What A Friday!
By: Jeremy |
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Two games and 10, as in nine plus one, goals. In the first game, Gimnasia de Jujuy showed off their brand spankin’ new coach,Héctor Arzubialde, and overwhelmed Pepe Santoro’s Independiente 4 -1 (plus they had one called off). Ouch. I’ve said before that Gimnasia weren’t that bad this season even though results would indicate otherwise, but man they really teed off on el Rojo. Video after the break.
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Another Coaching Casualty
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Following Estudiantes defeat to Deportivo Quito in Ecuador in a Group 5 Copa Libertadores tie, head coach Leonardo Astrada resigned, citing the run of bad results as the reason.
Early talk for replacements includes two groups of co-coaches – Alejandro Sabella and Julián Camino with Fernando Gamboa and Ariel Zapata also getting mentioned. Sabella has tons of coaching experience as Daniel Passarella number 2, and I have to admit that I don’t know much about Camino, other than I think he and Sabella were teammates on title winning Estudiantes’ squads back in the 80’s.
Gamboa has fresh coaching experience with Newell’s Old Boys while Ariel Zapata just retired from playing for Newell’s.
I can understand the Sabella/Camino thing, but I’m not sure where the Gamboa/Zapata combo comes from. I’ve got to think another candidate will come forward in the next day or two, so we’ll see who gets the nod.
Category: UncategorizedRiquelme Quits Maradona
By: Jeremy | 4 Comments
Just a short time after Diego named him to the squad to face Venezuela and Bolivia, Juan Roman Riquelme announced his retirement from the national team. This came as quite a shock to most people, including me and Diego.
He said that the thought of Riquelme retiring never entered his mind. Juan Roman said that he and Diego couldn’t get along because they think differently and have a different code of ethics. So he decided to quit the national team at 30. Even if Diego gets the axe after 2010, Riquelme would be pretty old in footballing years by the time 2014 rolls around, so he is effectively ending his World Cup career.
While he didn’t say exactly what the differences were, he did say they had something with where Diego wanted him to play.
Earlier Diego had said that he needed Riquelme to provide cover in the last 20 meters for Tevez/Messi/Aguero and not playing farther back and taking the ball from Demichelis or dancing around Mascherano and Gago.
Another possible reason is that Riquelme claims to have found more things out about his participation in the Selection from tv or radio sources than from Diego or Bilardo directly.
Who knows if Diego can smooth this out, but I am inclined to think that this could ultimately be a good thing for Argentina. I’m not wanting to say that Riquelme is selfish on the pitch, but he does seem to want to be the centerpiece, whether he is playing well or not. In fairness, on his club teams a lot pressure is on his shoulders to win, and maybe he can’t switch that off when he plays for Argentina. This could wind up to be like Henry to Barcelona for Arsenal last year.
Crazy things in Argentina this week.
Category: UncategorizedRacing Fans Threaten Players
By: Jeremy | 1 Comment
After the dismantling suffered over the weekend at the hands of Tigre (4-1) members of the Racing barra brava, Guardia Imperial (Imperial Guard) approached several players at practice on Monday and spoke with two of them for several minutes.
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Category: UncategorizedAnother Coach Says Adios
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Following yet another Gimnasia de Jujuy loss, head coach Omar Labruna decided to call it quits. Well, technically he was fired, but it just sounds better the other way. Labruna becomes the third coach to part from his team just five weeks into the Clausura.
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Category: UncategorizedBoca Wins In Venezuela
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After thirteen long years, Boca did what no other Argentine team could do, take a win back home from Venezuela. The three points put them on top of Group 2 in the Copa Libertadores. Video after the jump.
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Category: UncategorizedCoaches on the Hot Seat
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Ok, looking at the bottom of the table, 2 of the 4 teams (Racing and Central) currently tied on one point have already sacked their coaches. Which leaves Diego Cagna of Tigre and Omar Labruna at Gimnasia (J).
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Category: UncategorizedWeekend Roundup
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The big news of the weekend was, depending on your sympathies, a) the resignation of Gustavo Alfaro, b) Racing getting a point, or c) San Lorenzo destroying River Plate 5-1.
Category: UncategorizedThe Coaching Wheel’s A Spinnin’
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Well, coming as an absolute and total surprise to no one, Gustavo Alfaro resigned as coach of Rosario Central following the club’s less than vigorous loss to Banfield on Friday night. That left the club on the bottom of the table with one (1) point after four games, and on a serious streak of stink dating back well into last season.
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Category: UncategorizedFriday Night Rewind, Week 4
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Well, Gimnasia (LP) continued the good run of form after an opening day loss and beat up on Independiente 2-0. But the big news, at least for any unemployed head coaches with Primera experience is that Central lost 3-1 (including a scorcher by James Rodriguez-watch the highlights) away to Banfield and looked absolutely horrible doing it. I only caught one half, but that had to be their worst performance this year. Alfaro lost his cool and got ejected, which didn’t help matters. Video highlights after the jump.
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