Five Go Mad in Venezuela

I came across five Brits in the Estadio Metropolitano last night, Copa America aficionados one and all. I’d seen them in Paraguay in 1999 and wasn’t surprised to bump into them again, with their faded Paraguay 1999 tshirts and old war stories.
Kevin, Paul, Dave, Richard and and Peter might sounds like a dodgy 60s pop [...]

The best Copa 11 so far?

Estado de S.Paulo picking the following 11 as the best team of the tournament so far:
Vega (VEN),
J.Zanetti (ARG), Rafa Márquez (MEX), Cichero (VEN), Ormeño (CHI)
Torrado (MEX), Mariño (PER),
Messi (ARG), Riquelme (ARG)
Robinho (BRA) and Santa Cruz (PAR)
Getting a mention:
Abbondanzieri (ARG)
Ayala (ARG)
Juan (BRA)
Arce (MEX)
Guardado (MEX)
Love (BRA)
Crespo (ARG) sadly now out injured
Suazo (CHI)
Castillo (MEX)
Biggest disappointments:
Diego (BRA)
Forlán (URY)
Matias [...]

Best Copa yet? Well….not exactly

Before I left Brazil I asked people what to expect in Venezuela. The response was frightening. Compared to Venezuela, everyone told me, Brazil is like Switzerland.
That judgment has turned out to be more than a little harsh. With the first round now over, Venezuelans have proven fine hosts. The fans have come out to the [...]

Just Why Would Man Utd Want To Get Involved With Tevez and MSI Anyway?

Carlos Tevez is a top player. On this site we’ve already said we believe he’d be a big star at Man Utd because he will be a big star wherever he goes, much as he has wherever he’s been.
But is it worth the hassle? The player is brilliant but those involved with his affairs have [...]

League Threat to Tevez Man Utd Switch

The proposed £20 million transfer of Argentina star Carlos Tevez to Manchester United is reportedly under threat from English league authorities.
As Latin Football World yesterday suggested it might the proposed transfer looks to have put back in jeopardy West Ham’s top flight status. The League is said to be ready to block the move unless [...]

The best, worst and otherwise of the concluding group round

The third and concluding round of group games are over and we picked as the…..
Best Game: Not a lot to choose from this time around. With qualification at stake, the games were tighter and teams were less willing to throw caution to the wind. So, there were far fewer goals and we got our first [...]

Quarter-final Line-up

Saturday:
Venezuela -v- Uruguay (18:05)
Chile -v-Brazil (20:50)
Sunday:
Mexico -v- Paraguay (16:05)
Argentina -v-Peru (18:50)
[All times local. Saturday's winners play each other in the first semi-final Tuesday night, Sunday's in the second on Wednesday night.]

Group C Wrap

Best Team: No doubt here. It has been Argentina, who topped the group and played some lovely football along the way. They went behind in their two first matches but showed the patience and confidence of a top team on top of its game to end up winning both comfortably. They have quality all across [...]

Last Night’s Goals

Practically a goal-fest considering the night before – two whole goals from open play!
Colombia 1-0 USA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGSd39lkHwA
Argentina 1-0 Paraguay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YojuRm_04HI
Group C ended up providing us with the most goals of the three groups, 21 in total at an average of 3.5 goals per game, up nicely on the other two groups, and did not contain [...]

Today’s Headlines

“Crespo Doesn’t Exist” – Olé of Argentine celebrates Masche’s first goal for his country
“The Perfect Plan Works Out” – La Nacion, Argentina, celebrates topping the group
“Basile: ‘You see how I choose well?’” – Clarín, praise for Coco after his substitutes win the game
“This defeat really hurts” – Gerardo Martino, Paraguay coach on his country’s first [...]

Unbeaten Argentina Win But Don’t Shine

A perfectly placed strike from Javier Mascherano was enough to give Argentina a 1-0 win over Paraguay in Barquisimeto tonight and secure the Albiceleste a quarter final tie against Peru. 
The Liverpool midfielder struck a perfectly placed shot past Aldo Bobadilla just 10 minutes after coming on a 68th minute substitute. The goal was one of [...]