South American Football

[San Paolo]

Any fans of South American football on here? i have a friend from Argentina so she got me involved in it a little bit.

old news but we have to start somewhere

"Former River Plate, Boca Juniors and Valencia defender Fernando Caceres has been released from hospital following an incident that left him with a gun-shot wound to the head just two months ago.

Caceres was left with the injuries following an attempted car-jacking in Buenos Aires.

The now retired defender who earned 24 caps for Argentina, was kept in a drug induced coma for the majority of his stay in hospital due to the severity of his injuries, but has made excellent progress and has now been officially released from hospital.

The Buenos Aires Ministry of Health confirmed in a statement to the press that the former Argentina defender "was released at noon today after two months of hospitalization."

Health Minister Alexander Colli also confirmed that he “was taken to institute Fleni de Escobar, where he will begin a lengthy rehabilitation treatment.”

Colli, who met with the former player before his release from Ramon Carrillo Hospital told the press “he is lucid, conscious and located in time and space."

[San Paolo]

Racing Club de Avellaneda have "revealed" there new kits for the coming season.

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[Messinterista]

nice pics san. especially the third one.

[San Paolo]

nice shirt's i thought

[Messinterista]

hmmm

[taz]

River Plate have been relegated from the Primera Division after losing to Belgrano 3-1 on aggregate.

[forzaitalia]

River

Fans going mental, at least they'll be a good team to manage on FM 12.

[juventino_italiano]

Copa America begins Friday.

http://ca2011.com/

[RomaShield27]

Some result for Bolivia. Just seen a replay of it there and they were more than deserving of a draw. Argentina were once again a let down.

[red]

Aye, great game from Bolivia.

Their captain was near perfect at CB and their CF, though he missed one-on-one, did a good job of holding the ball up and stopping Argentina building momentum.

Argentina looked pretty clueless, especially once Bolivia managed to close to gap between defence and midfield to keep Messi quiet.

Cambiasso tried to do it, but they need a box-to-box runner in midfield to stretch the game and open up space. Playing with three pretty static midfielders and without attacking fullbacks makes it relatively easy to a team to make the game very compact and deprive attackers of space.

Tevez was terrible.

[taz]

Cracking result for Bolivia last night. I would have stuck with the initial choice of Di Maria instead of Tevez. Tevez really disappointing. Argentina's defence still susceptible and needs to improve. Got Colombia v Costa Rica on. Will be intereting to see how they get on with Falcao upfront with Guarin and Armero supporting.

[RomaShield27]

Sergio Batista resigns as coach of Argentina
• Batista walks after failure in Copa América
• Hosts were knocked out in quarter-finals

www.guardian.co.uk – Tuesday 26 July 2011 08.15 BST

Argentina's failure to win the Copa América and end an 18-year wait for a major title has cost the coach, Sergio Batista, his job. The Argentina Football Association announced Batista had stepped down after his team were knocked out of the tournament in the quarter-finals nine days ago.

"The national teams commission has decided to rescind the contract," the AFA spokesman Ernesto Cherquis Bialo said. "Batista wasn't sacked. He put his future as the head of the national team up for consideration by the executive committee."

Cherquis Bialo also said Argentina's friendly against Romania in Bucharest next month had been cancelled.

"The coaching staff of Argentina teams at all levels are under evaluation by the national teams commission," he added. "There are no deadlines, there's no rush, no urgency to name a new coach so there will be a process of consideration and study."

Batista, 48, had been in charge for a year, initially in an interim capacity after predecessor Diego Maradona was refused a new contract following Argentina's quarter-final elimination at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

His contract was to take him to the end of the South American qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil with Batista vowing to build a team around Lionel Messi, the world's best player, to win the title.

Batista did not promise to deliver the Copa América but said it was Argentina's obligation as hosts to win the trophy and he was confident they would, having lost to Brazil in the previous two finals.

However, Argentina struggled against tough South American opponents also preparing for the World Cup qualifiers by building their teams from the back in contract to Batista's stated aim to play in the mould of European champions Barcelona, Messi's club.

His Argentina side had good results in friendlies with wins against world champions Spain, arch-rivals Brazil and Portugal but his competitive debut almost ended in a shock defeat by Bolivia who held them 1-1 in their Copa America opener.

Batista, holding midfielder in the 1986 World Cup-winning team, came into the senior job via the Olympic team he steered to Argentina's second successive soccer gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.

With South America's World Cup qualifiers kicking off in October, the AFA decided an overhaul critics said should have been made a year ago had to be done at once. Argentina have gone 18 years without a major title since their last Copa América victory in 1993.

[taz]

Disgraced Argentine club River Plate could return to the top flight sooner than expected, with plans revealed to revamp Argentina‘s first division.The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has announced it wants to unite the teams from the country’s top two divisions into one next year – combining all 20 from the top flight and most clubs from the second tier.

The teams are likely to be divided into regional groups, but the merger would mean the relegated giants River Plate would be back in the first division, after they dropped into Nacional B for the first time in their 110-year existence last month.

A decision on the new championship format needs to be agreed by the AFA’s executive committee, with that expected in October.

“The Argentine committee of the Argentine Football Association has decided with a majority vote – 22 in favour versus four abstentions and one absence – to look into a new tournament format project which would become valid starting in August of next year if the assembly so decides,” AFA spokesman Ernesto Cherquis Bialo said.

“It is basically the fusion of the Nacional B and the first division with relegation and the possibility that teams in the interior A could intervene with the first division.”

River will spend next season in the Nacional B division, and should they avoid finishing in the bottom two, a return to the top flight will be on the cards should the new format be voted in.

Majority of people are not in favour of this and feel it has been proposed to benefit River. A few River Plate fans interviewed were not in favour and believed that they deserve to be in the Nacional B following their awful season.

[San Paolo]

legendary Brazil midfielder Sócrates has died aged 57, a true legend of the game.

[forzaitalia]

RIP Socrates.

[RomaShield27]

Good 2012 Copa Libertadores review/preview here:

http://paulseery.blogspot.com/2012/02/2 ... ge_10.html

[DonSimon]

This is one of my favourite football traditions from South America - from anywhere really.
Every December 19 Rosario Central fans gather to re-enact the title winning goal scored on that date in 1971 by Aldo Poy against their derby Rivals Newell's Old Boys. Every year someone throws the ball up, Aldo Poy heads it into an empty net, and the fans go wild.
I'd love to go to Argentina to see this one day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GApZOp01O8&

[Bagg10]

Nothing like singing a song about yourself