit three times in the head, and is now in a coma possibly brain dead and in a critical condition. Police suspect the culprits are members of a rival Newell’s “fan” faction, in an attack that has absolutely nothing to do with football and gives us yet another reminder why this element of Argentine football must be destroyed.

Hero of the Week:


Denis Stracqualursi: The good folk of Gimasia L.P had waited a long time for a win over their hated rivals Estudiantes, indeed at the moment for a win over any team. Stracqualursi’s two smartly taken strikes ensure bragging rights in La Plata for el lobo for the next six months at least, and for one half of the city at least he’s become an instant hero.

Boludos of the Week:

Present at the Chacarita-River Plate game Thursday night, it was pretty obvious that Chaca’s black Uruguayan midfielder Daniel Pereira was having a poor game- loose in possession, frequent mistakes and a lack of ambition when going forward. This is no excuse however for the racial abuse he received from sections of the Chacarita support, who greeted his mistakes with whistles and shouts of ‘negro de mierda’ (black shit). Come on lads, these are your own players there’s no place for that.

Well, that’s the second fecha pretty much done and dusted. My apologies if your team didn’t make it on here this week but obviously they didn’t do enough to interest me, try harder next week. I’m off to get Argentine citizenship and see if I can squeak into Maradona’s next Argentina squad. Suerte!!
 

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