Letter From Brazil

[RodgersThat]

Thanks SMF ... its been slow weeks with the International break but all will be sorted out in the remaining South American leagues in the coming week.

Argentina :
Barring a meltdown, Boca Juniors is on track for a back to back league wins for the first time since 2005/2006.

Chile :
The playoff Quarterfinals are ongoing but we all know who the likely winners are.

Colombia :
A topsy-turvy season in the Liga Postabon where none of the usual major teams even made it to the Playoffs ... on paper the strongest team remaining is Deportivo Cali even though they barely managed to scrape through.

Ronaldinho Update
Ronaldinho has joined Serie A outfit Atletico-Mineiro on a 6 month deal and while terms were not disclosed, its safe to assume its far less than the €125K/week he was on at Flamengo. For Atletico-MG it may be a worthwhile investment. R10 will generate enthusiasm and probably enough shirt sales to make up the cost.

As far as the footballing potential here, not quite convinced he will make a huge difference on the pitch. I wish Ronaldinho well and know that we will see an initial bounce in the team's fortunes, but the question from the A-MG management, players and fans should be whether Ronaldinho's newfound passion can be sustained through December. In any case, he will be making his debut for the 3rd place A-MG's zebra stripes away at Palmeiras this Saturday. A must watch ?

Andre Rocha, one of my favorite tactical bloggers along with Michael Cox of Zonalmarking has done some interesting analysis of Ronaldinho's potential position in A-MG's preferred 4-2-3-1 formation and agree with Rocha that the best position for R10 would still be in the Attacking-Mid slot. He's lost so much pace now that I can't see him being a realistic option out wide.

[RodgersThat]

Rumors going around that MUFC has signed UdeChile's good young striker Angelo Henriquez for £3m.

If our scouts aren't at least looking at 4 others from arguably the best team in South America at the moment, it'll be greatly disappointing as each of these players would be a great addition to our clubs present philosophy because of how comfortable they already are in a quick passing philosophy espoused by UC's manager, Jorge Sampaoli. Especially considering none of these players are likely to cost us more than £10m (at the most).

Charles Aranguiz - Diminutive 23 yr old Box to box CM for UC who plays RM for the Chilean national team. Tremendous work rate, excellent pace and skill. Only reason he's not playing CM for Chile is that Arturo Vidal is better than him (for the moment).

Eugenio Mena - another 23 yr old, the LB/LM just had his debut with the senior team recently in Chile's 2-0 win over Bolivia. Impeccable work rate and very adept at implementing Sampaoli/Bielsa's philosophy of constant passing and motion. Good defensively but better going forward. Ironman player having played every minute in UC's current 10-game Copa Lib campaign and only sat out for 25 minutes of UC's 2011 11-game Copa Sudamericana campaign !

Matias Rodriguez - 26 yr old RB is solid defensively but even better going forward. He is being kept out of the starting RB position in the Argentinian national team by the even better Pablo Zabaleta but saw his first few minutes of action wearing the powder blue in Argentina's recent WC Qualifier vs Ecuador. Has popped in with more than a few timely goals during UC's current Copa Lib campaign.

Junior Fernandez - A year ago, 23 yr old Fernandez was an unknown player even in his native Chile - plying his trade in anonymity with CD Palestino, his 4th club in 4 years. But with a £450K transfer to UC to fill the huge shoes left by Eduardo Vargas' departure to Napoli, he has exploded onto the scene since January and has been UC's best player by far.

A beast of a forward with the size and strength to handle bigger defenders and has the positional awareness, heading ability and pace to beat them. He is also very versatile as Jorge Sampaoli has not hesitated starting him on either wing in UC's 4-3-3/3-4-3 formations and even in a traditional #9 role when they've played a 4-4-2 or 3-5-2 (yes, Sampaoli is a tinkerer and is probably deferring calls to Europe already!). And he produces - 6 goals and 2 assists in 9 Copa Lib games. Has caught Claudio Borghi's eye and was given a chance to play in two Chilean friendlies in Dec 2011/Jan 2012. A hamstring injury picked up during the Copa Lib was a slight worry but he's come back just as strong.

[SweetSilverSeven]

Rushtacio?... Is that you??!

[OldSniperwolfy96]

Just noticed this thread, will try and stay up to date on the information

[RodgersThat]

Rushtacio?... Is that you??!

Indeed it is. I'm always going to be a King's Man ... but unlike many bandwagoneers, I can happily point to my post in the 2012 MoTY thread to prove that I rated Brendan BEFORE he became our manager.

By the way, I loved the tactical debate you were having with Koppette on the EST forum the other day. I take it you are either an incredibly avid footy fan or are actually working towards your badges. I know K's played amateur and semi-pro footy before but you held your own !


I know you follow LfB pretty closely so you know just how much fluid passing and attacking football is near and dear to my heart. UC's players would fit that kind of philosophy to a T. In fact, I fully expect Bielsa to come calling this summer for a few of these players. Then everyone watching the Europa League this season (since we're thankfully in it) will be wondering again why on earth Liverpool didn't get these players before their values shot up to €25-30m (like Sanchez and Vidal are now worth).

There are some intriguing games being played today aside from the obvious Massive Euro12 matches :
- Brazil takes on Argentina in a friendly in New Jersey at 2 PM USCDT /8PM BST. More than 80K people will be there to see Leo Messi and his compatriots take on Neymar and company. Just feels like this Summer is helping remind the World of the American Footy fan's virile economic power.
- In an odd quirk of scheduling, both Flamengo and Ronaldinho's new club (Atletico-MG) play today. Flamengo will take on Copa do Brasil semifinalists Coritiba at 4:30PM CDT/10:30PM BST.
Atl-MG have a tough task away at Palmeiras at 7PM US CDT/1AM BST. I think anyone in Europe staying up to watch this one will be in for a treat - R10 will be motivated and at his best tonight.
- Boca Juniors are in the stretch run of the Primera title race and play Banfield at noon today. Too many better games on at the same time today so this one's going to the DVD recorder.

Oh ... and on a local basis, I'll be once again headed to the local Gridiron football stadium (don't ask about the yard markers!) to watch Paul Dalglish's brilliant and entertaining (and league leading) Austin Aztex tonight. Not saying this with any bias but Paul definitely knows a thing or two about managing. He's setup the boys to play a nice possession/passing game. A dedicated futbol stadium would be nice but unrealistic given the prohibitive costs associated with renting out such a space.

[pete752]

Shame about Ronaldinho..what a player he could have been if his heart had been in it. At his best, he was absolute magic.

The one player I'd love for us to sign from South America this summer would be Lucas Ocampos..I've seen a few River Plate games this past season just to watch him and I think he's going to be one hell of a player. It'd also be nice to sign a nice Brazilian backup defensive mid..Romulo or Fernando fits the bill well.

I think we'll be able to sign them only on this thread unfortunately.

[RodgersThat]

Brazil - Argentina
What a game in New Jersey today ! Forget Germany-Portugal. The best game of the day was played on our shores and it was the Messi show. If anyone needed convincing that Oscar and Romulo were solid prospects, today's performance against a full-on Argentinian team proved their credentials. I think Fernando from Gremio offers a little more offensive capabilities than Romulo so Mano might want to take the young Gremista to London.

I do feel sorry for young Bruno Uvini. Its a far cry from captaining the U20 squad to facing the greatest player of this (or possibly any) generation in just your 2nd senior cap and Uvini did about as badly as one would expect. Ditto Juan who looked very shaky without the rock solid Thiago Silva beside him. The highlights here courtesy of Paullfc1976.

Marcelo and Lavezzi are head cases - and today's unnecessary red cards just validated that. But still, Marcelo is immense at LB and if Menezes can figure out a way to manage his temperament, it will be to Brazil's benefit.

Paul Dalglish/Aztex Update
Today's Austin Aztex game, for any who might be interested in following how the Dalglish name continues on in managing, was a 2-0 defeat. Team was extremely close several times and the opponents, the Laredo Heat, took full advantage of the very few chances they had.

Other Stuff
Banfield managed to hold Boca to a draw at home. Still, Boca is on track to win the Primera.
As I predicted with some confidence yesterday, Atletico-MG won their first game with R49 Ronaldinho as a striker in a 4-4-2 formation. Truth be told, while A-MG beat Palmeiras 1-0, there were at least two legitimate goals disallowed by the ref.


Cheers !

[Yowa]

Santos vs Sao Paulo today will be interesting without the big names.

[SMF-Fede]

"The battle of Montevideo"
Uruguay 4 - 2 Perú

What supposed to be an easy victory through the first 30 minutes of the first half, became a tense and nervous match between Uruguay and Perú.
Uruguay dominated the first half with deep pressing, winning the air battle on defese and set pieces, and strong midfield with an inspired Cavani on offense.
Luis Suárez scored the 1st goal on the 14th minute, with a bounce header from Coates with Luis trying to change the trajectory infront of rival Gk, it's was hard to tell if he could head that ball or if was Seba Coates goal, but the ref gived the goal to Luis.
Seba was huge on air balls, with Perú trying all the match to reach Guerrero and Fernández, both big players, with crosses, had some troubles together with Godín to defend Guerrero, great and tricky striker.

Second goal came with an intercepted pass from Maxi Pereira, and after playing for Luis he scored through a deflected shot, the match was over at that time and more goals were expected to come, but then, mistakes on uruguayan defense put Perú back in the game.
Nearly the end of first half, Godín tried to deflect a cross and put again the goal in our net, scoring an own goal as did against Venezuela last saturday, thanks god we don't signed him, we have Agger for make those mistakes hehe, anyway, it was 2-1 and match changed.
Uruguay get nervous and Perú strenght their rough and brusque gameplay, turning the match on a battle against a nervous Uruguay.
At 2 minutes of 2nd half, Perú tied the game through another mistake on uruguayan defense, Arévalo Ríos deflected backwards and ball came to Guerrero, who dominated the ball and scored in great effort inside the area.
The tension became bigger when Cavani was fouled inside the area (Perú made 4 PK, the ref only called 1), Forlán shotted the PK and was deflected by peruvian GK.

Tabárez made 2 changes at 60' that changed the match, Christian Rodríguez and Gastón Ramírez substituted Alvaro Pereira and Diego Forlán, Rodríguez opened the wings with his fierce gameplay and Gastón made a huge display, with great passes and pace, he made the offensive gameplay work again on a tense and difficult situation when he came to the picth.
Rodríguez scored the 3-2 on a FK from Ramírez, when Coates again won inside rival area and his shot was deflected by the GK, but Godín crossed to Rodríguez to score with a header. Match became strong, battled and tense, and the 4th goal was scored by Eguren, on a great counterattack built by Cavani and Gastón Ramírez.
Well deserved victory on a tight match, to extend to 17 the unbeaten matches for Uruguay.

On the remaining matches of the weekend, Bolivia won 3-1 against Paraguay, this time "la altura" made their part and was a home victory.
Venezuela lost 0-2 at home against Chile, the trasandinos took revange of their lost on quarterfinals on Copa América and now are leading the qualifiers with 12 points, but with one more match that most of rivals.
Ecuador won 1-0 at home against Colombia, flat match on 1st half, on 2nd half Ecuador played better and created chances, scoring with a goal from Chucho Benítez, ex-Birmingham, and only then Colombia realized that they could make offensive gameplay, came closer to tie but was not enough, ecuatorians are always strong at home in la altura of Quito.

Argentina had day-off and played against Brazil, Messi scored 3 but it was a friendly match so dont matters haha.

# Equipo Pts.
1 Chile 12 pts, +1 GD (6 matches)
2 Uruguay 11 pts, +8 GD (5 matches)
3 Argentina 10 pts, +7 GD (5 matches)
4 Ecuador 9 pts, 0 GD (5 matches)
5 Venez. 8 pts, -2 GD (6 matches)
6 Colombia 7 pts, 0 GD (5 matches)
7 Bolivia 4 pts, -4 GD (6 matches)
8 Paraguay 4 pts, -5 GD (5 matches)
9 Perú 3 pts, -5 GD (5 matches)

Matchday 7: Colombia vs Uruguay / Ecuador vs Bolivia / Argentina vs Paraguay / Perú vs Venezuela // Free: Chile
Matchday 8: Uruguay vs Ecuador / Perú vs Argentina / Chile vs Colombia / Paraguay vs Venezuela // Free: Bolivia

Best player of the match: Martín Cáceres (URU), defense player of Juventus, he can play as CB, RB, LB, he was huge today, closing the left side of uruguayan defense and joining the attack, skilled, paced, became even bigger when the match was 2-2 and nervous took place on field.

Seba Coates: good match, inmense on both areas on air balls, he was key on 1st and 3rd goals, had some troubles defending Guerrero due lack of matches, thanks Kenny for that...

Luis: match with highs and lows, he was a menace all the match, forced mistakes on rival defense but wasnt clear on scoring, with 2 shots deflected on goal line and sometimes took wrong decisions, even that, peruvians made 3 PK against him, a shot deflected by hand-ball on 2nd minute and 2 fouls inside the area, none of those called by the ref, always a nightmare to defense rivals.

Gastón Ramírez (hope this season wear our shirt): made a huge impact on field, when the game was tense with 2-2, controlled the ball and made good passes and pacing the game, becaming the link between midfield players and Cavani and Luis, pretty accurate on set pieces, take notice on that, we don't have an accurate player to serve set pieces and clear mind to generate gameplay, a must buy player.

Match resume by peruvian TV (love to watch rivals crying haha): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrmAe12hFLQ

[RodgersThat]

SMF-Fede ... awesome report ! I didn't end up watching any other games today besides Spain-Italy but glad to hear that URU have the early inside track to qualification. It waa good to read about Seba and Luis but also nice to get an assessment of Gaston Ramirez's contribution. Having barely watched Bologna and seeing that he hasn't been getting minutes for the national team, I was concerned whether some of the hype was over manufactured.

Pete752, quick word on Lucas Ocampos. Yes, he's shown some tremendous maturity and is so far ahead of other players of his age that its freakish. The pace, skills and confidence he possesses is brilliant - seems River Plate nurtures a player like this every other year ! However, given his age and the massive change a move to England would entail, I suspect his first move is bound to happen very soon; but it will most likely be to a Spanish side. One aspect I have always wondered was why we couldn't take a player on and let them acclimate to European football within the linguistic and culturally familiar environment of Spain or Portugal (via a loan). Anyone know why this doesn't happen more often ?

[Maripacha]

I made an effort and i pay 400 pesos (15 euros here is to much for a match) and i went to the stadium to see the celeste, the last match i went to the Centenario was against Chile, well good numbers for me , great match we didn't deserve to suffer, but this is uruguay and it's not worth if we not suffer , happy for the match of seba, is nice to see a young like Gaston Ramirez play well, and sad to see how one of the maximun idols and the maximun goal s of Uruguay Forlan has less time with the Celeste

In another news, greats perfomances of Gonzalo Bueno whit the u20 of Uruguay in a friendly against U.S.A, make a great goal in the first match that Uruguay won 4 2, and in the second match (the revenge) also won Uruguay, whit goals of Renato Cesar,another young of Nacional, and Gaston Silva from Defensor, new acquisition of Benfica


In saturday will be the "semifinal" of the championship here, if Nacional won will be the champion, and if defensor won we had 2 more games, so, camon nacional!!!

[SMF-Fede]

Yeah, i know, for all River Plate's players and fans, playing this season on 2nd division is a big pain in the a*s, but this is waaay out of limits

Leo Ponzio, player of River Plate, played yesterday good part of the match with blood on his shorts, changed 'em 3 times and the blood kept coming, on the match that River won 2-1 against Boca Unidos on nearly injury time, all the substitutions were made, so Ponzio had to play with blood and pain in his a*s lot of minutes.

The player said today at Radio La Red: "It can happen when you have hemorrhoids and reaches a moment of nervousness, stress, or eating poorly."

"You don't drink coffee because maybe can produce that, and also i'd eaten well all week," he said.
"The second time (after changing pants) I felt something hot and It was the blood. I thought it was going to cut, but with the effort it was worse".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoBoH...&feature=share

[RodgersThat]

Poor Leo Ponzio .... hope his rear end is feeling better.

Copa Lib reboot today .... and not a day too soon. Santos will host Corinthians tonight and its less a clash of formations/philosophy than a clash of players because on paper both teams play a 4-2-3-1. Santos is just blessed with better offensive players while Corinthians can boast one of the best defenses in South America.

Given the Corinthians defenses' ability to turn any positive match opportunity into a boring affair, I predict a 1-0 yawnfest.

[SMF-Fede]

Southamerican matches has "that something"...awful ref's, a police helmet hurled to the field, the lights go out when rivals were about to score, anyway, nice match between Santos and Corinthians, defo Neymar needs to leave soon to Europe to grow up as player and specially, grow his mind and temper, won't won the next WC if he don't leaves the shell, he's way over-protected around here.

[RodgersThat]

Well I predicted the Corinthians v Santos score but not the right winner. But I agree with SMF-Fede, its high time Neymar moves on. Neymar was challenged more in Brazil's recent USA tour than all the games he's played in South America since Santos' last Copa Lib triumph. He's showing that he's up for it so I think its high time he leave for Europe.

My apologies that I missed mentioning the Copa do Brasil Semifinal that was on last night. Palmeiras pulled off a minor surprise in securing a late 2-0 win at Gremio. Mazinho scored in the 87th minute and Hernan Barcos finished it in stoppage time.
Defo an uphill task for Gremio to try and claw back next week at Palmeiras.

Boca Juniors v U de Chile, 6PM CDT/12AM CDT.

Tonight we have another Copa Lib clash of styles - Boca Junior's defensive & counterattacking posture against the maniacal attacking philosophy of U de Chile.
While the average team will be setup to defend first in an away game, I don't expect Sampaoli to follow convention. Look for UC to come out in a 3-4-3 and go for the jugular from the opening whistle. But if Boca can absorb the early pressure, Riquelme's pinpoint passing can really hurt UC in this one. My prediction is a 2-1 Boca win. But UC still wins this over 2 legs - just too much pace and firepower for Boca to stymie through 2 games.

In the Copa do Brasil in case you want to skip the Boca-UC game, Sao Paulo hosts Coritiba tonight at 6PM CST/12 AM BST.

[SMF-Fede]

Good analysis, Uchi is better than Boca but has big pressure, 4th time on semifinals, never reached finals previously and have to face the team that bossed southamerica last decade and regained that condition last year, so Uchi not only have to face the argentinian champion, has to face Boca Juniors and would take a lot of temper to pass thuough it, even on Chile, victory is not assured for Uchi, but im agree with u that today's match got a smell of an 2-1 Boca's victory

[SMF-Fede]

Manic weekend last one in Argentina, it was time for emotions, drama and everyone checking rival's matches on both sides of the table, 1st and 2nd division can't be more emotional, next week will be the last one so start buying the beer, some chips and pizza 'cause will be an amazing weekend to stay infront of the tv.

On Uruguay Nacional beated Defensor by 1-0 and it's the uruguayan champion, well deserved title, this year they don't had to spend too much on referees as last one
I'll leave to Mari the details of the match and that stuff, I'll focus on our neighbors and the big drama.

2nd division:
So, for those that wonder "how's River Plate takes playing in 2nd division", this weekend was a heaven-hell-heaven trip without stops.
With 2 matches remaining, River (70pts) could get their ticket to 1st division this weekend, but the victory of Instituto de Córdoba (70pts +1 game) early on saturday, delayed the return one more match.
The game was crazy, River creating one after another chance and Patronato's gk was the player of the game.
Again, another River distraction on defense, put Patronato on top, with River playing a manic game to reach the tie, the promotion seemed each minute far away, until on 88th minute River get a penalty, but the shot from Alejandro Domínguez was deflected by Patronato's gk and then hell was all over River Plate fans, the match lost with only one game remaining, put 'em on a hard situation with the victory of Instituto (70pts) and Quilmes (69pts).
Saturday felt like an another relegation defeat for River fans, fury and disappointment get 'em, and players and managers was covered in shame.

On sunday, Rosario Central (69 pts), the leader of the table since last matches, had to play against Chacarita, team that is facing relegations problems, and a victory would put 'em 2 points and 3 points over their rivals for promotion.
But again, drama and desperation came on field and hunted the leaders, when they was facing an 0-1, and again an 1-2 just minutes after they tied the match.
On last minutes Rosario played so crazy and powerless that they couldn't get the ball, and Chacarita missed one clear chance after another, but finally on injury time they get the 1-3 and get a lil' bit of fresh air on their relegation fight.
Now the former leaders went down to 3rd place with Quilmes, both with 69 pts, they promotion chances freezed, and River came back to heaven, on top of the table with 70 pts with Instituto, both teams depending on themselves in last match.

Table:
1- River 70 pts. GD +36
2- Instituto 70 pts. GD +30
3 - Quilmes 69 pts. GD +39
4 - Rosario 69 pts. GD +17

1st and 2nd teams will be promoted directly to 1st division.
3rd and 4th teams will face playoffs against 17th and 18th on 1st division Promotion table.

If 1st position is tied by 2 teams, the team with best GD will be the champion. If it's a tie between 3 or 4 teams, matches will be played.
If 2nd position is tied by 2 or more teams, matches will be played to decide that place.

Last match for this teams:
River Plate (1st) vs Almirante Brown (6th)
Instituto (2nd) vs Ferro (9th)
Guillermo Brown (16th) vs Quilmes (3rd)
Desamparados (18th) vs Rosario Central (4th)

All matches on saturday at same time, stay tuned for drama!

[SMF-Fede]

1st division:

So, if u think that 2nd division is crazy, 1st division is beyond that, seriously, all sunday matches will be so crazy, dramatic and desperating that you'll have to buy more tv's to not miss the huge emotions on the upcoming matches.

Tigre
Well, if there's a team that represents courage, bravery and pride, it's Tigre.
With this season starting, they were 17pts behind San Lorenzo, and 28 pts behind Banfield, the teams that they needed to reach this season to avoid relegation.
Tigre played like there's no tomorrow, in fact there wasn't for theam, and made a sensational season and now are leaders on torneo Clausura.
They were relegated, there was no chance to avoid relegation and shorten that huge difference between 'em and San Lorenzo and Banfield...but they made it, and now are leaders of the table and over that 2 teams.
But argentinian tournament and relegation rules are awful, they take up to 3 seasons to make the Promotion table, that determines relegation and playoffs places, so the crazy thing could be that Tigre could be the Argentinian champions and yet, get relegated to 2nd division.

Promotion table
As said, they take up to 3 seasons to make that table, they take your points earned on that seasons and divide 'em by the matches played. If u are on 2nd season of first division, or nearly promoted and playing 1st season, same criteria, pts earned divided matches played.
As an example, Velez is on top of the table with 1,8053 that comes of 204pts and 113 games played.
Last place is for Olimpo (relegated from some weeks ago) with 1,0133 that comes of 76pts and 75 games played.

17th and 18th from that table will face playoffs against 3rd and 4th of 2nd division, and 19th and 20th get relegated.
This table was created on the 80's, when San Lorenzo (one of the "grandes" of Argentina) gets relegated, to protect the "grandes" for the relegation, so if u have a terrible season, or maybe 2 kinda bad seasons, u still have a chance to avoid relegation buying players and having a good third season, also promoted teams normally get relegated at next season 'cause the normal troubles of playing on a stronger division.

Last decade all the "grandes" except Boca Juniors, weakened badly, so Racing is fighting to avoid the bottom of that table from a decade at least, River get relegated last year, Independiente will have HUGE troubles next season and will be face relegation, and San Lorenzo is on relagation place now, with 1 match remaining.
On the other hand, promoted teams get stronger and some of them makes good seasons and the others gives hard fight to avoid relegation, last season all of the 4 teams promoted avoided relegation, so 4 teams of 1st division got relegated.
Also, the promotion rule (pts/matches), turned unestable the promoted places, with huge changes on promotion places if a team in his 1st season wins or lost his match.

So, the promotion table is:
20-Olimpo 1,0133 (relegated)
19-San Lorenzo 1,2389 (140/113)
18-Banfield 1,2566 (142/113)
17-At. Rafaela 1,2703 (47/37)
16-Tigre 1,2743 (144/113)
15-San Martín 1,2973 (48/37)
13-Unión 1,3243 (49/37)

San Lorenzo, one of the grandes, even winning next weekend could get relegated, and Tigre, even winning and being the argentinian champions, could face playoffs games against 2nd division teams. Yep, i know is crazy, but try to figure those teams fans next weekend on their stadiums with calculators at hand and checking rival results, CRAZY.

The title fight:
Boca Juniors, playing semifinals on Copa Libertadores and finals on Copa Argentina, lost 1-3 at home against Arsenal, and saw the changes of winning Apertura and Clausura get away (Argentina has 2 champions for every season, Apertura and Clausura champions, both are the argentinian champions, no finals played, CRAZY, that would be changed next season). Arsenal played a great match and it's the team that has the best game-playing in that country, with that victory reached the 1st position along with Tigre, that won over Velez 1-0 on saturday.
Just 1 game remaining, and if there's a tie on 1st place will be played a final or a triangular, depending the amount of teams.

Positions:
1-Arsenal 35pts.
1-Tigre 35 pts.
3-Boca Juniors 33 pts.

Last match for this teams:
Arsenal (1st) vs Belgrano (11st)
Tigre (1st) vs Independiente (16th)
All boys (6th) vs Boca Juniors (3th)

The madness:
7 matches will be played at same time, 'cause Tigre is involved on both tables, championship and avoid relegation fights.
So, there's a chance that 2 or 3 teams ties title places or relagation/playoffs places, or even worst, that Tigre ties championship and relegation places at same time.
So, Tigre could have to face one or two untie matches to win the championship, and also have to play untie matches to avoid playoffs, and if lost, play the playoffs against 2nd division team. That's why Tigre can win the championship (directly this week or through untie matches), and the next week start playing for avoid relegation, 'cause no matter if they win this weekend and get championship, or beat Boca/Arsenal on untie matches, if promoted teams win this weekend, Tigre will have to play also for avoiding relegation.

And u though that a peace between Israel/Palestina or get through the Euro crysis was difficult? Try to understand this, this is madness, this is Argentina.

Anyway, lot of emotions and drama for this weekend, get comfortable and watch an epic definitions on both divisions

[RodgersThat]

SMF-Fede .... The madness of the Argentinian Primera !!!

Looks like Boca Jrs can smell blood in the Copa Lib so might have shifted focus away from the Primera, dropping 4 points in their last 2 games. Since Fede's done such a stellar job summarizing Argentina. I'll quickly round up Chile and Colombia --

UC are on a slide now - lost the Apertura Semifinal First leg to Colo Colo 2-0. Seems its UdeChile's modus operandi this year - spot teams multi-goal leads and then try to make up the difference at home. Not sure if they'll be able to reverse two 2-0 deficits in the span of a week but knowing Sampaoli, they will come out firing.

Colombia's Liga Postabon has lost the plot (yet again). They've changed their format ONCE MORE !!! From having two-leg QF/SF/Finals between the Top 8 teams at the end of the season, they've gone to a second season of 4 team groups to determine the Finalists who will play each other home & away. All in the interest of creating more interest/revenue...... Deportivo Cali should still be the one to win it all !

In Brazil, league leaders Vasco da Gama welcomed Center-Back Dede after an extended absence and secured a tough 1-1 away draw at Palmeiras. Luis Fabiano and Sao Paulo sank Ronaldinho's Atletico-MG team to their first defeat but AMG remain locked into an early and surprising 3rd place.

Looks like Sebastian "Loco" Abreu is on his way out of Botafogo after losing out his starting spot in the team to Argentinian German Herrera. Manager Oswaldo de Oliveira has ended up using Herrera almost exclusively since the start of the Serie A despite Abreu's 12 goals in the Campeanato Carioca state championships.


Cheers everyone !!

[RodgersThat]

A Historic night for Corinthians in Sao Paulo as the defending Serie A Champions & 5 time winners of the Serie A have managed to unseated the current Copa Lib holders 2-1 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw tonight. Neymar helped Santos take the lead with an opportune tap-in in the first half but Corinthians played their usual well disciplined, solid game and quickly found their way to a 2nd half equalizer through Danilo in the 48th minute. That goal has put Corinthians through to their FIRST Copa Lib Final in their 2nd ever Semifinal appearance.

This game also likely marks one of the last appearances of Ganso or Neymar in the Copa Libertadores. Just doesn't make sense for them to stick around in Brazil and eschew the riches of Europe any longer. As much as Barca exposed their defensive frailties in the World Club Cup last December, the Santos attack was well night unstoppable last year. As odd as this may sound given that Santos made it all the way to the semis this year, the team lacked the fire, passion and hunger they had last year. And as much as I deride Corinthians for their incredibly workmanlike performances, this philosophy is most definitely working for Tite and his squad so unless they pull off some transfer coup this summer, I don't expect much experimentation or change in their tactics.

If the 1-0 lead spotted to their rivals in the 1st leg proved insurmountable against a well organized defense tonight, with an even bigger 2-0 deficit to overcome from the first leg, things are looking bleak for the reigning Copa Sudamericana holders, Ude Chile tomorrow night. Boca and Corinthians definitely share tactical DNA and that will make for a potential goal drought in the Two-leg Finals so I am fervently hoping Sampaoli's men in Blue in their typical 3-4-3 can pull off the upset against Boca's 4-3-1-2 compact defense and powerful counter attacking capability. Not feeling all that good about it - I think UC will claw to a 2-1 win and lose 3-2 on aggregate.

[SMF-Fede]

Nice review mate, totally agree with ** words, Neymar really needs to make the next step to europe, or will make the Robinho's moonwalk but without leaving the country.
Corinthians was amazing last nite, great team display and bossed Santo's most talented players, thought team.

We'll have great finals this year, if Uchi beats Boca and get its first final, would be a clash of styles, 2 teams with a strong gameplay, the order and strong defense of Corithians against the fearless offensive gameplay of Uchi, if the Timao can control and break the offensive connections as Boca did in La Bombonera, the cup will stay on Brazil this year.

If Boca gets the golden ticket, will be a clash of men on the field, 2 big bosses facing each other, will be a heart and temper match, Timao has solid gameplay but Boca is the only team in América that can beat u only wearing the shirt, pride and temper first, when gameplay isn't effective, so would be an emotional matches.

Game just started, as always my heart goes with boquita, good start of the game.

[RodgersThat]

0-0 at Halftime means Boca is 45 minutes away from typing Penarol's record for most Copa Lib Finals appearances.

Its interesting that despite the 2-0 deficit from the 1st leg, Sampaoli has come out slightly defensive and decided to forego the 3-4-3 to go with a more traditional 4-3-3. Shows just how much of a concern Riquelme is in orchestrating the devastating counter-attack. Boca has taken several very good shots at the UC goal and UC's usually ebullient attack seems oddly stilted and disjointed. Full credit to Boca's excellent back 4, led by the venerable 39 year old Rolando Schiavi, which has looked quite comfortable in the face of the pace and quick passing of UC. Also, the fear of the swift Boca counter is keeping RB Matias Rodriguez, a very important offensive weapon for UC, back in his own half a lot more than UC would like.

Riquelme also had a rocket shot that rattled the crossbar so my guess that Boca has a goal in them today is looking like a good bet.

[RodgersThat]

I'm a bit uninspired after watching both Santos and UChi (Final score last night was 0-0) getting knocked out by two overly defensive teams this week. South American football has definitely taken some pointers from Chelsea's unlikely CL win.

For anyone interested in the Copa Libertadores Final - the first leg is next Tuesday evening and the return leg in Sao Paulo is on Tuesday, July 3rd.

These are two very similar teams who win games with compact and hard to break down defenses and solid midfield play. Neither team boasts a high scoring attacking unit but Boca, with Riquelme, Pablo Mouche, Santiago "El Tanque" Silva, has a better creative/power combination than Corinthians attacking combo of Jorge Enrique, Danilo and Emerson Sheik.

Dunno, this matchup is so ..... BLAH.

[SMF-Fede]

Nah mate, will be a great clash, the problem with Uchi is that they don't have a Plan B, Boca read their gameplay and made a great strategy on both matches, they sould scored early on first half but Mouche missed so many chances despite having a good game, the defense was solid as has been during all this season.
Corinthians looks more compact, but they're on the 1st final, so if they come to play on "let's see what happens" it will be over for them, Boca will play with big hunger so if Corinthians come playing with winning attitude, will be a great and emotional clash.

Btw, tomorrow starts the argentinian drama, 2nd division matches and 4 teams playing for promotion, i have beer and pizza on fridge waiting for the show

[SMF-Fede]

Back from hell

Manic saturday it's over and River Plate is the champion of the 2nd division, the players coached by Mathías Almeyda went throught the thougest year on River's history, a journey through hell on 2nd division, travelling for all the argentinian country visiting unknown places and facing teams that came to fight infront of the giant or closing all the routes with tight defenses, most of matches were a fight for them, a journey through purgatory to go back again to their home, the 1st division.

River Plate needed a victory to get the promotion, and with 4 teams separated by 1 point on their fight for the 2 direct promotion spots, it was a tense matchday, with Quilmes quickly putting pressure over the rest of the teams, with 2 early goals by the uruguayan player Cauteruccio (yep, former Nacional striker), claiming at that time the 1st spot available, victory was the only option available for River, Institito and Rosario if they wanted the direct promotion.

What came first, was the breakdown from the 2 direct rivals that River had all this season, Rosario taking an 0-2 lost against Desamparados (team that, despite their victory, today gets relagated) and Instituto also was losing 0-1 against Ferro (argentinian version of Stock City my guess).
Must be the day for River, with rival's falling and pressure lower, all the match they dominated but didnt were clear to creat chances, until the ref's though that it was time to give a hand to River, when Trezeguet scored the 1-0 on a clear offside play. Amazing shot, great goal, but was a big offside from Funes Mori on that play; and later, dont calling a clear penalty for Almirante Brown that should be the 1-1 in the match, River dont needed that help from ref's but argentinian ref's are the worst on southamerica in terms of honesty.
Minutes nearly the end of the game, Trezeguet scored again (13 goals in half-season) and the return to Primera became a reality, well reserved for a team that played all matches like a Primera division team and faced all the tension, pressure and shame that a big team can carry on their shoulders, and overcame that and go back to where belongs.

The other team to get the promotion is Quilmes, "el cervecero" made an impressive rush on last matches and was the team with best goal difference in the league, being relegated last year together with River, were the underdog all the tournament, but never lost trail of the first teams on the table, so, when those team started to losing points, Quilmes kept winning matches and with today's victory 2-0 over Guillermo Brown, get the 2nd spot for 1st division.
Something remarcable is that, his actual coach, De Felippe, turned from Villiain to Hero, cause he sent Quilmes to relegation when coaching Olimpo, in final matchday of last season.
This year he arrived in the middle of the season to Quilmes when they were 4th, and gave the smile back to Quilme's fans with the promotion to 1st division, remarcable season for this small team that made the comeback after one year, just like River.

Instituto (0-3) and Rosario (2-3) lost their matches just like previous week, and must face playoffs matches with the 17th and 18th of Promedio's table of 1st division.
They're 2 strong teams but faced huge defeats this weeks so if don't come clean and face that matches with clear head, would be too hard for them.

Positions:
Champion: River Plate - 73 pts. (promoted)
2nd: Quilmes - 72 pts. (promoted)
3rd: Instituto - 70 pts. (playoffs)
4th: Rosario - 69 pts. (playoffs)

I invite u for tomorrow's manic sunday, 7 matches when championship and relegation will be decided, or nasty combination of game results can give Tigre the championship but at same time sent to relegation's playoffs. Manic sunday, get ready.

[Maripacha]

i comeback after a week whitout internet for the studies

Nacional is the uruguayan champion, beat defensor in the final whit a "GOLAZO" of Alvaro Recoba, thanks idol
Here is a video of the match
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biF3ZGuBkiE

bonus track http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIiT4...&feature=share

In monday Marcelo Gallardo, stop being Nacional's coach, for personal issues, and yesterday, Gustavo Diaz, former Defensor's Coach, was designed new coach of nacional, young , whit a lot of future, and a fan of nacional, so in a week, we won over defensor in a final, and next day, we "stole" they coach, sorry defensor

[pete752]

SMF-Fede! I'm glad that River is back in first division..it's where they belong and the rivalry between Boca and River has been sadly missed this year. Just send Lucas Ocampos over our way now that River is back in division one

[RodgersThat]

SMF-Fede! I'm glad that River is back in first division..it's where they belong and the rivalry between Boca and River has been sadly missed this year. Just send Lucas Ocampos over our way now that River is back in division one

Pete .. firstly my condolences on France's demise in the QF. That was a strangely uninspired performance and I am still not sure why Blanc persisted with Malouda over Nasri and why he chose to move Debuchy up to RM/RW over the very effective Menez and suddenly introduce Reveillere to the lineup. All seemed a bit knee-jerk after the Sweden loss.

I watched Messi's XI vs World XI in Miami last night and guess who was playing in the front 3 with our very own Luis Suarez. Yes, it was Edinson Cavani and Colombia's brilliant winger/AM - James Rodriguez. And as much as Ocampos is a brilliant prospect - Rodriguez is light years ahead in composure on the ball, vision and just sheer audacity/swagger/style at this moment. Like instant mix, just add a Red LFC shirt to the man - ASAP !

Like Erik Lamela when he was shining at River, I think Ocampos needs at least a season in the tougher Primera to round out his game. One thing I keep wondering about is - anyone know why Liverpool couldn't buy his rights when he turns 18 (July 11th) and then loan him to a Spanish club for a season in La Liga ?

[SMF-Fede]

From Arroyito arrived the new champion.

Manic weekend it's over, 7 matches played at same time and championship and relegation was decided today.
Arsenal de Sarandí is the new champion of argentinian 1st division, after beating Belgrano by 1-0 with goal of Lisandro López on 27th minute, was a though match with Arsenal taking care of the advantage once scored, against a weaker rival, but all merits were made on last matches, winning 4 and tie 1, with a 3-0 victory over Boca in La Bombonera included.
A team with good and direct gameplay, were the underdogs of the tournament and knew how to be solid and take advantage of the points left by Boca while playing Copa Libertadores, and the fight for Tigre for avoid relegation.
The team was funded 55 years ago by Grondona (actual vicepresident of Fifa and president of AFA) and is the youngest team playing on 1st division in Argentina. Was promoted since 10 years ago to first division, and since then is playing in the top division of Argentina, winning also the Copa Sudamericana on 2007.

Tigre was at halftime winning 1-0 over Independiente, forcing a final match against Arsenal, but also having to play an extra match to avoid relegation's playoffs, with Rafaela and San Martín winning their matches. But on 2nd half Independiente made a fast comeback and put 'em 1-2 and into playoffs places, making an intense match until the last minutes.
Tigre charged once and again until last minute over Independiente's area, scoring by penalty on 80th minute, a 2-2 that secured them to stay on first division, but they kept charging over and over looking for the victory, that would gave the chance to play finals for the championship.
So, they avoided relegation and playoffs (started 17pts behind San Lorenzo and 28 behind Banfield) and fought for the title until last minute, an amazing season from Tigre.

Boca Juniors lost 3-1 against All Boys, playing with an alternative team cause they're saving the best players for the Copa Libertdores final matches against Corinthians.
They won the Torneo Apertura and are ready for continental finals, so no drama for losing this tournament.

The Relegation drama.
San Lorenzo started the day in relegation place, and depending on other results for avoid direct relegation, so the task was to win over San Martín (playing for avoid playoffs) and expect for Banfield or Rafaela lost. They were 0-1 down but tied the game soon after that, after a foul against rival gk didn't called (yep, again argentinian Ref's taking place for big teams). Victory was secured on 2nd half with 2 more goals, making a 3-1 victory and avoiding relegation, cause Banfield lost badly again by 0-3 (making only 11pts on 19 matches) and "el ciclón" will have one more chance to avoid relegation on playoffs.

So, playoffs will be played on thursday and sunday:
Instituto vs San Lorenzo
Rosario vs San Martín

There's an "deportive advantage" rule, if the series ended tied (for example, Instituto wins 1-0 first match, and lost 0-1 the 2nd match), the team from 1st division will stay in 1st division, so Instituto and Rosario are forced to beat the 1st division teams in the 2 matches serie.

Final Results:
Champion: Arsenal 38pts.
2nd: Tigre 36pts.
3rd: Velez 33pts.
4th: Boca 33pts.
5th: All Boys 33pts.

Playoffs:
San Martín: 1,2632
San Lorenzo: 1,2544

Relegated:
Banfield: 1,2456
Olimpo: 1,0132

[pete752]

Pete .. firstly my condolences on France's demise in the QF. That was a strangely uninspired performance and I am still not sure why Blanc persisted with Malouda over Nasri and why he chose to move Debuchy up to RM/RW over the very effective Menez and suddenly introduce Reveillere to the lineup. All seemed a bit knee-jerk after the Sweden loss.

I watched Messi's XI vs World XI in Miami last night and guess who was playing in the front 3 with our very own Luis Suarez. Yes, it was Edinson Cavani and Colombia's brilliant winger/AM - James Rodriguez. And as much as Ocampos is a brilliant prospect - Rodriguez is light years ahead in composure on the ball, vision and just sheer audacity/swagger/style at this moment. Like instant mix, just add a Red LFC shirt to the man - ASAP !

Like Erik Lamela when he was shining at River, I think Ocampos needs at least a season in the tougher Primera to round out his game. One thing I keep wondering about is - anyone know why Liverpool couldn't buy his rights when he turns 18 (July 11th) and then loan him to a Spanish club for a season in La Liga ?

RT! The French public are just disgusted with the way Blanc approached the game..one could see that they were beaten in their minds even before they stepped on the pitch..New era, same old story

I'd absolutely **** if we got our hands on Rodriguez..one of my team mates at work is Portuguese and he's a massive Porto fan..massive! He reckons if we paid around20-25m, we can land our man..will FSG be willing to loosen the purse strings? That's the big question.