That's not much of a news story, I know, but Carlos Ischia has now dotted the 'i's and crossed the
't's on the paperwork that sees his reign as Boca Juniors manager come to an end. He'll say goodbye
to the players on Wednesday. Boca's weekend conquerors, meanwhile, got some nice presents on
Tuesday from [.
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Sunday's matches saw Racing edge a little further clear of Rosario Central in the promedio thanks
to a draw against title-chasing Colón, a few hours after River Plate and Independiente had served
up a veritable feast of complete and total bloody incompetence with a second half that saw three
three!
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 Thursday night was supposed to see Boca Juniors' first team back out on the Bombonera pitch and
coasting to the inevitable home win which would take them through to an all-Argentine quarter-final
with Estudiantes in the 2009 Copa Libertadores. Someone, though, forgot to tell Defensor Sporting.
The Uruguayan club won by the bare minimum after [.
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The goals from Thursday night's 2-2 draw in Montevideo between Defensor Sporting of Uruguay and
Boca Juniors, in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores last 16, are online now you can watch them
right here. Just read on... Copa Libertadores 2009 last 16, 14th May: Defensor Sporting (URU) 2 2
Boca Juniors Posted in [.
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A poor Copa Libertadores for Argentine clubs didn't get an awful lot better on Thursday night. Boca
Juniors claimed two away goals and were ahead for most of the second half thanks to their Palacio &
Palermo strikeforce. Missing Juan Román Riquelme through injury though, they failed to finish
their hosts off in the second [.
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In a one-sided match, Boca Juniors easily confirmed their participation in the knockout round of
the 2009 Copa Libertadores with a comfortable win over their Ecuadorian opponents. Rodrigo Palacio
scored the third goal but it was his strike partner (by that point withdrawn to a standing ovation)
who got the headlines: MartÃn Palermo scored his [.
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River Plate crashed out of the 2009 Copa Libertadores last night after a 4-2 defeat in Asunción to
Nacional de Paraguay, thus allowing Boca Juniors fans to laugh off most of the frustration at
seeing their own team's progress delayed for another match after their own defeat, 1-0 away to
Deportivo Cuenca.
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Boca Juniors needed a draw to confirm their qualification for the knockout round of the 2009 Copa
Libertadores, whilst simultaneously dumping tonight's hosts out of the tournament, and for most of
the match it was a result they looked like getting. With thirteen minutes left, though, Edison
Preciado Bravo stabbed the ball past R0berto Abbondanzieri to [.
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There weren't too many high points in Sunday's super, truth be told, but what the match did have
was two fine goals from two veterans of the Argentine football scene. You can see MartÃn Palermo's
smart turn and thirty-yard rocket, and Marcelo Gallardo's twenty-five yard free kick (he changed
his mind about which side of [.
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Each team will make one major change to the starting XIs posted here on HEGS a few hours ago.
Injury keeps Juan Román Riquelme out of the Boca Juniors lineup; his place will be taken by
Osvaldo Gaitán. Radamel Falcao GarcÃa, meanwhile, has been passed fit by River's medics, so Diego
Buonanotte makes way and [.
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Sunday, 19th April sees what might be an historic clash in La Bombonera between Boca Juniors and
River Plate. If Julio Grondona gets his (and the only rule that's ever followed in Argentine
football is that what Don Julio wants, Don Julio gets) this will be the last superclásico of the
'short tournament' era.
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After the frustration of River's 0-0 draw on Tuesday, and the disappointment of San Lorenzo's
elimination, the week got rather better for Argentina's Copa Libertadores representatives. Both
Estudiantes and Boca Juniors enjoyed impressive home wins, over Cruzeiro and Guaranà respectively.
Estudiantes' was especially sweet - having been battered a few weeks ago 4-0 in Belo [.
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Copa Libertadores favourites Boca Juniors looked like they were heading for a draw with Deportivo
Táchira in an away encounter in Venezuela which was proving a little trickier than they'd
expected. Three minutes from the end, though, Luciano Figueroa gave them the three points with a
headed goal which you can see right here.
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At long last, after a summer of transfer bore-stories and ridiculous friendly matches which are
only 70 or 80 minutes long, real league football returns to the Argentine Republic on Friday night.
Following the most closely-fought championship in short tournament history, the defending champions
are a familiar name, but that's no reason to assume it'll [.
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It's been a busy few days for Sergio Batista's Under 20 team in Venezeula whilst I've been away.
Two more group matches have yielded four points in spite of underwhelming performances - you can
see highlights of both games here. In Mar del Plata on Saturday, Boca Juniors beat River Plate in
the year's first [.
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The latest Torneo de Verano match was up in Argentina's Andean northwest, and the Salta crowd saw a
Boca reserve side take on an Independiente team still struggling to regain the cohesion of the 4-0
win over Racing in the summer's first match. Boca won 2-0. Carlos Ischia was keeping back Boca's
first string for the [.
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Argentine champions Boca Juniors sent out a mostly reserve side for their first match of 2009, but
were still by far the better team against San Lorenzo in Mar del Plata. All the same they couldn't
find a way past the Cuervo backline. Earlier on Saturday, in Sao Paulo, Estudiantes got battered
5-1 by Corinthians.
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Boca Juniors, the newly-crowned champions of Argentina, have been doing bit of re-jigging, but the
key man will be very familiar to them. Monday brought confirmation that title-winning coach Carlos
Ischia will be staying for another year, after signing an extension to his contract. The
long-awaited comeback of another manager who's had a teensy bit [.
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In the end it was the most nail-biting of finishes, as Tigre tried and tried to break down Boca's
resistance, but the most incredible of titles wasn't to be. Boca lost the match, 1-0, to a Leandro
Lázzaro header midway through the second half - but with all three sides tied on three points
in [...]
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By the end of today, Argentina will have a new champion. San Lorenzo are out of the running due to
the goal difference mathematics, so it's a straight race between Boca Juniors and Tigre. Boca have
won twenty-eight titles (amateur and professional), whilst Tigre have finished second, once - and
that was a year ago.
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The AFA's incompetence in organising a playoff system that might have either rendered the final
match meaningless, or ensured that one team would go into it without any motivation to win,
has been papered over by Boca Juniors, who on Saturday evening beat San Lorenzo de Almagro 3-1 in
Racing's stadium.
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So it comes to this. The 2008 Torneo Apertura title will be decided by virtue of a three-way
'mini-league' (new Spanish word alert: that's 'liguilla')between San Lorenzo, Boca Juniors and
Tigre, who've all finished the normal season on 39 points. The fixtures were drawn up on Sunday
night at the AFA headquarters.
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Boca Juniors, San Lorenzo and - who'd have thunk it? - Tigre will have to play a three-team playoff
to decide the 2008 Primera A Torneo Apertura title, after all three won their last matches of the
campaign on Sunday to finish on 39 points. Lanús, who beat San Martín de Tucumán,
are out of [...]
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There was a popular belief surrounding South American football until last year. It said that
Brazilian club sides taking part in the Copas weren't afraid of anyone at all, until they came up
against Boca Juniors. When they met the boys from the Riachuelo, though, they'd lie down for fear
of angering their foes and [.
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Following River's loss at home to Chivas in the Copa Sudamericana on Wednesday night, Boca and
Argentinos played just a little too late for coverage to appear right away on HEGS. Mixed fortunes
for Argentina's representatives against Brazilian opposition: Boca were well beaten by 2005 Copa
Libertadores winners Internacional in Porto Alegre, Alex striking twice, [.
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Lucas Viatri had hardly had a sniff of anything in the superclásico, but popped up in the 60th
minute to decide the match all the same in a manner the great Martín Palermo, looking on,
would have been proud of. The goal came after Boca had been reduced to ten men through the
sending-off of [...]
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The players are taking to the pitch in the Monumental for the biggest match of the weekend, and if
you're not fortunate enough to be able to watch, you can follow it right here on HEGS, where I'll
be attempting to update this post every few minutes with the latest goings-on in the match. Just
[...]
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The 2008 Torneo Apertura superclásico kicks off in a little under six hours, but already
the starting lineups are known, bar any last-minute calls of bluff or injuries in the warmup.
Luciano Figueroa's transfer has officially gone through in time for the former River striker to
start on the bench for Boca, wearing the number 18 [.
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Argentina play Uruguay in the Monumental on Saturday and whilst things are rarely friendly between
two of the oldest rivals in international football, the sniping has come from an unexpected angle
on Tuesday: Julio César Cáceres. That's Julio César Cáceres of Paraguay.
Obviously seeking to crank up the pressure on a team currently trailing in [.
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Boca and Argentinos both qualified for the quarter-finals of the 2008 Copa Sudamericana on
Wednesday night. Boca drew 1-1 away in Quito to claim a 5-1 aggregate win over LDU, and a little
later Argentinos turned over San Luís in La Paternal to go through 3-2 on aggregate thanks to
a double from Gabriel Hauche.
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Two bits of news for Tuesday: Boca Juniors' quest to find a replacement for Martín Palermo
during his long-term injury layoff has come to an end with the signing on loan (with a US$1.5
million fee should Boca wish to make the signing permanent) of former Central and River Plate
striker Luciano Figueroa from Genoa.
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It was League Cup day in England and Scotland, but halfway across the world, Boca Juniors also
fielded a side largely made up of youngsters in a second-rate knockout competition. In this case it
was the Copa Sudamericana, and the opposition were the champions of South America - recent Copa
Libertadores winners Liga de Quito.
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River Plate and Boca Juniors. Undisputably, the two biggest clubs in Argentine football. River, the
defending champions in the league. Boca, six times champions of South America, most recently just
last year. On Sunday, both were playing much smaller teams. River hadn't ever lost away to new
promoted San Martín, and returned to Tucumán 15 [.
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Martín Palermo's out for a while, but Boca Juniors provided themselves with a morale boost in
the wake of a traumatic few days following their hero's injury. After Palermo's
record-equalling goal set them on their way to a first-leg victory in Sarandí, it was
back to La Bombonera for the second leg of the Recopa Sudamericana, [.
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HEGS is back, but it feels, I must say, a bit like I hadn't really been away. When I left for
Havana, Sergio Batista had named Lionel Messi in the squad for the Olympic Football Tournament, and
Barcelona president Joan Laporta was making some decidedly 'we'll have to see about that'-type
noises. The novel seems [.
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