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Kayokay

Den nye Ronaldo, Najar, scorer til 1-0!


Ja han var en af profilerne på OL-holdet, kan huske vi diskutere hans magnificiente spidskompetencer, der han smadrede den stjernespækkede spanske midtbane - i den gloriøse 1-0 sejr til los catrachos.

Han har udviklet sig rigtigt fint. Jeg synes ellers at Wilmer Crisanto var bedste mand under OL, men han er gået lidt i stå.

Eller anden bedste lige efter Espinoza, men det kan vel ikke komme som nogen overraskelse.

Panama

Turneringstart fredag, med 2 x 1-1 - Chepo´s "Pitt" González sikrede med et overtidsmål 1-1 ude mod Tauro. I San Francisco spillede 1-1 Arabe Unido, David daniels med målet for holdet fra Colón og Jose Garcés med målet for Monje, kampen bød på 2 udvisninger til gæsterne ved José González og Félix Góndola, så det må siges at være godkendt af "araberne " at hente et point hos "franciscanerne".

Nyoprykkede Independiente hentede en 2-0 sejr over Rio Abajo i deres debut, 2-0 blev det også det mestrene fra Sporting San Miguelito over Chorrillo , på mål af Anthony Basil og Ricardo Clarke, men El Panzers gamle klub Alianza hentede en 1-0 sejr ude over Plaza Amador.

@ Kayokay

Honduranerne skal nok komme igang igen, de lagde jo godt fra land i VM-kvallen , sejr over USA (som den eneste nation hidtil), uafgjort mod Mexico, taber ufortjent til Panama i Panama hvor de (Honduras) var bedst, nederlag til USA (den var vel kalkuleret med), sejr over Jamaica (forventet), og så nederlag ude til Costa Rica. med et restprogram der hedder Panama og Costa Rica hjemme samt Jamaica ude - kan der sagtens ligge 9 point der ...og så er los catrachos i mål.

@ TWM

"Tata" er en ganske talentfuld træner, som i sin aktive karriere spillede i Newells Old Boys under Bielsa, som har inspireret ham, han er vel det nærmeste man kommer en ægte "Bielsista". Han har haft succes med at skabe eller rettere evnet at skabe de her kompakte enheder både som landsholdstræner i Paraguay og i Newell´s (som var nedrykningskandidat da han tog over) med fokus på omstillingsspil,genpres osv.

Kritikken har været han ligesom med Bielsa at mangler en plan B, hvilket Barca også gør. Newell´s lå godt til at vinde begge turneringer, missede den første, da spillerne løb tør for kræfter i slutspurten, vandt den sidste her - men tabte så mesterskabsfinalen til Velez og røg ud ud i Copa Libertadores til Atletico Mineiro. Det kan selvfølgelig skyldes at truppen er ganske smal, noget man må forvente den ikke er i Barca.

Bottom line is, "Tata" er en af de helt store træner talenter hvis man kan bruge det om en mand på 50. Havde gerne set ham i en italiensk eller spansk subtopklub først.


Havde smidt den her artikel ind tidligere i bloggen, da den var på engelsk, sidst vi talte om Martino her...den giver et godt overblik...

Like a lepra messiah…

Writing in The Guardian’s Sport Blog recently, Jonathan Wilson explored the influence Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa (and his methods) has had on the modern game. Wilson, author of Inverting the Pyramid and editor of quarterly football magazine The Blizzard, suggests that in recent years football ‘has gone through a process of Bielsafication’.

While Bielsa confronts training ground site managers in the Basque Country, back in his hometown of Rosario one of his former players is spearheading a bielsaissance in the stadium bearing El Loco’s name. The club is Argentine primera side Newell’s Old Boys, and the former player is Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino.

Martino, who turned 50 last Tuesday, returned to La Lepra this year for the first time since leaving in 1996. Since then he has made a successful transition from playing to management, and encountered great success in Paraguay, winning several league titles with Libertad and Cerro Porteño before taking over the national side in 2007.

Following the dismissal of head coach Diego Cagna, it was rumoured Newell’s were trying to bring back Marcelo Bielsa as his replacement. Of course, this never came to pass, but in Tata Martino they certainly got the next best thing.

If Marcelo Bielsa is Newell’s Old Boys’ all-time idol on the touchline, Martino is their all-time idol on the pitch. Throughout Bielsa’s three-year spell in charge of La Lepra, Martino was his trusted No.8 and together they have a special place in Newell’s hearts.

And it is clear that the apprentice paid very close attention to the master. At Newell’s, Martino has assembled a typically bielsista side, one that shares El Loco’s ideals and uses several of his techniques.

What is so refreshing is the coach and squad are totally committed to ‘the idea’ of their football, instead of obsessing over results or league position. Before a crucial away match against Boca Juniors this month, Martino dismissed the pressure of the occasion, saying: “You have to be consistent, we have played all of our matches with the same intention (…) if that results in us moving up the table a bit, so be it, but our idea is always the same.”

The combination of their attitude, playing style, and the narrative surrounding Martino’s return, makes this Newell’s side a welcome breath of fresh air amid the polluted cloud that is Argentine domestic football.

The shapes they are a-changin’…

It is Newell’s disciplined transitions that make them so difficult to beat. They defend in numbers, they attack in numbers.

While most sides in their division attack with three or four players at a time, Martino orders his men to pour forward when in possession. With forward bursts from the full-backs and central-midfielders, it is not uncommon for Newell’s to have six or seven players attacking the opponent’s penalty area. Predictably, this creates more 2 on 1 opportunities in dangerous areas, and more often than not this leads to goals.

The situation is much the same on the other side of the ball. The whole team retreats when Newell’s lose possession, leaving only centre-forward Ignácio Scocco in their opponent’s territory. With so many bodies defending against teams that are reluctant to bring players forward to attack, it is hardly surprising that Newell’s have one of the best defensive records of the league – they conceded only six goals in their first fifteen matches this season.

Successfully employing a tactic like this requires good stamina and crucially, it requires a huge amount of tactical discipline.

The animation on the left represents how Newell’s shape changes during their transitions. The basic formation is 4-1-4-1, but as you can see it retreats into a 5-4-1 in defence, with defensive midfielder Hernán Villalba dropping back between the centre-backs.

http://ilikefootballme.f…sitions.gif

In attacking phases, the wide midfielders bomb forward to become wingers, and the shape resembles a 4-3-3, with plenty of support from the full-backs and Bernardi and Pérez in midfield.

Newell’s display military precision when shifting from one shape to the next, rarely is there a player caught out of position. It is clear that they have trained extremely hard at holding their shape.

Under pressure

Of course, Newell’s could not be a genuine bielsista team without an intense pressing game. When not in possession, their objective is to recover the ball as quickly as possible, and in favourable areas.

The players press in packs – a classic Bielsa tactic – and try to force their opponents into making errors. This has proved to be particularly effective in the Argentine domestic game, as the tempo of matches tends to be slower and players are accustomed to having more time on the ball to make decisions. When players are pressed and have less thinking time, the decisions they do make are usually the wrong ones.

http://ilikefootballme.f…ressing.jpg

In Martino’s Newell’s, the majority of the pressing is carried out in the middle of the field by their line of four midfielders. They try to strangle their opponent’s space and win the ball back before any attacking moves can be put together.

As they press so high up the field, when they do reclaim possession they pose an immediate attacking threat. It is not uncommon to see Newell’s steal the ball from an opposing defender, and immediately find themselves in an advantageous 5 on 4 situation.

The only way is vertical, baby!

While many regard the defining characteristic of ‘the Bielsa Method’ to be the constant pressing and dogged closing down described above, the true cornerstone of El Loco’s philosophy is something he calls verticalidad.

http://ilikefootballme.f…icality.jpg

Verticalidad, or verticality, is a style of football that involves bringing the ball from back to front as quickly as possible. Unlike the ‘vertical’ route one style that prevails at many clubs across South America, verticality is when the ball is brought forward through swift short passing combinations.

Bielsa’s mantra, repeated several times by Martino, is that ‘the man in possession should always have at least three vertical passing options’. To achieve this, attacking moves at Newell’s always start with Hernán Villalba, the defensive midfielder who drops back to defence. With four midfielders in front of him and an advancing full-back on either side, Villalba always has plenty of forward options to initiate play.

It is hardly a surprise that Martino preaches verticality to his players, as he himself was a crucial part of Marcelo Bielsa’s most fundamentally vertical team – the 1991 championship winning Newell’s Old Boys.

Their shape was a 3-4-3, and comprised three diamonds with Martino at the tip of the midfield quartet. This was a really radical (and risky) system, geared towards relentless attack and always offering multiple passing options to the player in possession.

http://ilikefootballme.f…1/19911.jpg

Old Boys run out of steam

Though they have lost only one of their 17 matches in the torneo inicial, it is looking increasingly likely that Newell’s will fall short and fail to clinch the title.

Despite leading the pack for several months, Newell’s form has dipped and they have failed to win in their last five matches. Their once healthy lead at the top has been devoured by their rivals, and they now sit in third place, five points behind leaders Vélez Sarsfield and three behind second placed Lanús (who have suffered four defeats apiece).

There are several credible hypotheses for this slump in results. Perhaps the most accurate is that the squad are completely exhausted. Martino’s strategy of intense pressing and drastic transitions requires a physical commitment nearing superhuman levels, and as the end of the tournament approaches, the tired legs are beginning to appear.

In their recent match against All Boys, no fewer than four Newell’s players had to leave the match with injuries. La Lepra slumped to a 2-1 defeat – their first reversal of the season.

Another theory is that Newell’s lack a ‘plan B’. When protecting a lead or chasing a goal, Martino rarely makes any tactical variations, instead he opts to make like-for-like substitutions to try and freshen things up. This is often perceived as a serious problem, especially when facing the league’s more defensively organised sides.

The idea of a ‘plan B’ is one that is not compatible with the Bielsa Method. Bielsa believes that a successful system does not need a plan B, and that if any alternative plan proves to be effective, then it should be used as the principal system. This goes back to the fundamental bielsista idea that sometimes the better team just does not win. The better team should not in turn abandon their original approach for the sake of one result, as their results will remain positive in the long run.

Time to say ta-ta to Tata?

The pressing question surrounds Martino’s future. With his contract at Newell’s due to expire at the end of the year, not a day goes by without him being linked to a move away from Rosario.

Boca Juniors has been mentioned; los Xeneizes are looking to get rid of their coach Julio César Falcioni. However, the more ‘realistic’ move was to take over the Chilean national team, following once again in Bielsa’s footsteps.

When Universidad de Chile boss Jorge Sampaoli was announced as the man appointed by the Chilean FA to replace the outgoing Cláudio Borghi, Newell’s fans hoped that the speculation would calm down. Not a chance. The day after Sampaoli was announced as the new manager of La Roja, Martino was already being tipped to fill his vacancy at La U. Martino has remained predictably tight-lipped about his future, stating that once his contract runs out he will explore his options (of which includes a possible extension at Newell’s).

Falleció un juvenil del Cristal

LIMA -- Un jugador de 18 años del Sporting Cristal peruano murió a pocos minutos del fin de un partido contra el Real Garcilaso en la provincia andina de Quispicanchi, en la región sureña de Cuzco, situada a más de 3.000 metros sobre el nivel del mar, informó la prensa local.

El deceso del defensor central Yair Clavijo se produjo, según las informaciones, por un paro respiratorio cuando faltaban cinco minutos para el fin del encuentro.

Los jugadores reservistas del Sporting Cristal y Real Garcilaso jugaban en el estadio Municipal de Urcos en la antesala del partido de las formaciones titulares correspondiente a la vigésima sexta jornada de la Liga peruana.

El entrenador del Sporting Cristal, Roberto Mosquera, sufrió una crisis emocional al conocer el deceso del joven jugador.

La emisora Ovación informó de que la Asociación Deportiva de Fútbol Profesional anunció la suspensión del partido entre los equipos de la primera división de Sporting Cristal y Real Garcilaso tras anunciarse el deceso de Clavijo.

Según la emisora Radio Programas del Perú (RPP), los médicos que estaban en el estadio del distrito de Urcos acudieron inmediatamente en su auxilio e intentaron reanimarlo, pero fue en vano.

Botafogo president hints at Dória exit

Botafogo president Mauricio Assumpcao has admitted that highly-rated defender Dória could leave the club.

Tottenham, Barcelona, Juventus and Milan have all been linked with the 18-year-old in recent weeks, after some impressive performances in the Brasileirão.

And Assumpcao suggested on Sunday that Dória´s €13 million release clause could be activated before the close of the transfer window on August 31.

"Right now I can´t guarantee that Doria will stay," he told Radio CBN. "Negotiations will depend on whether clubs are willing to pay his buyout fee.

"Whoever wants him will need to pay more than just that value. If that happens, we don´t have any control because it will be the player´s decision. He, his agent and his family are considering their options."

Assumpcao also admitted that the club will try to keep the teenager in Rio de Janeiro until the end of the season in December.

"We are negotiating for him to stay until the end of the year," he added. "I don´t know if it will be possible. Right now there is nothing set in stone but the window hasn´t closed yet."

Dória is one of the top prospects in his homeland and recently led the Brazil Under-20 side to glory at the prestigious Toulon Tournament, where he was voted best defender.

He has also been recognised in the senior Seleção squad, winning his first cap against Bolivia in April, and has previously been linked with Udinese and Benfica, as well as Cruzeiro in Brazil.

Deportivo FAS og KayOkay

Tak for svar begge to :)

Tata lyder som en mulig, og anderledes, kandidat som ny træner for Barça. Dog har han et minus i min bog ved, at han ingen erfaring har med europæisk og, i særdeleshed, spansk fodbold. Men på den anden side kan det jo også være positivt, da han så måske kommer med noget anderledes.
Bliver spændende, at se om han bliver ny træner hos catalanerne, hvilket det tyder kraftigt på.
Hans fokus på genpres lyder godt for Barça, da den seneste sæson viste, at der ikke var så stor fokus på dette mere.

Jeg kunne ikke finde meget om manden på wikipedia og deslige, så mange tak for eget skriveri Deportivo FAS og god artikel :)

@ TWM

MJaeh - han har lidt erfaringer med spansk fodbold, havde jo fornøjelsen af dem i VM 2010 kvartfinalen, hvor han jo rent faktisk havde stillet paraguayanerne ganske fint op mod spanierne, i en kamp førtnævnte sagens kunne have vundet havde Cardozo ikke brændt det straffespark.

Og så har han X-faktor i den katalanske forstand, da han jo er født i Rosario ligesom Messi...;-)

Iøvrigt så er du da mere end velkommen til at hænge ud her, du fyrer bare løs med de spørgsmål du måtte have til latinamerikansk fodbold, der ingen dumme spørgsmål kun dumme svar, det samme gælder diskussioner osv

Arsenal quash Bernard rumours - report

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has quashed rumours of Bernard moving to the Emirates after reports of a medical earlier today.

John Cross of The Daily Mirror reported on his Twitter account that Wenger told him the "move was not true", and he was backed by the Daily Telegraph´s Jeremy Wilson who claimed that Arsenal were pursuing Liverpool´s Luis Suarez instead.

The 20-year-old Brazil international has been mooted with a move to the Premier League this summer, with Tottenham and Liverpool also said to be interested.

Bernard will participate in the second leg of the Galo’s Copa Libertadores final with Olimpia in two days’ time, which his side trail 2-0, and it is widely expected to be his last game for the club.

According to L´Equipe this morning, he was to fly to London on Thursday for a medical and sign a five-year contract worth €3 million per season, but there was no mention of a transfer fee.

Atlético Mineiro president Alexandre Kalil was on record earlier this summer claiming that €25m was the asking price for Bernard, while any deal is likely to be complicated by third party owners.

BMG own 50% of Bernard´s playing rights but any Premier League clubs will have to pay the full fee as the FA have banned third party ownerships in England.

Bernard was part of the Seleção´s Confederations Cup-winning squad last month and has also been linked with moves to Porto, Borussia Dortmund and Shakhtar Donetsk.