With Messers Tevez and Riquelme suspended, and Sergio Agüero injured, Barcelona's Lionel Messi will be the only one of Argentina's 'fantastic four' (the phrase is Olé's and not, I would like to impress upon you, my own) who will feature against Chile in Santiago on Wednesday night. Agüero, who only picked up a minor knock [. Click to continue reading...

Newell's Old Boys got a HEGS headline last week thanks in part to their chairman, Eduardo López. It obviously affected the air in Rosario, because on Monday a video was made public of the city's other top-flight football president, Horacio Usandizaga of Rosario Central, engaging in some extraordinary tirades against his very own players, including [. Click to continue reading...

It may surprise those who've come to the world of Argentine football only in the last couple of years, but Racing Club do actually have a proud tradition within in the country's footballing history. Known as La Academia, or 'The Academy', the Avellaneda club has a reputation for producing good young players, and on Thursday a deal [. 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...

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 [. Click to continue reading...

Independiente have acted quickly in naming the successor to Claudio Borghi after the manager left the club in the aftermath of the 1-0 defeat to Huracán on Saturday. Santoro was stand-in prior to Borghi's arrival but now takes the reins on a permanent basis for his fifth spell in charge of his beloved club (only [. Click to continue reading...

The goals from round nine of the 2008 Torneo Apertura are online now and you can watch all 27 of them right here on the TN sportblog. Read on for the running order of this video. Running order for TN Show de Goles: Boca (navy & gold shirts) vs. Estudiantes (red & white stripes) Vélez (white, navy 'V') [. Click to continue reading...

The champions stumbled again, Arsenal won their second match in a row whilst Racing and Lanús both hit four and claimed three points. Boca, having gone nearly a year and a half without a home defeat until recently, have now lost twice in two weeks in La Bombonera, after Estudiantes did their lingering title hopes [. Click to continue reading...

Independiente find themselves managerless on Sunday evening after losing by a single goal to Huracán in Argentinos' stadium. Claudio Borghi, who's overseen just two wins so far in the Apertura, and three consecutive defeats after the loss today to Leandro Díaz's brilliant overhead kick, stood down from his post after the match, telling reporters; 'after [. Click to continue reading...

The opening matches of the ninth round of the Primera A Apertura have seen a couple of dramatic results. On Friday night Racing thrashed Central 4-1 in Avellaneda to draw level with the Rosario team in the relegation table and lift themselves - for a couple of tantalising hours until Banfield won away in Tucumán [. Click to continue reading...

The halfway point has arrived in the Torneo Apertura title race. There's a .35-pointer at the bottom of the Promedio to kick things off - if Racing beat Central in Avellaneda they could, depending on results elsewhere, move out of the relegation zone for the first time in living memory. Leaders San Lorenzo travel to [. Click to continue reading...

River Plate have joined the two Juniors, Boca and Argentinos, in the quarter-finals of the 2008 Copa Sudamericana with a 2-1 win over Uruguayans Defensor Sporting in the Monumental on Thursday night to complete a 4-2 aggregate victory. Full back Paulo Ferrari, playing wide on the right of midfield, opened the scoring in the 7th [. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...

Boca Juniors became the first Argentine club to book their passage into the quarter-finals of the 2008 Copa Sudamericana on Wednesday night as they got a 1-1 draw against Liga de Quito in the Ecuadorean capital. Boca having won the first leg 4-0 in La Bombonera, the match was about as exciting as one would [. Click to continue reading...

Leonardo Madelón was unveiled on Wednesday as the new manager of Gimnasia La Plata, replacing Guillermo Sanguinetti who stood down a couple of weeks ago. Madelón is reported as being delighted to have taken over, although whether the ex Central manager is being serious is another matter; Gimnasia are currently joint bottom of the Promedio [. Click to continue reading...

Tuesday's been a fairly slow news day and I didn't get home until after midnight tonight, so forgive me for just linking to my writing elsewhere in October's first post. Over a year ago, prior to the 2007 Apertura kicking off, I suggested that one of the players to watch in the next twelve months [.. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...

The goals from the eighth round of the 2008 Torneo Apertura are online now and as always, you can view all 32 of them on the TN Sportblog, right here. Read on for the running order of the video. Running order for TN Show de Goles: Estudiantes (red & white stripes) vs. Gimnasia LP (white & navy) Godoy [. Click to continue reading...

The new season is now a few weeks old in Europe, so I thought it was about time we had a look at the contributions of some of Argentina's foreign legion in the European leagues. So far Sergio Agüero and Gonzalo Higuaín have enjoyed great starts for the two Madrid sides in Spain, whilst in [...] Click to continue reading...

On Friday night, Tigre kept up the pressure on leaders San Lorenzo, who kept their noses in front thanks to a comfortable win over Arsenal the following day. Sunday was clásico day, with River matching Racing blow-for-blow in a supremely entertaining match of six goals before Estudiantes eased past neighbours Gimnasia in the clásico de [. Click to continue reading...

The first of Sunday's two clásicos lived up to the name as, in a frantic encounter which barely saw the pace let up at any point, River Plate and Racing Club drew 3-3 in a match which saw no little rain, late chances to win for both sides, a red card right at the death, [...] Click to continue reading...

For quite a while now, I've been getting questions and comments about the WCR Weekly Top 25.  Some weeks, I try to go into a little detail regarding the purpose and reasoning of the rankings, but it becomes cumbersome to try to give explanations and principles on a weekly basis.

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Sunday is clásico day this weekend, with River hosting Racing in the country's oldest derby before Gimnasia visit Estudiantes - as a genuine away team, for the first time in a few years - in the La Plata derby. Boca - who beat Newell's 4-2 in the remaining match from round two on Thursday afternoon [. Click to continue reading...

You could tell it wasn't the league campaign, because River Plate, having crossed the estuary the club took its name from to Montevideo, actually won a match, and it was thanks to two goals from a rather unexpected source. Sebastián Abreu's transfer back to River from Israel only went through on Wednesday, clearing him to [. Click to continue reading...

Rarely have we witnessed such a public exchange between the head of UEFA and a highly respected manager of one of the top football clubs in Europe. Michel Platini using the vernacular in an interview with a French journalist to admonish Arsene Wenger for having the gall to describe Platini was backward looking [. Click to continue reading...

Argentinos had a tricky away assignment on Wednesday night, at altitude in Mexico, and compounded the situation by playing pretty poorly for much of the match. San Luís controlled the game for the most part, and put themselves into a two goal lead before half time thanks to goals from Braulio Luna and Tressor Moreno. Click to continue reading...

Tuesday night's other match saw Estudiantes beat Arsenal de Sarandí 2-1 at home, thanks to a double strike from Mauro Boselli, who continues to impress at his new club. With twenty-five minutes remaining, Cristian Pellerano pulled one back and claimed an away goal for Arsenal with a long range drive. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...

It's time for the most ridiculous international club football competition in the world - the Copa Sudamericana - to enter its quarter-final stage. The uniquely television-obsessed way the tournament is organised means that invitees Boca Juniors and River Plate will play their first matches tonight, one round later than Arsenal de Sarandí, who are the defending [. Click to continue reading...

There were thirty goals from nine matches this weekend in Primera A (only Lanús vs. Huracán finished goalless), including two five-goal matches, in La Bombonera and El Viaducto, and two featuring four goals: one in Tucumán and one in El Bosque. You can watch the lot on the TN Sportblog right here, and read on [. Click to continue reading...

Raúl Ulloa was, until recently, one of the most elevated individuals in the Argentine Primera A. As president of Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy, he held the highest position at one of the league's highest-altitude clubs. And on Sunday he resigned from that presidency, hence the absolutely dreadful pun in the headline, in fury at [. Click to continue reading...

You have to feel some sympathy for Bernd Schuster. That's a strange statement to make about a man in charge of one of the most prestigious football clubs, and the current Spanish championship title holders. However, he faces a long a difficult season with a squad clearly split in half.

The defence, now back to full strength following the return of Ramos and Cannavaro, shows signs of being as confident and solid as in the latter part of last season and has just notched up its second clean sheet in a row. Click to continue reading...

River and Boca both suffered shock defeats on Sunday, San Lorenzo won on Friday to ensure they still top the table tonight regardless, and Vélez, who won well against Central on Saturday, are close behind them. Racing, having seen a three match unbeaten run ended in midweek by Huracán, got back to winnings ways against managerless [. Click to continue reading...

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 [. Click to continue reading...

San Lorenzo lead the Apertura following Friday night's win over Colón in the Nuevo Gasómetro, but they've got some competition, and on Saturday Vélez Sársfield reminded them of that fact with a 2-1 victory at home to Rosario Central. El Fortín played well after an early scare, and now sit two points back on San [. Click to continue reading...