Snak

Hehe det kan sagtens være jeg vil gøre det:-)

Når man nu kigger på truppen her - undres man over hvor meget "Chepo" egentligt har fucket op med tanke på hvor El tribefinder sig placeringsmæssigt i kvalpuljen.


Mexico names roster for Honduras, USA World Cup qualifiers

Jose Manuel "Chepo" de la Torre has named his squad to take on Honduras and the United States in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers and it doesn´t include Carlos Vela or Guillermo "Memo" Ochoa. Vela´s banishment from El Tri (or his continued disinterest in playing for his country, depending on whose side you´re on) keeps him off the team, while Memo Ochoa told Chepo he only wanted to be on the team if he would start so he is staying home while Jesus Corona gets the nod between the sticks again.

Christian "Chaco" Gimenez and Damian Alvarez are both back on the team after playing in a friendly against Ivory Coast earlier this week, reigniting the debate about whether naturalized players should be called into El Tri. Especially if Mexico struggles against Honduras and the U.S., you can bet that Chepo will find himself under fire for calling the pair in.

Outside of the two notable absences, and the two controversial inclusions, Mexico´s team is rather straightforward.

Chepo is sticking with Corona in goal and has a crop of defenders he is familiar with. All of them have played regularly for Mexico in the last couple years and while he will have to choose whether Jorge Torres Nilo or Carlos Salcido starts at left back, as well as sorting between his trio of centerbacks, whoever Chepo chooses will be familiar faces.

The midfield and forwards give Chepo a slew of decisions as well, with Fernando Arce coming on strong and possibly taking one starting spot, possibly from Jesus Zavala, while old stalwart Gerardo Torrado is still a Chepo favorite. Hector Herrera is in the team as well, but with Arce, Torrado, Zavala and Chaco also there, it´s tough to see him finding a way into the starting lineup.

Whether Chepo continues to stick with the two-man frontline of Oribe Peralta and Javier Hernandez bears watching. The two haven´t played well together, but Chepo still likes the two. He could opt to put them in a three-man front, with Giovani dos Santos, Andres Guardado or Angel Reyna also out there, while Raul Jimenez, Javier Aquino and Alvarez provide bench options.

As simple as picking this roster may seem for Chepo, choosing who to play is anything but. Chepo better get it right, though, because they are in third place and Honduras and Panama are right on their heels. If they do not take all three points at the Azteca on September 6 -- and they haven´t won at the Azteca in the Hex -- then they have to head to the U.S. four days later needing a win or they will be on the outside of the automatic qualifying spots heading into October.

Goalkeepers: Jesus Corona (Cruz Azul), Alfredo Talavera (Toluca), Jonathan Orozco (Monterrey)

Defenders: Severo Meza (Monterrey), Hiram Mier (Monterrey), Francisco Rodriguez (America), Diego Reyes (Porto), Hector Moreno (Espanyol), Carlos Salcido (Tigres), Jorge Torres Nilo (Tigres)

Midfielders: Jesus Zavala (Monterrey), Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul), Hector Herrera (Porto), Christian Gimenez (Cruz Azul), Fernando Arce (Tijuana), Andres Guardado (Valencia)

Forwards: Giovani Dos Santos (Villarreal), Javier Aquino (Villarreal), Angel Reyna (Veracruz), Damian Alvarez (Tigres), Oribe Peralta (Santos), Javier Hernandez (Manchester United), Raul Jimenez (America)

TR1986

Hehe det kan sagtens være jeg vil gøre det:-)

Så mangler vi bare at Arsenal og Argentinos spiller uafgjort i aften så er San Lorenzo med igen...

Det er dog lidt trist at se bolivianerne er ved at få styr på tingene igen.

Bliver spændende at se om et par af spillerne ryger idag - transfer deadline and all....

Paraguay Abroad: Why is Oscar Romero moving to Baniyas SC?

At the time of writing the deal is all but done between Cerro Porteño and Baniyas SC of the United Arab Emirates for one of Paraguay´s brightest young stars Oscar Romero. The left-footed playmaker who is one half of the Romero double-act (his twin brother Angel is also making waves with the azulgrana as a striker) is set to head to the Middle East after this round of World Cup Qualifiers. He has been re-called to the senior Paraguay squad having made his debut against Germany.

The obvious question is why is such a promising talent moving to what is probably a less competitive league than he is currently in, especially when there is a possibility that a European club will have noticed his considerable talent. The obvious answer is money. At this point I should probably roll out some such cliché as “football is a business now” and curse modern football and of course Daniel Campos, the footballer’s agent, for brokering this move that could “end” Romero’s career before it has even started. However, it might be a good time to take a reality check.

If the reported figures are correct then Cerro Porteño will receive 1.8 million dollars to loan Oscar Romero for 10 months, the player will earn 120,000 dollars a month and get a 300,000 dollar signing on fee. In other words he will receive 1.5 million dollars.

1.5 MILLION DOLLARS! Right now the kid is likely to earn 1.6 million guaranies a month, the minimum wage, which is usually given to players who have just broken through from the youth team. It is equivalent to $360 a month. “But the money goes much further in Paraguay ” those of you reading from abroad are thinking. Yes, but not that far. It is about $10 dollars a day once you remove national insurance payments (or the Paraguayan equivalent IPS).

Oscar Romero is from Fernando de la Mora, it is a satellite of Asunción, no offence to people who live there but it is your run-of-the-mill town for people who can’t afford the house prices or rental rates in the capital. They were brought up by their mum and grandmother, the dad was nowhere to be seen.

In their early teens the 1986 World Cup midfielder, Adolfino Cañete, spotted their talents and they made the pilgramage of so many young Paraguayans searching for riches as they left Paraguay for Buenos Aires. For 18 months they played for Boca Juniors but a contract offer didn’t appear. Since 2008 the twins have been on Cerro’s books, the youth facilities are 25 kilometres away which on a Paraguayan bus in 40c heat can be a bit of a pain to say the least. Fortunately once they broke into the senior sideanother famous set of brothers, the Salcedos (Santiago and José Domingo), helped them out giving the youngsters lifts to training.

In an interview just under a year ago the brothers dreamt about moving to Italy, England or Spain – Baniyas SC wasn’t on either player’s list and the idea of being split up was also something they preferred not to consider. But now the money is on the table, a huge pile of it, and the reality sets in. After just one month´s wages even taking away taxes and the agent´s cut Oscar Romero can buy a house in Fernando de la Mora for his mum, the next month he could get his grandmother one, if he gets the right advice a lot of that money will go into land just outside the capital. With Paraguay´s economy growing fast and the young population needing housing near their places of work it shouldn’t be long until Romero sees a return on that investment.

So while the Champions League was always the footballing dream, you don’t say no to a million-dollar offer from a club you’ve never heard of when there are mouths to feed and other dreams to be realized.

I wish him luck, I’ll miss watching him in the local league and I hope the Middle East is just a springboard to a career in Europe so we can all get to see that wonderful left foot and ability to find the only bit of space in a packed midfield to work his magic.

Last Tango in Lima

Oscar Tabárez and Sergio Markarian’s geriatric tango will grind to a halt on September 6, 2013. This last and hopefully final edition between “Master” and “Pupil” will settle the record once and for all as to who was the master and who was the pupil between the two.

In 2010, Perú hired Markarian to right away years of national team erosion, 32 in all. Markarian who coached Paraguay in another lifetime came to Perú selling defense and promising to utilize all Peruvian players, including those who had been separated from the national team by previous coaches for disciplinary issues. And gee golly, it all looked good. Perú finished 3rd in the 2011 Copa America. Surely they would qualify to the 2014 World Cup… the qualifiers however are a whole different beast. And a story that had to be learned by Perú’s national team. They are currently behind Uruguay on points for CONMEBOL’s 5th place finish in qualification.

By the time Perú got rolling in the 2011 Copa America, Uruguay’s time in the sun had at long last come. And after it was all said and done, Uruguay were Copa America champions and ranked 2nd overall by FIFA’s World Wide Ranking system, which confirmed that Uruguay under Tabárez were a force to be reckoned with.

But for all the glory, the moment passed, Uruguay were left with a fleeting snapshot of what could be not what it had sought to become. Like Perú, Uruguay had to “learn” that qualification was a different kind of story.. Again! A lesson Uruguay forgot while basking in back-to-back tournament highs. And forget they did. Uruguay forgot all about the rhythm needed to play the qualifiers and forgot all about the seriousness of it all. The scapegoat should Uruguay fail come October will be Tabárez. It was after all his insistence that Uruguay use a default squad throughout the qualifiers that may have in hindsight doomed Uruguay’s chances which in November of 2011 looked as good as gold.

That germ of an idea, which took hold in 2010, gave way to a default squad, unchangeable and almost set in stone. 2010, the year of Uruguay’s renaissance and Perú’s reboot is therefore important. In 2010, OWT was a tactically proactive manger with a team that could maybe overcome the odds. His Uruguay were a tactically malleable side which could switch from a 442 to a 433 and back during games became in 2012 unyielding and static – cartoonish!

This last and final encounter with Markarian’s Perú will reveal whether that parasitic idea which infected Uruguay’s NT manager post World Cup was healthy or sickly. While Perú hopes that betting their lot with a man nicknamed El Mago (The Magician) will qualify them to the World Cup, Uruguay –– still in desperation mode to get into the World Cup –– is also hoping that Tabárez can somehow pull a rabbit out of Alvaro Gonzalez’ ass and get Uruguay into the World Cup. Not by tactics mind you but by hoping that somehow everything turns out right in the end.

Miracles, shamanism sound nice but if this is all there is to this encounter, we might as well toss a coin to decide who goes through. Football is a game that requires passion not indifference and these two coaches regardless of their prestigious nicknames caused more havoc with indifferent spells at moments they should’ve been wide awake. But let the best man win, if the best man happens to be Markarian, screw him, let the worst man win… Vamos Uruguay!

Bad for your brain!

When last we saw Uruguay, they were trashing Japan in a FIFA friendly played out on August 14. It was one of those games where everything went right for the Sky-Blue, Forlán nabbed a brace (which is rare for Forlán in the last 2 years) and El Maestro’s favorite player Álvaro González also managed to score.

Uruguay lined up with Muslera, M.Pereira, Lugano, Godín, Cáceres, Gargano, González, Rodríguez, Lodeiro, Forlán and Suárez. it was a game however that doesn’t mean anything, not because the opponent was Japan, it didn’t mean anything because Cavani didn’t play.

You can’t have a proper Equipo De Memoria without Cavani. So while the lineup against Perú won’t be dramatically different from the one that faced Japan, it will include Cavani, that much is guaranteed. That’s not too difficult to understand is it?

Who will El Maestro start to face Perú? This isn’t a difficult question, you take out Gargano because El Maestro will go with either Diego Pérez or Arévalo-Ríos. My guess is, he’s going with Pérez… bye bye Gargano and Arévalo-Ríos is relegated to the bench. Of course El Equipo de Memoria must include Álvaro González, it must or I must shut down this Blog ASAP. But what about Lodeiro?Well didn’t you just read the part where I said that Cavani will be starting… if you did then you would know that Lodeiro won’t be starting.

The team will resemble the squad that played against Brazil in the Confederations Cup semi-final. Cebolla will join Pérez/González in the middle – Forlán will be plugged between Suárez and Cavani, expected to spearhead Uruguay’s attacks.

Will it work? Well it didn’t work against Brazil, but Uruguay’s tempo was right. And this is what this whole goddamned Equipo De Memoria experiment has been about. Imposing a rhythm of play that forces the opponent to make mistakes, and according to OWT, the way you go about doing that is by using a default squad who know each other inside out, know when to turn on the heat, know what needs to be done. Of course the only problem with that idea is that this same team flatlined most of last year by using only a default squad.

Is El Equipo de Memoria a good idea? No – right now however it’s the only idea. So with that little nugget stored in the back of your head, and in all likelihood –– unless Tabárez wants to start getting cute on us –– this will be the team OWT will probably send into Lima to come back with at least a point.

Perú has given Uruguay problems before, more famously in the 1982 Qualifiers but since then, they’ve been usually eliminated by the time they faced Uruguay and relished the role of spoiler more so than Qualifier participant, with the gas flame on high will they be able to replicate the 1-0 win they conjured up against Uruguay in the 2010 qualifiers?

Probably not. One thing is playing for nothing, facing a team that’s starved for wins. Another thing is playing to get a win. Perú needs this game if they have any hope of catching Uruguay and Venezuela who are ahead of Perú on points.

For Uruguay, who managed 4th place in the Confederations Cup tournament, recovering some type of “garrá” was a more important objective. If they can play anywhere near to the level they showed against Brazil, it’s possible that the Sky-Blue can come away with a win in Lima. Possible… Likely? Ehhh No. But then again, what do we know anyway? Lets be positive for once… lets all snort some Equipo De Memoria nose candy and hope that Tabárez was right all along!

Transfer deadline day: Abel Hernandez hoping to leave Palermo before window shuts
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Uruguay international Abel Hernandez has told Palmero he wants to leave before the transfer window shuts.

The 23-year-old, who has been linked with Premier League duo Arsenal and Sunderland this summer, has revealed that he hopes to move on.

"The club and the coach told me that I could leave if the right offer was made and I think that has now arrived," the striker told calciomercato.it.

"They know what I want and they know what they promised me."

Genoa and Sassuolo are said to be keen on giving Hernandez the chance to return to Serie A following Palermo´s relegation last term.

"I don´t want to lose the chance of playing at the World Cup next summer," he said.

"I think playing in Serie A is beautiful, but the desire to be at World Cup 2014 is what has pushed me to ask for a transfer."

Boca and San Lorenzo winners in Sunday’s big clashes

River Plate‘s dismal start to the season continued last night as they suffered defeat in the Nuevo Gasmetro against San Lorenzo. Despite now being able to field striker, Teo Gutierrez, River still look woefully short of creativity and so Julio Buffarini’s contentious second half penalty was enough for victory. River will be fuming that goalkeeper, Marcelo Barovero was adjudged to have come off his line in saving the first penalty but that doesn’t mask the fact that they were very poor.

Boca Juniors, on the other hand, looked much better as they beat Velez Sarfield in La Bombonera. Fernando Gago made his debut since resigning, to lineup against the side that had him last season, and was imperious in the middle of midfield. It was Gago’s freekick that was flicked into the back of the net by Ribair Rodriguez to give Boca the lead after just 1 minute. Ezequiel Rescaldani equalised shortly after but Nicolas Blandi’s short range finish before half time was enough for a deserved victory.

Colon beat Rosario Central 2-1 in Santa Fe, thanks to two goals from Ruben Ramirez and earlier Gimnasia La Plata produced a goalless draw when they hosted Godoy Cruz.


GIMNASIA LA PLATA 0 – 0 GODOY CRUZ


COLON 2 – 1 ROSARIO CENTRAL

http://www.youtube.com/w…qSIOhewsoFs

SAN LORENZO 1 – 0 RIVER PLATE

http://www.youtube.com/w…0P5PfY#t=16


BOCA JUNIORS 2 – 1 VELEZ SARSFIELD

http://www.youtube.com/w…JkqiU#t=198

Troglio analizó el 0-0 de Gimnasia

LA PLATA -- El técnico de Gimnasia, Pedro Troglio, lamentó no haber podido ganar el partido ante Godoy Cruz al fallar "en el pase final" aunque se mostró optimista por el recorrido que está haciendo el equipo en su vuelta a Primera división.

"Hoy fue un partido donde hemos vuelto a estar imprecisos, más allá de manejar el ritmo del partido y sin sobresalir más que el rival. Hemos tenido situaciones, aproximaciones, pero fallamos en el pase final y después los minutos pasan, el cansancio se siente y el equipo se va desdibujando un poco", sintetizó.

Gimnasia hubiera pasado a la punta en el caso de ganarle al Tomba.

No obstante resaltar a Godoy Cruz que "marcó y se defendió bien", se mostró conforme con lo que está haciendo en el torneo Inicial.

"Hay que seguir, tenemos los puntos que merecemos y quizás más de los que pensábamos antes de empezar. Lo que pasa es que ahora viene otro partido difícil (ante Rafaela) y cada domingo es una historia distinta y hay que estar preparado para eso", cerró el entrenador.

Colón: Forestello elogió a su equipo

SANTA FE -- El entrenador de Colón de Santa Fe, Rubén Forestello, resaltó "la entrega y el carácter" de sus jugadores para conseguir la victoria sobre Rosario Central.

"Si ante River ganamos el partido dando una muestra de inteligencia, este lo conseguimos en base a enntrega y caracter", señaló Forestello.

El técnico de Colón indicó que "en este tipo de partidos donde te empatan y te quedás con uno menos (por la expulsión de Bruno Urribarri) hay jugadores que dan un poco más y esto fue lo que mostró Colón, sobre todo en el segundo tiempo".

"Esta victoria más allá de lo numérico puede ser fundamental desde lo anímico. Somos un equipo en construcción y este tipo de partidos nos ayudan a seguir creciendo y a soñar con ser un conjunto muy competitivo", puntualizó.