Han har vel fået nogle hestevitaminer i sin bøf igen.
Snak
man 19. aug 2013
ja der er lidt hest i de spring - aldt iøvrigt over higlights fra Honduras tidligere idag - et par sider tilbage...
Brasil: Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminense, Botafogo (100% Carioca) Rio > Säo Paulo
MENGÃO TRI DA AMÈRICA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RlVt8zJhXQ
Redigeretman 19. aug 2013
Ærgeligt at Victoria blev snydt for et straffe og dermed tabte. De kan spille noget ret så underholdende fodbold til tider.
La Ceiba er også en herlig by. Ikke så køn, men man kan godt mærke at der er en lidt mere løssluppen atmosfære end mange andre steder i landet.
La Ceiba er også en herlig by. Ikke så køn, men man kan godt mærke at der er en lidt mere løssluppen atmosfære end mange andre steder i landet.
tirs 20. aug 2013
Cantero y la continuidad de Brindisi
BUENOS AIRES -- El presidente de Independiente, Javier Cantero, afirmó este lunes que la continuidad de Miguel Angel Brindisi como entrenador del equipo "no depende" del resultado del partido del próximo domingo ante Atlético Tucumán, por la cuarta fecha de la Primera B Nacional.
JAVIER CANTERO EN ESPN RADIO
"Estamos bien, tranquilos. Nos hemos reunido con el cuerpo técnico y con los jugadores para brindarles nuestro apoyo. Brindisi tiene grandes condiciones humanas y profesionales, sólo queda revertir esta imagen y deberá ser en una cancha muy difícil como Tucumán. Parecía que ante Aldosivi íbamos a repuntar, pero el fútbol tiene estas cosas".
"Brindisi no depende de un resultado contra Atlético Tucumán. No hay nada pensado como plan B ni hemos hablado con otro técnico al respecto. Ni con De Felippe ni con nadie, no hubo ningún dirigente que haya hecho eso. Lamento que haya tenido que salir a aclarar esto, pero hace un año y medio que estoy como presidente y no me gustan las versiones falsas".
"A veces el periodismo me pregunta por qué no tengo un plan B y que de esta forma no realizo gestión. Después, si hablo con otro quedo como un traidor. Por eso, le dije a Miguel que iba a salir a apoyarlo porque me pareció una falta de respecto".
"No me gustan las comparaciones. En los amistosos jugamos muy bien, lamentablemente no se dio al comienzo del campeonato. Pero les aseguro que los jugadores son los primeros en reconocerlo. La gente tiene razón en enojarse porque ya ha sufrido demasiado".
"Lo que pasó con el hijo de Pastoriza es que él tenía una bandera hermosa pero que no dejaba ver a un sector del público y por eso se la tuvieron que bajar. Hubo una discusión, pero no conozco más detalles al respecto y creo que no pasó a mayores".
Me siento muy mal por todo lo que vino pasando en las asambleas. También por los resultados que le duelen a los hinchas genuinos, y eso me hace pasar un momento muy duro en lo personal.
"Desconozco lo que pasó con Aldosivi y su plantel con la falta de agua caliente en el baño. Ahora voy a averiguar qué pasó porque me estoy enterando recién del comunicado emitido".
"El técnico es Brindisi y estamos planificando todo lo que resta del campeonato. Un hombre que vino cuando nadie quiso aceptar. Ahora, ningún presidente puede decir si el técnico va a seguir sin importar el resultado, pero no es el caso de Miguel. Recién van tres fechas. Me hubiese encantado poder hablar de fútbol, del partido, de si fue penal o no, pero lamentablemente acá siempre se busca sangre y me duele que sea con una persona como Brindisi".
BUENOS AIRES -- El presidente de Independiente, Javier Cantero, afirmó este lunes que la continuidad de Miguel Angel Brindisi como entrenador del equipo "no depende" del resultado del partido del próximo domingo ante Atlético Tucumán, por la cuarta fecha de la Primera B Nacional.
JAVIER CANTERO EN ESPN RADIO
"Estamos bien, tranquilos. Nos hemos reunido con el cuerpo técnico y con los jugadores para brindarles nuestro apoyo. Brindisi tiene grandes condiciones humanas y profesionales, sólo queda revertir esta imagen y deberá ser en una cancha muy difícil como Tucumán. Parecía que ante Aldosivi íbamos a repuntar, pero el fútbol tiene estas cosas".
"Brindisi no depende de un resultado contra Atlético Tucumán. No hay nada pensado como plan B ni hemos hablado con otro técnico al respecto. Ni con De Felippe ni con nadie, no hubo ningún dirigente que haya hecho eso. Lamento que haya tenido que salir a aclarar esto, pero hace un año y medio que estoy como presidente y no me gustan las versiones falsas".
"A veces el periodismo me pregunta por qué no tengo un plan B y que de esta forma no realizo gestión. Después, si hablo con otro quedo como un traidor. Por eso, le dije a Miguel que iba a salir a apoyarlo porque me pareció una falta de respecto".
"No me gustan las comparaciones. En los amistosos jugamos muy bien, lamentablemente no se dio al comienzo del campeonato. Pero les aseguro que los jugadores son los primeros en reconocerlo. La gente tiene razón en enojarse porque ya ha sufrido demasiado".
"Lo que pasó con el hijo de Pastoriza es que él tenía una bandera hermosa pero que no dejaba ver a un sector del público y por eso se la tuvieron que bajar. Hubo una discusión, pero no conozco más detalles al respecto y creo que no pasó a mayores".
Me siento muy mal por todo lo que vino pasando en las asambleas. También por los resultados que le duelen a los hinchas genuinos, y eso me hace pasar un momento muy duro en lo personal.
"Desconozco lo que pasó con Aldosivi y su plantel con la falta de agua caliente en el baño. Ahora voy a averiguar qué pasó porque me estoy enterando recién del comunicado emitido".
"El técnico es Brindisi y estamos planificando todo lo que resta del campeonato. Un hombre que vino cuando nadie quiso aceptar. Ahora, ningún presidente puede decir si el técnico va a seguir sin importar el resultado, pero no es el caso de Miguel. Recién van tres fechas. Me hubiese encantado poder hablar de fútbol, del partido, de si fue penal o no, pero lamentablemente acá siempre se busca sangre y me duele que sea con una persona como Brindisi".
Brasil: Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminense, Botafogo (100% Carioca) Rio > Säo Paulo
MENGÃO TRI DA AMÈRICA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RlVt8zJhXQ
tirs 20. aug 2013
Brazilian teams and clubs San Lorenzo and River highlight the second stage of the Copa Total Sudamericana.
The stage will begin with four games on Tuesday. Two clubs from the city of Recife (Brazil), Náutico and Sport Recife, will go head to head while Universidad Católica of Chile will welcome Ecuador´s Emelec. Guarani from Paraguay will take on Atlético Nacional of Colombia and Chilean Cobreloa will visit Bogota to meet La Equidad.
On Wednesday four more Brazilian clubs come into action: Criciúma against Ponte Preta and Coritiba will visit Vitória.
Also that day Uruguay´s River Plate will leave for Colombia, as the only representative from their country alive in the Copa, to visit Itagüi, Universidad de Chile will play host to Independiente del Valle from Ecuador and Venezuela´s Mineros, the only survivor from the Caribbean country in the second stage, will visit Libertad of Paraguay.
On Thursday Brazilian clubs Portuguesa and Bahia will debut. Other games that day include Colombia´s Deportivo Pasto against Colo Colo of Chile and Ecuador´s Liga de Loja against Nacional of Paraguay.
Finally the first-legs of the second stage will come to an end when Argentinian neighbors San Lorenzo and River Plate will get together.
The second-leg matches will be played next week, except the match between River and San Lorenzo, to be held on September 5.
First-leg games to be played this week:
Tuesday:
In Santiago: Universidad Católica (CHI) - Emelec (ECU)
In Recife: Sport Recife (BRA) - Náutico (BRA)
In Asunción: Guaraní (PAR) - Atlético Nacional (COL)
In Bogotá: La Equidad (COL) - Cobreloa (CHI)
Wednesday:
In Itagüi: Itagüí (COL) - River Plate (URU)
In Santiago: Universidad de Chile - Independiente del Valle (ECU)
In Salvador: Vitória (BRA) - Coritiba (BRA)
In Asunción: Libertad (PAR) - Mineros (VEN)
In Criciuma: Criciúma (BRA) - Ponte Preta (BRA)
Thursday:
In Buenos Aires: San Lorenzo (ARG) - River Plate (ARG)
In Pasto: Deportivo Pasto (COL) - Colo Colo (CHI)
In Sao Paulo: Portuguesa (BRA) - Bahía (BRA)
In Loja: Liga de Loja (ECU) - Nacional (PAR)
Brasil: Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminense, Botafogo (100% Carioca) Rio > Säo Paulo
MENGÃO TRI DA AMÈRICA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RlVt8zJhXQ
tirs 20. aug 2013
Argentina Primera Division Wrap: Burruchaga sent off, Boca into third
Atletico Rafaela coach Jorge Burruchaga was sent off before his team´s 2-1 loss at Boca Juniors in the Argentina Primera Division.
Referee German Delfino dismissed Burruchaga after he deemed Rafaela´s entrance to the playing field to be too late.
Veteran Juan Roman Riquelme put Boca ahead with a sharp strike on 30 minutes before Lucas Albertengo levelled the contest four minutes before half-time.
But Boca had the last laugh over their coach-less opponents as Emanuel Insua struck the winner in the 68th minute.
http://www.youtube.com/w…c7HrfnC-N1M
The win lifted Boca into third position, behind leaders Argentinos Juniors and Gimnasia La Plata on goal difference.
Argentinos enjoyed a crushing 3-0 win at San Lorenzo, who recorded their first loss of the campaign.
Defender Julio Barraza got the first goal on 11 minutes with striker Hernan Boyero scoring nine minutes after half-time.
Rodrigo Gomez scored the third in the 64th minute, capping a great victory for Argentinos.
http://www.youtube.com/w…5BeB9VSzzBQ
Gimnasia were buoyed by an opening-minute own goal as they went on to record a 3-1 triumph at home against Rosario Central.
Paulo Ferrari´s unfortunate moment kick-started Gimnasia and they managed to double their lead through Federico Rasic after 19 minutes.
Rosario pulled a goal back through Franco Niell in the 38th minute but the points were wrapped up for Gimnasia by a Ignacio Fernandez strike on 84 minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/w…j1IcEWcqgk4
A brace from Sergio Araujo propelled Tigre to a comfortable 3-1 win over 10-man Racing Club.
http://www.youtube.com/w…nOK2G5BZJvM
In other results, Arsenal kept Olimpo´s winless start to the season in motion with a 3-1 victory, two goals in the first 10 minutes saw Lanus draw 1-1 with Estudiantes and there was a goalless draw between Godoy Cruz and River Plate.
http://www.youtube.com/w…wY7So9QJqec
http://www.youtube.com/w…0HVJbH1y2gw
All Boys and Velez Sarsfield fought out a 1-1 result, Colon shaded Quilmes 1-0 and Newell´s Old Boys were locked 0-0 with Belgrano.
http://www.youtube.com/w…Qrqp6gDT2FI
http://www.youtube.com/w…OZHa5t7wneo
Atletico Rafaela coach Jorge Burruchaga was sent off before his team´s 2-1 loss at Boca Juniors in the Argentina Primera Division.
Referee German Delfino dismissed Burruchaga after he deemed Rafaela´s entrance to the playing field to be too late.
Veteran Juan Roman Riquelme put Boca ahead with a sharp strike on 30 minutes before Lucas Albertengo levelled the contest four minutes before half-time.
But Boca had the last laugh over their coach-less opponents as Emanuel Insua struck the winner in the 68th minute.
http://www.youtube.com/w…c7HrfnC-N1M
The win lifted Boca into third position, behind leaders Argentinos Juniors and Gimnasia La Plata on goal difference.
Argentinos enjoyed a crushing 3-0 win at San Lorenzo, who recorded their first loss of the campaign.
Defender Julio Barraza got the first goal on 11 minutes with striker Hernan Boyero scoring nine minutes after half-time.
Rodrigo Gomez scored the third in the 64th minute, capping a great victory for Argentinos.
http://www.youtube.com/w…5BeB9VSzzBQ
Gimnasia were buoyed by an opening-minute own goal as they went on to record a 3-1 triumph at home against Rosario Central.
Paulo Ferrari´s unfortunate moment kick-started Gimnasia and they managed to double their lead through Federico Rasic after 19 minutes.
Rosario pulled a goal back through Franco Niell in the 38th minute but the points were wrapped up for Gimnasia by a Ignacio Fernandez strike on 84 minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/w…j1IcEWcqgk4
A brace from Sergio Araujo propelled Tigre to a comfortable 3-1 win over 10-man Racing Club.
http://www.youtube.com/w…nOK2G5BZJvM
In other results, Arsenal kept Olimpo´s winless start to the season in motion with a 3-1 victory, two goals in the first 10 minutes saw Lanus draw 1-1 with Estudiantes and there was a goalless draw between Godoy Cruz and River Plate.
http://www.youtube.com/w…wY7So9QJqec
http://www.youtube.com/w…0HVJbH1y2gw
All Boys and Velez Sarsfield fought out a 1-1 result, Colon shaded Quilmes 1-0 and Newell´s Old Boys were locked 0-0 with Belgrano.
http://www.youtube.com/w…Qrqp6gDT2FI
http://www.youtube.com/w…OZHa5t7wneo
Brasil: Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminense, Botafogo (100% Carioca) Rio > Säo Paulo
MENGÃO TRI DA AMÈRICA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RlVt8zJhXQ
tirs 20. aug 2013
Gareca: "No nos vamos conformes"
BUENOS AIRES -- El entrenador de Vélez Sarsfield, Ricardo Gareca, se mostró insatisfecho este lunes con el resultado obtenido en Floresta, aunque afirmó que siempre es difícil enfrentar a un equipo dirigido por Julio César Falcioni.
"No nos vamos conformes con el empate porque vinimos a buscar los tres puntos que nos hubieran dejado arriba en la tabla. Pero sabiendo que los equipos de Julio (Falcioni) se especializan en contrarrestar las virtudes de uno, el empate no es malo", arrancó el Tigre en rueda de prensa.
De todas maneras, para Gareca "lo peor del partido de hoy fue la lesión de Mauro (Zárate), al que seguramente vamos a tener que esperarlo 20 días. Nos sigue pasando lo mismo que en el semestre pasado".
Zárate, que debutó hoy en su segunda etapa en el club, debió abandonar el partido por un desgarro en la cara posterior del muslo izquierdo.
Más adelante, el técnico del Fortín sostuvo que no hay que adelantarse en fijar metas, porque "todavía es muy temprano para definir para qué está este equipo".
"Lo mejor que podemos hacer es tomar cada partido como si fuera el último e ir progresando fecha tras fecha", confió. Finalmente comentó que "en el segundo tiempo se vio algo de lo que buscamos, pero creo que Vélez tiene que dar todavía mucho más".
BUENOS AIRES -- El entrenador de Vélez Sarsfield, Ricardo Gareca, se mostró insatisfecho este lunes con el resultado obtenido en Floresta, aunque afirmó que siempre es difícil enfrentar a un equipo dirigido por Julio César Falcioni.
"No nos vamos conformes con el empate porque vinimos a buscar los tres puntos que nos hubieran dejado arriba en la tabla. Pero sabiendo que los equipos de Julio (Falcioni) se especializan en contrarrestar las virtudes de uno, el empate no es malo", arrancó el Tigre en rueda de prensa.
De todas maneras, para Gareca "lo peor del partido de hoy fue la lesión de Mauro (Zárate), al que seguramente vamos a tener que esperarlo 20 días. Nos sigue pasando lo mismo que en el semestre pasado".
Zárate, que debutó hoy en su segunda etapa en el club, debió abandonar el partido por un desgarro en la cara posterior del muslo izquierdo.
Más adelante, el técnico del Fortín sostuvo que no hay que adelantarse en fijar metas, porque "todavía es muy temprano para definir para qué está este equipo".
"Lo mejor que podemos hacer es tomar cada partido como si fuera el último e ir progresando fecha tras fecha", confió. Finalmente comentó que "en el segundo tiempo se vio algo de lo que buscamos, pero creo que Vélez tiene que dar todavía mucho más".
Brasil: Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminense, Botafogo (100% Carioca) Rio > Säo Paulo
MENGÃO TRI DA AMÈRICA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RlVt8zJhXQ
tirs 20. aug 2013
Lisandro López og Funes Mori i Benfica skal nok blive interessant.
Funes Mori firmó con Benfica
LISBOA -- Benfica anunció este lunes la contratación del delantero argentino del River Plate Rogelio Gabriel Funes Mori, que firmó por cinco temporadas.
El montante de la operación no fue divulgado oficialmente, pero los medios lusos calculan que la operación se cerró en unos dos millones de euros más el pase del jugador uruguayo Rodrigo Mora, que ya estaba cedido por el Benfica en River.
Funes Mori, de 22 años, se perfila como sustituto del prolífico goleador paraguayo Óscar Cardozo, a quien el Benfica podría buscar un club por la deteriorada relación que mantiene con el entrenador Jorge Jesús.
Fuerte físicamente -mide 1,85 metros-, el delantero nació en Mendoza (Argentina), pero ingresó en el fútbol profesional en Estados Unidos cuando a comienzos de la pasada década ganó el ´reality show´ "Sueño MLS".
Funes Mori, que ya debutó con la selección absoluta de su país, estuvo cerca de recalar en el Benfica hace dos años, pero su oferta, supuestamente de unos cinco millones de euros, no fue entonces suficiente para convencer a los dirigentes de River.
En el coloso portugués -32 veces campeón de Liga y dos veces campeón europeo-, coincidirá en el plantel con sus compatriotas Ezequiel Garay, Enzo Pérez, Nico Gaitán, ´Toto´ Salvio y Lisandro López.
Funes Mori firmó con Benfica
LISBOA -- Benfica anunció este lunes la contratación del delantero argentino del River Plate Rogelio Gabriel Funes Mori, que firmó por cinco temporadas.
El montante de la operación no fue divulgado oficialmente, pero los medios lusos calculan que la operación se cerró en unos dos millones de euros más el pase del jugador uruguayo Rodrigo Mora, que ya estaba cedido por el Benfica en River.
Funes Mori, de 22 años, se perfila como sustituto del prolífico goleador paraguayo Óscar Cardozo, a quien el Benfica podría buscar un club por la deteriorada relación que mantiene con el entrenador Jorge Jesús.
Fuerte físicamente -mide 1,85 metros-, el delantero nació en Mendoza (Argentina), pero ingresó en el fútbol profesional en Estados Unidos cuando a comienzos de la pasada década ganó el ´reality show´ "Sueño MLS".
Funes Mori, que ya debutó con la selección absoluta de su país, estuvo cerca de recalar en el Benfica hace dos años, pero su oferta, supuestamente de unos cinco millones de euros, no fue entonces suficiente para convencer a los dirigentes de River.
En el coloso portugués -32 veces campeón de Liga y dos veces campeón europeo-, coincidirá en el plantel con sus compatriotas Ezequiel Garay, Enzo Pérez, Nico Gaitán, ´Toto´ Salvio y Lisandro López.
Brasil: Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminense, Botafogo (100% Carioca) Rio > Säo Paulo
MENGÃO TRI DA AMÈRICA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RlVt8zJhXQ
tirs 20. aug 2013
Andrés Mendoza var ikke på banen for Pacifico FC, så det var Union Comercios Renzo Reanos som stod for rundens aktion..
http://www.youtube.com/w…0AFcBEAKagc
Peru Primera Division Wrap: Real Garcilaso beaten
Real Garcilaso will head into the Peru Primera Division second phase as the top-ranked team despite losing 1-0 to Cesar Vallejo.
In a heated contest that featured eight yellow cards, Cesar Vallejo scored the only goal of the game through Daniel Chavez on 79 minutes, handing Garcilaso their sixth loss of the campaign.
Freddy Garcia´s side lead the first phase by an unassailable four points with only one game left to play.
http://www.youtube.com/w…2m8w-SIDhvc
Universitario locked in second position after a 1-0 win at Union Comercio.
Comercio had lost their past three games and it was not to get any better as defender Renzo Reanos scored an own goal, handing Universitario the three points.
http://www.youtube.com/w…hHE0aP_abDQ
The race for the third is still between four clubs after Sporting Cristal were beaten 2-1 by bottom side Jose Galvez.
With Jose Galvez having won none of their past seven games, it was no shock when Cristal´s Jose Fernandez put his side into the lead on 17 minutes.
But Jose Galvez fought back with the equaliser four minutes later through Junior Aliberti before midfielder Jersson Vasquez scored the all-important winner in the 84th minute.
http://www.youtube.com/w…pfa_xnluCS4
Cesar Vallejo, Alianza Lima and UTC Cajamarca can also finish in third position if results go their way.
Alianza Lima earned their chance with a 2-1 triumph against Leon de Huanuco while Cajamarca missed the opportunity to go outright third after losing 3-1 at Cienciano.
http://www.youtube.com/w…yQqmL2_svfQ
http://www.youtube.com/w…UaPDbvC1SII
In other results, Sport Huancayo thrashed Pacifico 3-0, Universidad San Martin drew 1-1 with a 10-man Melgar and Juan Aurich shared the points with Inti Gas with a 1-1 scoreline.
http://www.youtube.com/w…-R1EPT7zt1k
http://www.youtube.com/w…aBf6Sj1ecRA
http://www.youtube.com/w…wcoe67DAFlY
http://www.youtube.com/w…0AFcBEAKagc
Peru Primera Division Wrap: Real Garcilaso beaten
Real Garcilaso will head into the Peru Primera Division second phase as the top-ranked team despite losing 1-0 to Cesar Vallejo.
In a heated contest that featured eight yellow cards, Cesar Vallejo scored the only goal of the game through Daniel Chavez on 79 minutes, handing Garcilaso their sixth loss of the campaign.
Freddy Garcia´s side lead the first phase by an unassailable four points with only one game left to play.
http://www.youtube.com/w…2m8w-SIDhvc
Universitario locked in second position after a 1-0 win at Union Comercio.
Comercio had lost their past three games and it was not to get any better as defender Renzo Reanos scored an own goal, handing Universitario the three points.
http://www.youtube.com/w…hHE0aP_abDQ
The race for the third is still between four clubs after Sporting Cristal were beaten 2-1 by bottom side Jose Galvez.
With Jose Galvez having won none of their past seven games, it was no shock when Cristal´s Jose Fernandez put his side into the lead on 17 minutes.
But Jose Galvez fought back with the equaliser four minutes later through Junior Aliberti before midfielder Jersson Vasquez scored the all-important winner in the 84th minute.
http://www.youtube.com/w…pfa_xnluCS4
Cesar Vallejo, Alianza Lima and UTC Cajamarca can also finish in third position if results go their way.
Alianza Lima earned their chance with a 2-1 triumph against Leon de Huanuco while Cajamarca missed the opportunity to go outright third after losing 3-1 at Cienciano.
http://www.youtube.com/w…yQqmL2_svfQ
http://www.youtube.com/w…UaPDbvC1SII
In other results, Sport Huancayo thrashed Pacifico 3-0, Universidad San Martin drew 1-1 with a 10-man Melgar and Juan Aurich shared the points with Inti Gas with a 1-1 scoreline.
http://www.youtube.com/w…-R1EPT7zt1k
http://www.youtube.com/w…aBf6Sj1ecRA
http://www.youtube.com/w…wcoe67DAFlY
Brasil: Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminense, Botafogo (100% Carioca) Rio > Säo Paulo
MENGÃO TRI DA AMÈRICA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RlVt8zJhXQ
tirs 20. aug 2013
A SARDINIAN SUMMER: THE FORGOTTEN STORY OF THE CHICAGO MUSTANGS
Cagliari Calcio are an altogether unremarkable football club. For much of their existence they have been a yo-yo team, alternating between promotion and relegation and oftentimes languishing in the rustic depths of the Serie C, the third tier of Italian football. In their 93 years of existence they have conquered just one piece of silverware, a lone Scudetto won in 1970. In those brief glory years they were led by the inspirational Gigi Riva, the all-time leading goalscorer of the Italian National team. Since their latest promotion to the top flight in 2004 they have managed to stave off relegation but have been in a perpetual state of purgatory; too far off the top to the table to harbor realistic European ambitions, yet too far from the bottom to risk a return to Serie B. Their record is, for the most part, unexceptional. Yet in a curious episode long forgotten in the annals of football history, for a brief period of time they were known as the Chicago Mustangs. For one fleeting summer, Cagliari Calcio, the team from the picturesque Mediterranean island of Sardinia, used Comiskey Park on the South Side of Chicago as their home ground. This is their story.
In the mid-1960s professional soccer in the United States was in disarray. The International Soccer League, based on a model of inviting guest teams from Europe and Latin America, was founded in 1960 but folded five years later due to pressure from the United States Soccer Football Association (or USSFA, and yes, it was really called that), who viewed the upstart league and its owner, Bill Cox, with suspicion. It seems counter-intuitive that the governing body of the sport stifled the development of a burgeoning league rather than encouraging it, but such was the pitiful state of soccer administration at the time. The only other professional league in existence was the American Soccer League (founded 1933), which operated primarily in the Northeast. Despite its official professional status, the league was poorly managed and in constant financial trouble. Walter Chyzowych, top scorer and league MVP for the 1965-66 season summarized all that was wrong with it:
"The ASL was supposed to be a professional league, but I considered it amateur. It was a higher standard of play, sure, but nobody was making any money. It was a joke... Every two or three years, players would leave because of management problems, coaching problems. You coached yourself, really. Somebody just made out the lineup."
The national team was not faring much better. Following the heroic victory over England at the 1950 World Cup, the USMNT failed to qualify for the competition for the next four decades. The lone qualifying spot allocated to CONCACAF in the years 1958-78 almost inevitably went to Mexico; the Americans were seldom even in the hunt.
And yet, in spite of this dismal state of affairs, the following year saw the creation of not just one, but two more professional leagues in the country. Clearly past failures were not enough to discourage sporting entrepreneurs, such as the aforementioned Bill Cox, from attempting to rekindle interest in a sport that, with the exception of immigrant communities in urban centers, had never really caught on in the country. In May of 1966 Cox and a consortium of baseball and American football franchise owners announced plans for an 11 team league to be known as the North American Professional Soccer League. Shortly afterwards two other groups also disclosed their intentions to create professional leagues: the National Soccer League, led by Richard Millen, and the United Soccer Association, led by Jack Cooke.
The USSFA, under pressure from FIFA to get the new league up and running quickly, pressed the delegations to merge their respective leagues. But the powers-that-be refused to compromise and went forward with their own projects. In addition, USSFA´s announcement that in return for their official sanction they would demand a hefty $25,000 licensing fee from each club and a significant portion of gate receipts and television money did little to promote cooperation between the various parties. That summer, as the controversy over which league would receive the USSFA´s seal of approval continued unabated; NBC broadcast the World Cup Final. The financial windfall from the tournament whet the appetites of the bigwigs and only exacerbated their obstinacy.
Bill Cox and Richard Millen eventually merged their proposals to create the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and so in 1967 two leagues, the United Soccer Association (USA) and the NPSL, began operations. The former league had the approval of FIFA while the latter did not, and thus players who signed with NPSL clubs faced sanctions from the world governing body. The NPSL was promoted as an ´American´ league, though in reality only eight American citizens in total were included in the rosters of the 10 sides, and of these just three were born in the United States. Players and coaches were haphazardly recruited from European countries; with the NPSL executives in such a rush to get things started, there was little time to invest in proper club infrastructure. The NPSL also landed a CBS television contract for a nationally televised match of the week that, despite not being particularly profitable, lent credibility to the endeavor. On April 16, 1967, the NPSL kicked off in Baltimore, where the hometown Bays defeated the visiting Atlanta Chiefs 1-0 in front of 8,434 fans.
The USA originally planned to launch in 1968 but, wary that the NPSL had seized the momentum, decided to begin play in the same year. Instead of dealing with the hassle of building teams from scratch, USA directors came up with a novel idea: import European and South American teams to play in the league during their offseason. The imported teams were marketed to fans as twelve of the best teams in the world, but this was pure hyperbole. Glentoran of Northern Ireland, rebranded as the Detroit Cougars, were the only side to have finished as champions in the previous edition of their domestic championship. Other ´powerhouses´ include Shamrock Rovers of the Republic of Ireland (Boston Rovers), 7th in the League of Ireland; Club Atlético Cerro (New York Skyliners), 3rd in the Uruguayan Primera División; and Wolverhampton Wanderers (Los Angeles Wolves), 2nd in the English Second Division. The world´s elite, these were not.
Cagliari Calcio, sixth in the previous edition of Serie A, were renamed the Chicago Mustangs. Supposedly teams were allocated to cities based on their ethnic makeup, and given Chicago´s substantial Italian community in this case the decision appears logical. The same cannot be said, however, of placing an Uruguayan team in New York or a Brazilian team in Houston.
A month before the league kicked off Chicago´s Comiskey Park hosted a friendly between Athletic Club of Bilbao and Red Star Belgrade as a sort of promotion match, though neither of these teams would feature in the league itself. David Condon, the legendary Chicago Tribune sportswriter, reported on the match. Though his column is full of enthusiasm, it treats soccer as a curiosity, as if he were observing a demonstration of a tribal ritual at the world´s fair in Victorian Britain rather than the world´s most popular pastime:
"Through the first half, the foreign fellows skidded over the turf and sparred around. The Yugoslavs seemed to have the better of it in the scoreless session, and so a few bets were changed during the intermission."
To further demonstrate the almost-satirical tone of the article, Condon also calls Athletic "the Bilbaos," and Cagliari "the Cagliaris," apparently oblivious to non-American team naming customs. An Athletic Club player is referred to as the "secretario of the Spanish eleven," and it is suggested that the fireworks display at halftime left Red Star Belgrade scrambling for cover, apparently convinced that the Russians were attacking.
On May 27, the eve of the Mustangs´ season opener at Comiskey Park, Condon once again devoted his ´In the Wake of the News´ column to soccer. This time he interviewed Ray Huber, a former player and an official with the Mustangs, who explained the intricacies of the United Soccer Association:
"[The Chicago Mustangs] are the Unione Sportiva Cagliari of Sardinia, Italy, but they will arrive by plane on Friday or Saturday to wear the Chicago Mustangs colors during the United Soccer Association´s first season... It´s this way: no sponsor in the United Soccer Association felt that he could build a team in the short space of the year. So we´ve all imported foreign teams to play as American clubs this year."
Later in the interview, after listing off the roster of Cagliari, Huber stressed that "not all the players I named are coming to play in Chicago, we don´t know which players they´ll bring." As it turned out, Cagliari´s star striker Gigi Riva was not one of them. An inauspicious beginning, to say the least.
And so on May 28, Cagliari Calcio played their first ever match as the Chicago Mustangs against Dundee United (Dallas Tornado) in front of 9,872 people at Comiskey Park on the city´s South Side. The only goal of the match was scored by Dundee´s Danish striker Finn Dossing in the 64th minute, giving Dallas the 1-0 victory.
The opening match set the tone for the rest of the season. The Mustangs drew their next two matches and only got their first victory in their fourth fixture, a 3-2 victory over the New York Skyscrapers (Uruguay´s Club Atlético Cerro). They had blown a 2-0 halftime lead in five second half minutes, but were rescued in the 72nd minute by Roberto Boninsegna´s individual effort. Boninsegna was without a doubt the Mustangs´ star performer of the campaign. He was the leading goalscorer of the USA with 10 goals and 1 assist, giving him 21 points in total as goals were worth double. Two years after his stint with the Mustangs he would transfer to Internazionale and go on to feature in the 1970 World Cup, where he scored Italy´s only goal in the famous 4-1 final defeat to Brazil at the Azteca and twice finished as top scorer in Serie A.
Interest in the Mustangs steadily declined; just 3,214 were on hand to see Boninsegna´s heroics, less than a third of the attendance figures at the home openers and a drop in the ocean considering the stadium´s capacity of 46,550. Yet while the Sardinians did little to capture the hearts of Chicagoans, they continued to make headlines, albeit for the wrong reasons. Brian Glanville, the legendary English soccer journalist and author of the World Cup Handbook, was in New York during the summer of 1967 and happened to be in attendance when the Mustangs came to visit the New York Skyscrapers. Though the match was in New York, it is likely that the heavily Italian contingent that showed up was there to support Cagliari and not the ´local´ Uruguayan boys. In an article for The Times Glanville describes an incident during that match:
"Fortunately, Cagliari´s fans that sultry evening did not quite get to Leo Goldstein, the little referee who survived, just as he had survived a concentration camp. After a bad foul by a Cerro player, there was a hiatus. Then, a little, fat Italian fan climbed over the railings and, untroubled by watching police, took a kick at a linesman and then returned to his place, where policemen chatted with him. Suddenly a pack of Italian fans was chasing Goldstein across the field. He tripped over the infield, kicked out, got up and got away."
The crowd trouble in New York was a sign of things to come in Toronto just several days later. A season-high 15,178 people showed up to the University of Toronto Stadium to witness Hibernian of Scotland, playing as Toronto City, take on the Mustangs. Once again there were plenty of boisterous Italians in attendance. Toronto took the lead within 40 seconds but Boninsegna equalized in the second half. The game was becoming an increasingly violent affair. Toronto´s Peter Cormack, in the book Summer Of ’67: Flower Power, Race Riots, Vietnam and the Greatest Soccer Final Played on American Soil, recalls:
"They were tackling you around the waist. It was brutal. You were getting assaulted. I got hit a couple of times and then I made up my mind that the next one that does that, I’m just going to wallop them."
Cormack followed through on his threat and duly got sent off. Nine minutes from time the referee totally lost control of the match. Toronto´s Colin Grant put his side up 3-1 with a free kick, but the Mustangs protested that they were still in the process of setting up the wall. The referee refused to order a retake, and the Chicago players walked off the field in protest. A pitch invasion ensued, and the referee and his assistants were both brutally attacked by the fans. According to Grant the Mustang players tried to get into the Toronto changing room. The tiny police presence was powerless to stop the riot. The game was abandoned, the final scored declared to be 2-1.
Little else of note happened on the football pitch. The Mustangs finished with a final record of 3 wins, 7 draws, and 2 defeats, good enough for 3rd in the Western division but not enough to get into the final, in which the Los Angeles Wolves (Wolverhampton) defeated the Washington Whips (Aberdeen) 6-5 in extra time. The quality of play was simply not drawing fans into the stadium; the Mustangs finished with a final average attendance figure of just 4,207. The USA´s rival, the NPSL, was not faring much better, and both leagues were losing massive amounts of money. Abe Korsower of the Chicago Tribune sums up the problems:
"Professional soccer invaded the United States in 1967 at maximum cost with minimum effect. The main reason for the confusion and resulting flood of red ink was that not one but two pro soccer leagues started and finished seasons throughout the country, often in direct competition with each other."
Common sense finally won out, and the two leagues were merged in December, creating the North American Soccer League. But by that point, the Chicago Mustangs had announced that the roster for the 1968 campaign would be entirely American. Importing teams proved to be a failed experiment. The Sardinian Summer was over.
The Mustangs survived for one more campaign. In 1968, the debut season of the NASL, they finished second in their division but failed to qualify for the playoffs. That season they once again boasted the league leading goalscorer, the Polish-born Janusz "John" Kowalik, who scored 30 goals and registered 9 assists in just 28 matches. The following year the NASL was reduced to just 5 teams, and the Chicago Mustangs instead joined the semi-professional National Soccer League. Not until 1975 and the founding of the Chicago Sting would the Windy City once again experience professional soccer.
The United Soccer Association and the importation of foreign teams represents a failed yet curious chapter of American soccer history. How unlikely is it that Roberto Boninsegna, World Cup runner up and three time Serie A winner, at one point in his career plied his trade right off the Dan Ryan Expressway on the South Side of Chicago, where the White Sox used to play? Cagliari Calcio may not have left much of a legacy in Chicago, and this episode of their history may be largely forgotten, but the sporting histories of these cities are now inextricably tied together.
Cagliari Calcio are an altogether unremarkable football club. For much of their existence they have been a yo-yo team, alternating between promotion and relegation and oftentimes languishing in the rustic depths of the Serie C, the third tier of Italian football. In their 93 years of existence they have conquered just one piece of silverware, a lone Scudetto won in 1970. In those brief glory years they were led by the inspirational Gigi Riva, the all-time leading goalscorer of the Italian National team. Since their latest promotion to the top flight in 2004 they have managed to stave off relegation but have been in a perpetual state of purgatory; too far off the top to the table to harbor realistic European ambitions, yet too far from the bottom to risk a return to Serie B. Their record is, for the most part, unexceptional. Yet in a curious episode long forgotten in the annals of football history, for a brief period of time they were known as the Chicago Mustangs. For one fleeting summer, Cagliari Calcio, the team from the picturesque Mediterranean island of Sardinia, used Comiskey Park on the South Side of Chicago as their home ground. This is their story.
In the mid-1960s professional soccer in the United States was in disarray. The International Soccer League, based on a model of inviting guest teams from Europe and Latin America, was founded in 1960 but folded five years later due to pressure from the United States Soccer Football Association (or USSFA, and yes, it was really called that), who viewed the upstart league and its owner, Bill Cox, with suspicion. It seems counter-intuitive that the governing body of the sport stifled the development of a burgeoning league rather than encouraging it, but such was the pitiful state of soccer administration at the time. The only other professional league in existence was the American Soccer League (founded 1933), which operated primarily in the Northeast. Despite its official professional status, the league was poorly managed and in constant financial trouble. Walter Chyzowych, top scorer and league MVP for the 1965-66 season summarized all that was wrong with it:
"The ASL was supposed to be a professional league, but I considered it amateur. It was a higher standard of play, sure, but nobody was making any money. It was a joke... Every two or three years, players would leave because of management problems, coaching problems. You coached yourself, really. Somebody just made out the lineup."
The national team was not faring much better. Following the heroic victory over England at the 1950 World Cup, the USMNT failed to qualify for the competition for the next four decades. The lone qualifying spot allocated to CONCACAF in the years 1958-78 almost inevitably went to Mexico; the Americans were seldom even in the hunt.
And yet, in spite of this dismal state of affairs, the following year saw the creation of not just one, but two more professional leagues in the country. Clearly past failures were not enough to discourage sporting entrepreneurs, such as the aforementioned Bill Cox, from attempting to rekindle interest in a sport that, with the exception of immigrant communities in urban centers, had never really caught on in the country. In May of 1966 Cox and a consortium of baseball and American football franchise owners announced plans for an 11 team league to be known as the North American Professional Soccer League. Shortly afterwards two other groups also disclosed their intentions to create professional leagues: the National Soccer League, led by Richard Millen, and the United Soccer Association, led by Jack Cooke.
The USSFA, under pressure from FIFA to get the new league up and running quickly, pressed the delegations to merge their respective leagues. But the powers-that-be refused to compromise and went forward with their own projects. In addition, USSFA´s announcement that in return for their official sanction they would demand a hefty $25,000 licensing fee from each club and a significant portion of gate receipts and television money did little to promote cooperation between the various parties. That summer, as the controversy over which league would receive the USSFA´s seal of approval continued unabated; NBC broadcast the World Cup Final. The financial windfall from the tournament whet the appetites of the bigwigs and only exacerbated their obstinacy.
Bill Cox and Richard Millen eventually merged their proposals to create the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and so in 1967 two leagues, the United Soccer Association (USA) and the NPSL, began operations. The former league had the approval of FIFA while the latter did not, and thus players who signed with NPSL clubs faced sanctions from the world governing body. The NPSL was promoted as an ´American´ league, though in reality only eight American citizens in total were included in the rosters of the 10 sides, and of these just three were born in the United States. Players and coaches were haphazardly recruited from European countries; with the NPSL executives in such a rush to get things started, there was little time to invest in proper club infrastructure. The NPSL also landed a CBS television contract for a nationally televised match of the week that, despite not being particularly profitable, lent credibility to the endeavor. On April 16, 1967, the NPSL kicked off in Baltimore, where the hometown Bays defeated the visiting Atlanta Chiefs 1-0 in front of 8,434 fans.
The USA originally planned to launch in 1968 but, wary that the NPSL had seized the momentum, decided to begin play in the same year. Instead of dealing with the hassle of building teams from scratch, USA directors came up with a novel idea: import European and South American teams to play in the league during their offseason. The imported teams were marketed to fans as twelve of the best teams in the world, but this was pure hyperbole. Glentoran of Northern Ireland, rebranded as the Detroit Cougars, were the only side to have finished as champions in the previous edition of their domestic championship. Other ´powerhouses´ include Shamrock Rovers of the Republic of Ireland (Boston Rovers), 7th in the League of Ireland; Club Atlético Cerro (New York Skyliners), 3rd in the Uruguayan Primera División; and Wolverhampton Wanderers (Los Angeles Wolves), 2nd in the English Second Division. The world´s elite, these were not.
Cagliari Calcio, sixth in the previous edition of Serie A, were renamed the Chicago Mustangs. Supposedly teams were allocated to cities based on their ethnic makeup, and given Chicago´s substantial Italian community in this case the decision appears logical. The same cannot be said, however, of placing an Uruguayan team in New York or a Brazilian team in Houston.
A month before the league kicked off Chicago´s Comiskey Park hosted a friendly between Athletic Club of Bilbao and Red Star Belgrade as a sort of promotion match, though neither of these teams would feature in the league itself. David Condon, the legendary Chicago Tribune sportswriter, reported on the match. Though his column is full of enthusiasm, it treats soccer as a curiosity, as if he were observing a demonstration of a tribal ritual at the world´s fair in Victorian Britain rather than the world´s most popular pastime:
"Through the first half, the foreign fellows skidded over the turf and sparred around. The Yugoslavs seemed to have the better of it in the scoreless session, and so a few bets were changed during the intermission."
To further demonstrate the almost-satirical tone of the article, Condon also calls Athletic "the Bilbaos," and Cagliari "the Cagliaris," apparently oblivious to non-American team naming customs. An Athletic Club player is referred to as the "secretario of the Spanish eleven," and it is suggested that the fireworks display at halftime left Red Star Belgrade scrambling for cover, apparently convinced that the Russians were attacking.
On May 27, the eve of the Mustangs´ season opener at Comiskey Park, Condon once again devoted his ´In the Wake of the News´ column to soccer. This time he interviewed Ray Huber, a former player and an official with the Mustangs, who explained the intricacies of the United Soccer Association:
"[The Chicago Mustangs] are the Unione Sportiva Cagliari of Sardinia, Italy, but they will arrive by plane on Friday or Saturday to wear the Chicago Mustangs colors during the United Soccer Association´s first season... It´s this way: no sponsor in the United Soccer Association felt that he could build a team in the short space of the year. So we´ve all imported foreign teams to play as American clubs this year."
Later in the interview, after listing off the roster of Cagliari, Huber stressed that "not all the players I named are coming to play in Chicago, we don´t know which players they´ll bring." As it turned out, Cagliari´s star striker Gigi Riva was not one of them. An inauspicious beginning, to say the least.
And so on May 28, Cagliari Calcio played their first ever match as the Chicago Mustangs against Dundee United (Dallas Tornado) in front of 9,872 people at Comiskey Park on the city´s South Side. The only goal of the match was scored by Dundee´s Danish striker Finn Dossing in the 64th minute, giving Dallas the 1-0 victory.
The opening match set the tone for the rest of the season. The Mustangs drew their next two matches and only got their first victory in their fourth fixture, a 3-2 victory over the New York Skyscrapers (Uruguay´s Club Atlético Cerro). They had blown a 2-0 halftime lead in five second half minutes, but were rescued in the 72nd minute by Roberto Boninsegna´s individual effort. Boninsegna was without a doubt the Mustangs´ star performer of the campaign. He was the leading goalscorer of the USA with 10 goals and 1 assist, giving him 21 points in total as goals were worth double. Two years after his stint with the Mustangs he would transfer to Internazionale and go on to feature in the 1970 World Cup, where he scored Italy´s only goal in the famous 4-1 final defeat to Brazil at the Azteca and twice finished as top scorer in Serie A.
Interest in the Mustangs steadily declined; just 3,214 were on hand to see Boninsegna´s heroics, less than a third of the attendance figures at the home openers and a drop in the ocean considering the stadium´s capacity of 46,550. Yet while the Sardinians did little to capture the hearts of Chicagoans, they continued to make headlines, albeit for the wrong reasons. Brian Glanville, the legendary English soccer journalist and author of the World Cup Handbook, was in New York during the summer of 1967 and happened to be in attendance when the Mustangs came to visit the New York Skyscrapers. Though the match was in New York, it is likely that the heavily Italian contingent that showed up was there to support Cagliari and not the ´local´ Uruguayan boys. In an article for The Times Glanville describes an incident during that match:
"Fortunately, Cagliari´s fans that sultry evening did not quite get to Leo Goldstein, the little referee who survived, just as he had survived a concentration camp. After a bad foul by a Cerro player, there was a hiatus. Then, a little, fat Italian fan climbed over the railings and, untroubled by watching police, took a kick at a linesman and then returned to his place, where policemen chatted with him. Suddenly a pack of Italian fans was chasing Goldstein across the field. He tripped over the infield, kicked out, got up and got away."
The crowd trouble in New York was a sign of things to come in Toronto just several days later. A season-high 15,178 people showed up to the University of Toronto Stadium to witness Hibernian of Scotland, playing as Toronto City, take on the Mustangs. Once again there were plenty of boisterous Italians in attendance. Toronto took the lead within 40 seconds but Boninsegna equalized in the second half. The game was becoming an increasingly violent affair. Toronto´s Peter Cormack, in the book Summer Of ’67: Flower Power, Race Riots, Vietnam and the Greatest Soccer Final Played on American Soil, recalls:
"They were tackling you around the waist. It was brutal. You were getting assaulted. I got hit a couple of times and then I made up my mind that the next one that does that, I’m just going to wallop them."
Cormack followed through on his threat and duly got sent off. Nine minutes from time the referee totally lost control of the match. Toronto´s Colin Grant put his side up 3-1 with a free kick, but the Mustangs protested that they were still in the process of setting up the wall. The referee refused to order a retake, and the Chicago players walked off the field in protest. A pitch invasion ensued, and the referee and his assistants were both brutally attacked by the fans. According to Grant the Mustang players tried to get into the Toronto changing room. The tiny police presence was powerless to stop the riot. The game was abandoned, the final scored declared to be 2-1.
Little else of note happened on the football pitch. The Mustangs finished with a final record of 3 wins, 7 draws, and 2 defeats, good enough for 3rd in the Western division but not enough to get into the final, in which the Los Angeles Wolves (Wolverhampton) defeated the Washington Whips (Aberdeen) 6-5 in extra time. The quality of play was simply not drawing fans into the stadium; the Mustangs finished with a final average attendance figure of just 4,207. The USA´s rival, the NPSL, was not faring much better, and both leagues were losing massive amounts of money. Abe Korsower of the Chicago Tribune sums up the problems:
"Professional soccer invaded the United States in 1967 at maximum cost with minimum effect. The main reason for the confusion and resulting flood of red ink was that not one but two pro soccer leagues started and finished seasons throughout the country, often in direct competition with each other."
Common sense finally won out, and the two leagues were merged in December, creating the North American Soccer League. But by that point, the Chicago Mustangs had announced that the roster for the 1968 campaign would be entirely American. Importing teams proved to be a failed experiment. The Sardinian Summer was over.
The Mustangs survived for one more campaign. In 1968, the debut season of the NASL, they finished second in their division but failed to qualify for the playoffs. That season they once again boasted the league leading goalscorer, the Polish-born Janusz "John" Kowalik, who scored 30 goals and registered 9 assists in just 28 matches. The following year the NASL was reduced to just 5 teams, and the Chicago Mustangs instead joined the semi-professional National Soccer League. Not until 1975 and the founding of the Chicago Sting would the Windy City once again experience professional soccer.
The United Soccer Association and the importation of foreign teams represents a failed yet curious chapter of American soccer history. How unlikely is it that Roberto Boninsegna, World Cup runner up and three time Serie A winner, at one point in his career plied his trade right off the Dan Ryan Expressway on the South Side of Chicago, where the White Sox used to play? Cagliari Calcio may not have left much of a legacy in Chicago, and this episode of their history may be largely forgotten, but the sporting histories of these cities are now inextricably tied together.
Brasil: Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminense, Botafogo (100% Carioca) Rio > Säo Paulo
MENGÃO TRI DA AMÈRICA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RlVt8zJhXQ
