Barra bravas are the subject of the week in Argentina. The intrigue surrounding the murder of Gonzalo Acro has taken another twist, after a video recorded by one of the suspects, previously still on the run, and released by Olé on their website on Wednesday, arrived in court (though the paper themselves don't expect it to [. Click to continue reading...

This week, I've written for ESPN Soccernet on the murder of Daniel López in Colón's stadium during their match against Banfield on Saturday, along with the death, early on Sunday morning, of Rodrigo Silva, the Huracán barra who was shot three-and-a-half weeks ago by members of San Lorenzo's firm. There's also a look at the [. Click to continue reading...

That's how San Lorenzo's fans are seeing things after their team dropped yet more points on Saturday night. Lanús decided to have one of their good days and completely overran the joint leaders in the Nuevo Gasómetro. Boca can overtake San Lorenzo by winning on Sunday, whilst if Tigre win they'll be all on their [. Click to continue reading...

Over at Deadspin, there is a post about some Fire fans in attendance at Chicago's second leg, 3-0 (3-0 on aggregate) drubbing of New England. Funny pictures.

In the comments, DC United supporters got a shout-out, so I thought I'd let you know about it.

Those guys in Section 8 are crazy.

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Huracán won the match against Estudiantes which marked the 100th anniversary of their founding on Saturday, but the big day was tragically overshadowed when three of their fans were shot - probably by members of the barra brava of their local rivals San Lorenzo - as their coach returned to Parque Patricios after the match [. Click to continue reading...

As the city near which the Argentine flag was raised for the first time, and the birthplace of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, Rosario is perhaps one of Latin America's most revolutionary cities, and on Wednesday that tradition continued with a very small march in Buenos Aires. Che was a Central fan, but this week it's supporters [. Click to continue reading...

The sporting security authorities suffered a blow on Tuesday, when it was announced that Javier Castrilli, 'El Sheriff', Subsecretary of Sporting Events Security, had resigned from his post. Disagreements with Aníbal Fernández, the Minister of Justice and Security, led Castrilli to feel that, 'the most healthy and least traumatic option [for me] was to resign. Click to continue reading...

Following San Martín de Tucumán's winning start to their first season back in Primera A last night, it was the turn of Godoy Cruz to cause a shock, and not only did they win, they did so away from home against one of the more impressive teams of the last few years. Two goals from [...] Click to continue reading...

Want to see United play against the Red Bulls in New York (NJ)? The Screaming Eagles and Barra Brava are both planning road trips to support D.C. in their upcoming match at Giants Stadium on Sunday, August 10. Space is limited so contact them NOW and go cheer on the Black-and-Red!

Screaming EaglesItinerary: 9:30 a. Click to continue reading...

Imagine waiting at a stadium through a three hour delay to see the half hour of a soccer game.  Would you do it?  It wouldn't be for me, but that was the reality last night at RFK stadium.  Even the most faithful fans such as the Barra Brava and the Screaming Eagles deserted after a while. [...] Click to continue reading...

The Columbus Crew released a statement, curiously not on their site, disputing the reports of a large brawl in the stands at their friendly against West Ham United. The problem, the Crew say, is that three West Ham supporters went into the Crew supporters section and caused trouble until security intervened.

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That's the message being sent to fans of Primera A clubs by the AFA. From the start of this year's Apertura, new regulations will be introduced to increase safety in the top flight stadia of Capital Federal. As part of a long-delayed initiative, clubs including River Plate, Boca Juniors, Vélez Sársfield and San Lorenzo will have to have 90% of their [. Click to continue reading...

Via Dan Steinberg via D.C. Sports Bog via Comcast SportsNet via Blog Show, here is the video put together by Mr. Steinberg at the LA Galaxy game on June 29 - it's all about the Barra Brava's honoring of Ben Olsen. Awesome.

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If you didn't catch the opening minutes of The Nooner on ABC yesterday you missed one of the most phenomenal player tributes by the fans that I've ever seen in American sports. I'm no Ben Olsen fan (Captain Caveman has always been a thorn in the Metro side) but I do respect the amount of reverence that the DC United faithful have for him. Click to continue reading...

A few things to add to the game report from the 4-1 decision in RFK:

- Ben Olsen was moved by the outpouring of support from United fans, saying in the locker room he was getting choked up thinking about it. The Barra Brava had a giant tribute with the banner "HEART OF A LION.

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Well, that was an uncomfortable temperature for a truly entertaining game. But, that's what you get when ABC wants the game at 12. I just hope the ratings were worth having the game played on the surface of the sun. Where to begin? Oh, I know. Greater than the win, or the [...] Click to continue reading...

Sorry to be so delinquent on my duty of providing you with news you can get elsewhere with less journalistic integrity, no access and sass. I will repeat the phrase used everywhere else, and numerous times throughout Sports Cliche history. Sometimes you win ugly, but you still win. That's really the most apt [. Click to continue reading...

A quick mention here of the latest developments in the trial over the murder of Gonzalo Acro last August. On Wednesday, Pablo 'Cucaracha' Girón was caught by police after 219 days on the run. Luis Rodríguez, the judge presiding over the case, considers Girón to be one of the five men directly responsible for Acro's [. Click to continue reading...

The brave new world of Argentine stadium security is up for debate, and the lunatics have made the opening gambit in the race to run the asylum. The ringleaders of barra bravas from twenty-seven clubs right across the country and up and down the divisions met at Platense's conference venue. Their plan - and this [. Click to continue reading...

Mauro Martín, the current capo of Boca Juniors' barra brava, La Doce, was sentenced on Tuesday to twenty days in jail for his part in a fight between his own barra and that of Vélez Sársfield during Boca's 3-2 away win over the Liniers side on the 23rd April 2006. Martín's full sentence includes twenty days in [. Click to continue reading...

The police in Catamarca Province are reported to be on the lookout for Matías 'Kevin' Kraft, one of the members of Los Borrachos del Tablón wanted for the murder of Gonzalo Acro in August last year. Kraft is believed to be in the province, in Argentina's Andean north-west on the Chilean border, and the authorities [. Click to continue reading...

The fine folk at Pitch Invasion have once again been kind enough to publish a piece by me - this week I wrote for them about the ongoing civil war in the ranks of Los Borrachos del Tablón, and tried to explain a little bit of what it's all about. 'It seems to be asking too [...] Click to continue reading...

Surprise, surprise: River Plate's directors had nothing to do with Sunday's running battle between factions of the club's main barra brava, and did all they could do maintain security in the stadium. It must be true, because they say it themselves. They're not the only ones under the finger of suspicion, though; there were seven injuries [. Click to continue reading...

River Plate were using Vélez Sársfield's stadium as a home base on Sunday afternoon to host Arsenal de Sarandí, but the match was almost called off after yet more trouble in Argentina's footballing gangland. The civil war diving Los Borrachos del Tablón continues even with the Schlenker brothers in jail, and today the conflict was [. Click to continue reading...

A senior member of Boca Juniors' barra brava, La Doce, was arrested prior to Sunday's match at La Bombonera against Colón, after his name was given to the police in a list of fans to be denied entry to the game. On Monday, meanwhile, the seventh round of matches took two new managerial casualties as [. Click to continue reading...

Well, that was a barn burner! It didn't start out that way with weak wing play in the first half, bad touches by key players, and indecision in the final third. But the second half was a different story. I will leave the recaps to the professionals, but I will give you my observations [...] Click to continue reading...

Well, that was a barn burner! It didn't start out that way with weak wing play in the first half, bad touches by key players, and indecision in the final third. But the second half was a different story.

I will leave the recaps to the professionals, but I ...

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My latest piece for Pitch Invasion looks back on the black weekend Argentine football has just experienced, and explains some of the issues behind the security operations, and what might be considered by the Argentine media in the coming weeks. There's also a really rather good photo (if I say so myself). Click to continue reading...

The day after Vélez Sársfield fan Emanuel Alvarez was shot dead on his way to see his team play a game of football against San Lorenzo, there was another clash in the streets of Buenos Aires between gangs of people who claim to be fans of one of the clubs in the city. This time [...] Click to continue reading...

Sadly familiar scenes in Retiro. Two hours before Wednesday night's Copa Libertadores match between River Plate and Club América, the internal squabble enveloping River's barra brava, Los Borrachos del Tablón, blew up yet again at the train station in the northern barrio, and a man was hospitalised. Click to continue reading...

The civil war in the barra brava at River Plate continues. On Saturday prior to the first match of the Clausura, there were fights in the vicinity of the stadium before the match. On Thursday, it was announced that the capos would be remaining in prison for a little while yet... Alan and William Schlenker, along [. Click to continue reading...

Now personally, I've never paid too much attention to the idea of new year's resolutions (the last editorial aside, that is). Making promises to yourself which you admit from the start won't be kept seems rather to be shooting oneself in the foot. Besides which resolutions are always so dull – why doesn't anyone resolve [. Click to continue reading...

One of the top goalscorers of the Apertura, Leandro Lázzaro, changed clubs on Wednesday, moving from a town just to the north of Buenos Aires to a city to the south of the capital. His transfer from Tigre to Estudiantes will set the La Plata club back US$300,000. Elsewhere, the saga of River's barra brava [. Click to continue reading...

Several of River Plate's most notorious barra bravas have spent Christmas this year in jail, and now they're to be joined for the new year by their boss, Alan Schlenker, after a senior judge ordered the capo of Los Borrachos del Tablón to do time in a preventative institute for his suspected 'intellectual' part in [. Click to continue reading...

José Gastón Mendoza, a member of Colón's barra brava, has been sentenced to six years imprisonment for attempting, in February 2006, to murder a fellow fan during a match against River Plate. The Santa Fe courts handed down the sentence on Friday, and hope it will act as a warning to other barras in both [. Click to continue reading...