Maradona, Caniggia, Sensini, Balbo, Chamot, Simeone, Redondo, Batistuta, Crespo, Veron. The list of great Argentinian players to grace the pitches of Serie A can go on and on. And pretty soon we might have to add another name to the list: Mauro Zarate. The 21 year old striker is on fire, leading the Serie A scoring charts with 6 goals in the first 5 games and giving defenders nightmares.

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The Argentina squad for the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers against Paraguay in Buenos Aires, and Peru in Lima, has been almost finalised prior to the weekend's domestic action in Argentina, after which three Boca Juniors players will be added to the list. Alfio Basile has called up Getafe defender Daniel Díaz to replace Nicolás Burdisso, [. Click to continue reading...

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, [. Click to continue reading...

In a glorified all-Argentine continental pre-season friendly, Boca Juniors hosted Arsenal de Sarandí in Racing's ground on Wednesday night, in the first leg of the Recopa Sudamericana, played between the winners of the previous year's (not season, confusingly) Copas Sudamericana and Libertadores. Boca ran out 3-1 winners after an early flurry saw them leading 2-1 after [. Click to continue reading...

It's now time for Part 2 of our comprehensive update looking at the World Cup qualifiers that which took place during May and June. Having dealt with the African section last week, we now turn our attention to what's happening in...

South America

Overview
Once again, all ten South American teams play each other twice in a single big round robin group. Click to continue reading...

The 2008 Primera A Torneo Clausura came to an end this weekend, with champions River Plate making a stunning 17-minute comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2 away to Banfield, and Boca hit six at home to Tigre in (probably) Rodrigo Palacio's last match in Argentina. Independiente and Argentinos both secured Copa Sudamericana qualification, but it's tears [. Click to continue reading...

Brazil and Argentina convened for their first meeting of the qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa on Wednesday night, with Argentina aware that a win would take them back to joint top of the table alongside Paraguay, after the Guaraní fell to a shock 4-2 defeat to Bolivia in La Paz [. Click to continue reading...

Argentina and Brazil both struggled in their South American qualifiers Sunday. Argentina needed a stoppage time goal from Rodrigo Palacio to draw with Ecuador at home in Buenos Aires. Argentina looked unimpressive last weekend in a friendly against the United... Click to continue reading...

I trust we all watched the US match yesterday and if you did not see it, you didn't need to. Barbados missing four of their five best players got rolled by a fired up US squad 8-0. While the scoreline was impressive, many concerns still persist for the U.S. like keeping proper spacing between attackers on the pitch and players knowing their respective roles while on the pitch.

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Following the experimentation of the North American friendlies last week, it was back to serious business for the selección on Sunday night, with a World Cup qualifier against Ecuador which was expected to be a mere warm up for the midweek clash away to Brazil. It proved a little trickier than that, though, with Argentina's [. Click to continue reading...

With the completion of the two-match 'tour' of the United States on Sunday, the Argentina squad returned to Buenos Aires to begin preparations for the next round of South American qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. On Sunday, Argentina will host Ecuador in El Monumental, before travelling to take on Brazil in Belo Horizonte [. Click to continue reading...

Following their away goals defeat to LDU Quito in the Copa Libertadores semi-final, and their dreadful campaign in domestic competition in Mexico, Club América are after a manager, and former River Plate, San Lorenzo and... um... Oxford United boss Ramón Díaz looks set to take charge with Miguel Angel Russo likely to replace him in Boedo [. Click to continue reading...

Copa Libertadores holders Boca Juniors crashed out of the tournament at the semi-final stage on Wednesday night after a thrilling second half in the Maracanã which saw them take the lead through Martín Palermo before hosts Fluminense hit back with a three-goal blitz in the closing half hour. Fluminense, who've never got this far in [. Click to continue reading...

The Copa Libertadores semi-final is only halfway through, but Boca were filled with self-loathing on Wednesday night after letting a lead slip through their fingers having had the first leg completely in their own hands. Well, not so much self-loathing as Migliore-loathing. The stand-in goalkeeper made a cock-up of monumental proportions to hand Fluminense an [. Click to continue reading...

In the first leg of the Copa Libertadores quarter-final, Boca Juniors played host to Mexican side Atlas in Vélez Sársfield's stadium as a result of the ban CONMEBOL imposed on La Bombonera following an incident at the end of their previous home match against Cruzeiro. The change of scene didn't suit Boca one bit; having [. Click to continue reading...

This wasn't posted with the rest of the goal videos on Monday evening because I didn't want it to overshadow them, or vice versa, in people's attention. So, here is a nice long video for any Boca Juniors fans who want to re-live their side's 1-0 victory over River Plate in La Bombonera on Sunday [. Click to continue reading...

It's been four years since Boca Juniors last beat River Plate in La Bombonera, during which time their sole consolation has been that River haven't won any trophies and they have done. On Sunday, though, with River arriving in La Boca on top of the league table, the run came to an end thanks to [.. Click to continue reading...

Apologies for the lack of coverage of Saturday's matches - my phone line (and with it my broadband) crashed on Saturday morning and was only fixed on Sunday - but the first competitive superclásico of 2008 is now just a few hours away. I type during the first few minutes of the Milan derby, but the [. Click to continue reading...

They didn't quite get the five goals they needed to make it absolutely certain off their own backs, but Copa Libertadores holders Boca Juniors nonetheless qualified for the knockout stages of the tournament on Tuesday night courtesy of their own three-goal victory over Maracaibo, and Colo Colo's 1-1 draw against Atlas of Mexico. Click to continue reading...

The attention in Europe is going to be on yet another Liverpool vs. Chelsea Champions League semi-final, but in South America the Copa Libertadores is about to see the highest profile of its group matches, right at the end of the group stage: holders Boca Juniors take on Maracaibo in La Bombonera tonight, and the [. Click to continue reading...

The goals from last night's astonishing Copa Libertadores Group 3 match between Boca and Colo Colo are now online, and you can see them right here. Enjoy, because there are several absolute crackers. Not to mention the look of sheer delight on the face of Juan Román Riquelme after Boca's third goal. Click to continue reading...

After last week's 2-0 loss in Santiago, Boca hosted the Chilean champions with at least one psychological advantage - earlier in the week Colo Colo's Argentine manager, Claudio Borghi, announced to general surprise that due to a falling out with the board, he'd be resigning his charge of the first team after this match. Click to continue reading...

Independiente haven't won in La Bombonera for twelve years, and that run continued on Sunday afternoon in the latest clásico of the weekend. In a lively match, they took the lead early on and saw Boca reduced to ten men shortly before the break, but had to settle for a point after a fine equaliser [. Click to continue reading...

Boca took a while to finally stamp their authority on their Mexican visitors, only getting the goal that finally killed the game off with nine minutes left, but all the same, the defending champions played their first home match of this year's campaign, and got their first win to partly expunge the bad memories of [. Click to continue reading...

The 2008 Torneo Clausura kicks off at long last following the summer break on Friday evening, with Lanús aiming to defend the title they won so improbably back in December, whilst the likes of Boca will be wanting to get back to winning ways. Other big sides need improved performances, for a variety of reasons, [. Click to continue reading...

The managers at Argentina's two biggest clubs have some complication selection issues going into this week's Copa Sudamericana return legs. Boca Juniors, who won the first leg of their tie against Sao Paulo 2-1 but conceded a last minute away goal which will make for very tricky business in Morumbí on Wednesday night, have seen [...] Click to continue reading...