One or two of the comments on my most recent Soccernet article suggest that Argentina's barra
bravas are no more than choreographed fans who are more passionate about the game than typical
English fans who turn up to the game and eat prawn sandwiches without looking at the pitch (that's
a typical English fan, apparently).
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At the start of every torneo corto, I know I'm going to get at least two or three emails from
prospective holiday-makers in Buenos Aires asking 'when's the superclásico happening?' and so it
is that this weekend, the most eagerly-awaited fixture in the Argentine domestic calendar will
dominate the proceedings.
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Tuesday night's second match concerning an Argentine side in the Copa Libertadores ended too late
for me to get the goal video online, so here you can find highlights of Vélez Sársfield's 1-1
draw away to Chile's Colo-Colo. Vélez got a point thanks to a late equaliser in spite of a
dubiously disallowed effort from [.
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River Plate and Boca Juniors had contrasting warm-ups at the weekend to next week's superclásico.
River not only won a match but kept a clean sheet against Huracán, and shortly afterwards Carlos
'Chino' Luna gave Boca the runaround, finishing with a hat trick as Tigre beat their illustrious
visitors 3-0.
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Saturday's matches in the ninth round of the 2010 Torneo Clausura saw Independiente return to the
top of the table after Godoy Cruz took the overnight lead, Estudiantes beat Newell's thanks to
goals from Roselli and Boselli (the first of whom was playing for the visitors but scored in his
own net), and then two [.
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This weekend begins with leaders Vélez hosting struggling Lanús, and ends on Sunday evening when
Argentinos Juniors visit El Cilindro take on Racing. Boca play Tigre hard to believe that under 18
months ago this was a title-decider and Estudiantes, fresh back from their latest Copa Libertadores
exploits in Bolivia, are at home [.
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Monday's matches saw home wins for San Lorenzo and Arsenal, and a 1-1 draw between Gimnasia La
Plata and Rosario Central. At the end of the eighth round, Independiente are two points clear of
Godoy Cruz at the top of the table, with Banfield a further point back and a host of others one
more [...]
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As I type Atlético Tucumán vs Banfield is goalless during the second half, and I won't be staying
up late enough to wait for the goal videos to go online. Earlier on Sunday, though, there've been a
few already, in steadily decreasing numbers. The day's first match, between Huracán and Tigre, saw
five with [.
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The 2010 Torneo Clausura gathers apace. Round 7 finished on Thursday, and round 8 begins today with
a clásico as Racing visit Boca in La Bombonera. Nearly halfway through the championship, the
mendocinos of Godoy Cruz still lead the table (!), and they visit Newell's Old Boys, who with a win
and the right results [.
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Apologies that these didn't go up sooner. The national side's match and my not getting home until
very late indeed a couple of nights running put paid to being able to maintain HEGS as well as I
would've liked for a few days. Now, at least, the goals from the remaining eight midweek league
matches [.
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In Thursday evening's clásico, River Plate beat San Lorenzo to record their first win since the
second round, thanks to a finish from teenager Facundo Affranchino with quarter of an hour
remaining. Banfield beat Colón 3-1 with Rubén Ramírez hitting two fine goals, Gimnasia won away
to Chacarita Juniors and Atlético Tucumán vs Newell's finished [.
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The late night caused by typing up Tuesday's Argentines Abroad post got the better of me, and I
totally forgot to put up details of the seventh round of the Torneo Clausura, which is being played
in midweek. Tuesday's matches were generally high-scoring, with Racing's agonising 1-1 draw against
Huracán (who, as I type, have [.
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The goals from Sunday's matches in the sixth round of the 2010 Torneo Clausura are now online,
completing the weekend's action for us. San Lorenzo finally scored at the death against Tigre,
River Plate got a late equaliser after heavy pressure on the Gimnasia defence, Godoy Cruz claimed
an away win over Argentinos [.
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The clásico fell Independiente's way in spite of a better than usual performance from Racing; some
people's luck never changes. The semi-clásico between Huracán and Vélez went the way of El Globo
this time, to put a spanner in the impressive start to the year the visitors have made. Diego
Simeone upset a few people [.
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The biggest match of the weekend takes place on Saturday, when Racing travel the couple of hundred
yards to the new Estadio Libertadores de América to take on Independiente in the clásico de
Avellaneda. Boca Juniors, bizarrely, are in action on Friday night, against Estudiantes. Joint
leaders Vélez and Colón are away to Huracán and [.
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There were plenty of draws in the fifth round of the 2010 Torneo Clausura, with only Friday
offering goals in any real measure, but here you can see the heroes and villains from all the
fixtures, including a not-so-happy 18th anniversary for Matías Almeyda who was (he thought
harshly) sent off on the day his [.
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Saturday's three matches were all played out in binary, with only San Lorenzo bucking an already
dull trend by failing to score altogether. That failure gave Racing, in Miguel Angel Russo's first
match in charge, a 1-0 win in El Cilindro which didn't entirely satisfy the new boss; 'We still
need to generate more play,' [.
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This weekend sees Racing take on San Lorenzo in the year's first competitive clásico between
members of the cinco grandes. Also coming up in the next few days, champions Banfield host Rosario
Central, Gimnasia visit Tigre and on Monday night an Estudiantes side smarting from last night's
thrashing in the Copa Libertadores will be looking [.
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Monday night's match between Argentinos Juniors and Newell's Old Boys in La Paternal was called off
28 minutes into the second half due to truly torrential rain making the pitch completely unplayable
(not to mention rendering the TV cameras near blind). It's another postponed game for Argentinos,
who already have to play 82 minutes of [.
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I'm a little late linking to this, but better late than never, as they say. I've been busy this
week writing a preview of the 2010 Copa Libertadores, and you can read it right now, simply by
clicking this link, which will take you to ESPN's Soccernet. It examines the big names in Brazil,
the [...]
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It's all go in Argentina, with not so much as a day's break from football since last Friday, and
now the domestic league recommences after the midweek Copa Libertadores action. This weekend,
Banfield host Lanús in the clásico del Sur, Racing visit Gimnasia in a critical relegation clash,
and San Lorenzo vs Vélez is the [.
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Wednesday night was a football-packed one, but I spent a fair bit of it finishing off a Copa
Libertadores preview piece for Soccernet so didn't have time to get the goal videos up right after
the games. Argentina's home-based squad played Jamaica in a friendly in Mar del Plata, and after
falling a goal behind [.
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Having stayed up too late tonight waiting to be able to type this post up, the four teams in action
on Monday were most inconsiderate to England-based Argentine football bloggers by not bothering to
score a single bloody one between them. Godoy Cruz join Vélez at the top of the infant Clausura
table on seven [.
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Both Boca Juniors and Newell's Old Boys hit the same form on Saturday night that they enjoyed (or
endured) during the Torneo Apertura, on a high-scoring day in the Argentine top flight. Boca
managed two consolations but ended up slumping to a 4-2 defeat in Rosario thanks to defending as
bad as anything they managed [.
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The third round of the 2010 Torneo Clausura begins a day later than usual this weekend, due to the
midweek matches for the second round. It will run from Saturday afternoon until Monday night, and
at the end of it a league table will hopefully be up on HEGS for the first time in far [...]
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The second round of matches for the Torneo Clausura finished on Thursday night with Independiente
claiming a 3-1 win at home to Atlético Tucumán. Earlier in the day, San Lorenzo lost to Godoy
Cruz, who got the only goal of the game in Boedo, and River Plate combined goalscoring verve with
familiar late defensive lapses [.
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The second round of the Torneo Clausura is upon us already, played in midweek so as to get ahead on
things with the Copa Libertadores coming up and the need to finish the championship in time for the
break prior to the World Cup. Estudiantes take on Gimnasia in the clásico platense on Wednesday,
Racing [.
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Click here to view photo full size on Flickr For some reason, goal videos from a couple of this
weekend's matches haven't been uploaded to TV Pública's YouTube channel, but what we do have once
again is a single video with all the weekend's goals. You can watch all 22 of them right here,
[...]
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The goal videos from both Saturday's and Sunday's matches will be online on Monday evening
Saturday's haven't been posted here yet because I've had a rather dislocated weekend. The weekend's
games saw the champions start where they left off or rather not, since Banfield's title was won in
spite of a loss in [.
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The first round of matches in the 2010 Torneo Clausura is upon us tonight, at last. A full preview
of the tournament will follow over or shortly after the weekend I've been tied up during the week
writing about Salvador Cabañas's shooting in Mexico (HEGS naturally wishes him well). The closest
thing to a [.
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On Tuesday night a home-based Argentina squad took on Costa Rica's national team in a friendly
which saw Diego Maradona's return to footballing involvement following his two month touchline ban
(who noticed?). The match was won 3-2 by Argentina, with goals from José Sosa, Guillermo Burdisso
and Franco Jara for the hosts.
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The fixtures for the 2010 Torneo Clausura have been available on the AFA's website for a couple of
weeks, but now the Apertura is well over and there's precious little else going on, it seems an
appropriate time to post them up in English here. All the dates given correspond to the Sunday of
each [..
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The Torneo Apertura started in chaos, with no-one sure which TV channels games would be screened on
and many finding it so difficult to find just one title contender that Boca Juniors, of all teams,
were held up by some commentators as the most likely candidates (I'd never make a silly mistake
like that of [.
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I really needed an early night on Monday, which is why the full scores from the final round of a
wonderful Torneo Apertura didn't go up as usual right after the last match. Monday's two games saw
only one goal Atlético Tucumán beat Gimnasia but you can watch it here all the same. [...]
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Sunday's matches were orderly in scoreline if nothing else: there were four 2-0 scorelines, all but
one of those going to the away side (Boca, who beat Banfield 2-0, were the only home victors but
their victims didn't care because they took the title anyway). Vélez Sársfield vs Rosario Central
was the sole exception [.
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In the Estadio Florencia Sola they're celebrating along with those in the upper tier of La
Bombonera. Banfield may have lost to Boca Juniors, but for the first time in their 113 year
history, they're champions of Argentina thanks to San Lorenzo's 2 0 win away to Newell's Old Boys
which ended the lingering [.
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The final round of the 2009 Torneo Apertura will see the title decided along with the final Copa
Libertadores qualification place. Banfield visit Boca Juniors at the same time as Newell's host San
Lorenzo, with Banfield two points ahead of the rosarinos at present. If they finish level on
points, a playoff will decide the [.
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The title race is going to the wire (both Banfield and Newell's will kick off at 17:00 local time
on Sunday), as is the final Copa Libertadores spot. Midweek rounds in the Argentine domestic league
always seem to be low scoring (maybe it's just my imagination, but...), and the highest scoring
match this week was [.
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The four goals from Wednesday night's matches in the 2009 Torneo Apertura are online now. You can
watch them right here the video is only a click away. San Lorenzo (navy & red stripes) vs Lanús
(maroon) Gimnasia LP (white & navy) vs Newell's (red & black halves) Banfield (green & white
stripes) vs Tigre (blue & [.
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Don't worry, Argentines Abroad (or a curtailed version of it) will be online at some point later in
the week, but the pressing issue for now is that the penultimate round of the Torneo Apertura takes
place in midweek. Banfield play after Newell's and Pablo Lunati, who refereed and gave some dodgy
decisions against [.
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