Tag: argentina
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Argentine teen goes for $26 million

by Soccer America

The latest Argentine youngster to leave Buenos Aires on a major transfer is Ever Banega. The 19-year-old starred for Argentina at the South American U-20 Championships last January, stepped into a starting role at Boca Juniors for league and Libertadores Cup play, and marshaled the midfield of Argentina’s U-20 World Cup-winning team last summer. He joins Spain’s Valencia on a $26 million transfer.

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Modest Argentine club wins Copa Sudamericana

by Soccer America

Argentine club Arsenal, which had not won a title in its 50-year history, won the Copa Sudamericana final on away goals after a 2-1 loss to Club America ended the series 4-4 on aggregate. Club America, the third Mexican team to reach the final in three years, was headed toward victory in Buenos Aires when Martin Andrizzi scrambled through its defense before scoring an 83rd minute goal. Arsenal won the first leg, 3-2, in Mexico City.

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Deja vu in South American qualifying

by Paul Kennedy

[WORLD CUP 2010] South America officials didn’t wait until the 2010 World Cup qualifying draw to begin the long road to the finals in South Africa, and they didn’t waste time figuring out the schedule. If the 2010 qualifying schedule looks familiar to fans, it’s because it is the same as was used for the 2002 and 2006 qualifiers! That means Argentina hosts Chile Saturday and Brazil travels to Colombia Sunday in this weekend’s top matches. For previews of this weekend’s opening qualifiers …

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WEEKEND PREVIEW: International Soccer Headliners

by Paul Kennedy

Arsenal’s fast start has led to comparisons between Arsene Wenger‘s young Gunners and his “Invincibles” of four seasons ago. Manchester City’s Brazilian, Elano, is one of the best summer signings in the English Premier League. After Marseille’s victory at Liverpool on Wednesday, Belgian coach Eric Gerets must get down to the work he was this week hired for at the French club. Sunday’s River Plate-Boca Juniors derby isn’t the only sporting event that has Argentines talking.

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TV PREVIEW: International Weekend Headliners

by Paul Kennedy

European clubs are back action after a week off for Euro ’08 qualifying, and Liverpool’s Rafael Benitez isn’t happy with the the Reds’ early kickoff on Saturday. French Thierry Henry will look for his first La Liga goal with Barcelona. The Altintop twins, Hamit and Halil, square off in a Bundesliga clash of giants. In Argentina, struggling River Plate must rebound after a disastrous midweek result. Soccer America’s International Weekend Headliners series continues with a look at what’s on TV.

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Argentina beats Czech Republic to repeat as U-20 champion

by Soccer America

Argentina successfully defended its Under-20 World Cup title and won for the sixth time when it defeated the Czech Republic, 2-1, on Sunday in Toronto. The Czechs took the lead in the second half on a fine goal by Martin Fenin, but the Argentines recovered thanks to goals by Sergio Aguero, the tournament’s MVP and top scorer, and Mauro Zarate. Aguero scored off a through ball from playmaker Ever Banega, and Zarate beat Czech keeper Radek Petr to the near post with a fierce shot from the edge of the area in the 86th minute.

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Blanco scores in Fire debut; RSL beats Everton

by Paul Kennedy

Saturday’s Galaxy-Chelsea game wasn’t the only international friendly played over the weekend in the United States. Tigres of Mexico won the World Series of Football with a 3-0 win over Suwon Blue Wings of South Korea in the first game of the doubleheader with the Galaxy-Chelsea game at the Home Depot Center. Mexican star Cuauhtemoc Blanco scored in his Chicago Fire debut as the MLS club tie Scottish champion Celtic, 1-1, before 15,719 fans. Playing without Freddy Adu, rumored to headed to Benfica of Portugal, Real Salt Lake beat Everton of England, 2-0, before 12,221 fans. Mexico international Israel Lopez scored twice on free kicks to give Cruz Azul of Mexico a 3-1 win over Libertadores Cup champion Boca Juniors in the final of the inaugural Copa Panamericana in Glendale, Ariz.

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Argentina routs unhappy Chile, 3-0, in Under-20 World Cup semifinals

by Paul Kennedy

Argentina moved closer to defending its Under-20 World Cup title when it beat Chile, 3-0, in their semifinal on Thursday in Toronto. Argentina, which meets the Czech Republic in the final, got goals from Angel Di Maria, Claudio Yacob and Maximiliano Moralez. Chile had two players sent off and fought with police and security officers after the game. One member of the Chilean delegation was subdued by taser during the brawl.

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Foreign clubs head en masse to the USA

by Paul Kennedy

The World Series of Football — the four-team tournament in which David Beckham is scheduled to debut for the Los Angeles Galaxy against Chelsea on Saturday — is just one of several tournaments involving foreign clubs being played in the United States. In the next two weeks, 30 clubs representing 14 countries are scheduled to play on U.S. soil. Mexico leads all countries with no less than 13 clubs are playing games here. Six other foreign clubs were here last week.

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Argentina moves into driver’s seat at U-20 World Cup

by Soccer America

Argentina is the firm favorite to win its sixth Under-20 World Cup after edging highly touted Mexico, 1-0, in the quarterfinals on Sunday in Ottawa. Argentina meets Chile, a 4-0 winner over Nigeria in overtime, in one semifinal. Austria, which upset the USA, 2-1, in overtime, faces the Czech Republic, which eliminated European champion Spain in a shootout after their game ended 1-1.

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Canada bombs at the Under-20 World Cup

by Paul Kennedy

Host Canada was ignominiously dumped from the Under-20 World Cup when it lost to Congo, 2-0, for its third straight shutout loss of the competition. Canada is the first host team in the 30-year history of the U-20 competition not to score a goal. All four African entrants and all four South American teams advanced to the U-20 World Cup. Scotland — winless in all three games — was the only European team not to advance.

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All four Copa America quarterfinals are blowouts

by Paul Kennedy

The four semifinalists breezed into the final week of play at the Copa America by beating their opponents by a margin of 20-1 in the quarterfinals. Mexico produced the most one-sided victory, clobbering Paraguay, 6-0. Argentina routed Peru, 4-0, on Sunday with all four goals coming in the second half — two from playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme. On Saturday, Uruguay ended host Venezuela’s dream to reaching the semifinals for the first time with a 4-1 win in the weekend’s only close game. The Celeste led by only a goal until it added two goals in the final three minutes. Brazil thumped Chile, 6-1, to silence the critics of Coach Dunga for his defensive tactics in the first stage of the competition.

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Argentina beats Colombia, loses Crespo for tournament

by Paul Kennedy

For the second straight game, Argentina brushed aside the minor inconvenience of falling behind on a early goal and recovered to score four goals. Against the USA, the Argentines conceded a penalty kick by Eddie Johnson in the 9th minute yet prevailed, 4-1. Against Colombia on Monday night in Maracaibo, a clever back heel by Edixon Perea put the Argentines in a hole in the 10th minute, but they again recovered to win, 4-2, and join Paraguay and Mexico in the quarterfinals.

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USA must put it all together to get a result against Paraguay

by Ridge Mahoney

[COPA AMERICA PREVIEW] The glaring disparity in talent that was evident when Argentina beat the USA, 4-1, last Thursday won’t be as prevalent Monday when the Americans take on Paraguay in Barinas, Venezuela, yet Paraguay looked tremendous in its 5-0 win against Colombia, playing a fluid, organized game unlike its rigid, defense-first squads at previous World Cups. If the Americans are again rocked back on their heels, they could be chasing the game for longer than they did against Argentina.

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Argentina and Brazil head U-20 World Cup favorites

by Paul Kennedy

Argentina the defending champion, and Brazil, the South American champion, are the favorites, along with European champion Spain, at the 2007 Under-20 World Cup, which begins Saturday in Canada. They have combined to win the last seven U-20 world championships. Argentina’s 2005 victory in the Netherlands gave it five titles, one more than Brazil. Other teams to watch include Mexico and Nigeria. Here’s a look at the favorites.

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Argentina leads with Messi and the Monsters

by Paul Kennedy

Alfio Basile knows something about winning at the Copa America. He coached Argentina at the South American championship twice, and it won both times, in 1991 and 1993. He is downplaying, however, any comparisons between those teams and his current team that opens play in Group C against the USA on Thursday in Maracaibo, saying it will be difficult to play at the level of those teams. But with a team that includes Lionel Messi and Hernan Crespo in attack, Juan Roman Riquelme in midfield and Carlos Tevez probably on the bench, Argentina will be formidable.

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