Snak

It is estimated that Argentina and the United States will have the most tourists

Brazil, home of the World-2014, expects Argentine and the U.S. to lead in the number of tourists during the tournament, said the state agency to promote tourism (Embratur) on Friday.

In 2012 Brazil had 1.6 million tourists from Argentina and 586,000 from the United States, according to the institution.

"The two countries that send the most tourists to Brazil already have their national teams in the World Cup. Fans of these two countries will be important to reach the goal of 7.2 million foreigners (expected) next year," said Embratur in a statement.

Only for the World Cup-2014, which runs from June 12 to July 13, Brazil expects to receive 600,000 tourists in the 12 host cities, according to official estimates.

Regarding the rest of the countries whose teams have qualified, Italy is the seventh largest source of tourists to Brazil, while the Netherlands is the fifteenth.

"We will take specific actions (promotion) in each of these markets," said the president of Embratur, Flavio Dino.

While FIFA is optimistic that Brazil´s stadiums will be ready for the event, specialists question whether the hotel or transportation capacity will be adequate for the expected massive turnout.

Bianchi’s Boca brush aside Ischia’s Racing – all of Sunday’s other action


Fernando Gago was once again instrumental in Boca Juniors‘ latest win in La Bombonera. The central midfielder was the heartbeat of the side and crucial to his side’s 2-0 win over Racing. Juan Sanchez Miño headed Boca in front following some nice link up play with Gigliotti down the left and midway through the second half it was Gigliotti who got his head to a flick on and put the game beyond any doubt. Carlos Ischia is still waiting for his first win as Racing boss as his team lie bottom of the table.

River Plate travelled across the city to Sarandi to face Arsenal in the dreadful weather evident during nearly all the games. Despite going ahead early through youngster, Gabriel Mercado, River were pegged back in the second half through Julio Furch’s well struck shot. Arsenal were unable to push for the win and so were unable to claim top spot from Newell’s.

Earlier in the day, Atletico Rafaela earned a 1-0 win over Estudiantes. The only goal of the game coming after just 15 minutes when Lucas Albertengo chased down a long ball and fired in from an angle.

Lastly, in Victoria, Tigre battled to a 2-0 win in awful conditions against Rosario Central. Ramiro Leone slotted in the first and shortly after, Emiliano Ellecopulos lofted the ball over the keeper for the win.

ATLETICO RAFAELA 1 – 0 ESTUDIANTES

http://www.youtube.com/w…vedCK1b77Lw

TIGRE 2 – 0 ROSARIO CENTRAL

http://www.youtube.com/w…REvDoFIxfQY

BOCA JUNIORS 2 – 0 RACING CLUB

http://www.youtube.com/w…ClW-7qQ9PDw

ARSENAL 1 – 1 RIVER PLATE

http://www.youtube.com/w…SCFE6xIQ07s

Bianchi: "Podíamos ganar por más"

BUENOS AIRES -- El entrenador de Boca Juniors, Carlos Bianchi, destacó la producción que tuvo su equipo en la victoria ante Racing Club y admitió que podían haber anotado algún gol más y estirar el 2-0 final.

"Hicimos un partido bastante interesante y podíamos haber hecho algún gol más. La actuación fue muy buena y lo importante es que se ganó y que no nos hicieron goles", valoró el director técnico en conferencia de prensa.

Y subrayó: "Contamos con muchos buenos pies y se trató de manejar la pelota. A pesar de que la cancha estuvo muy difícil, se hizo un partido de alto nivel".

"A veces uno puede pensar que es falta de eficacia, pero también un poco de suerte es necesaria. Hay pelotas que pasan cerca de un palo o que pegan en un pie o en otro. Hoy creamos más de 10 situaciones de gol e irnos con solo dos goles a uno lo frustra un poco", precisó el Virrey.

En cuanto al mediocampista Fernando Gago, quien fue la figura del encuentro, Bianchi elogió el aporte y la prolijidad del volante del seleccionado argentino.

"Fernando (por Gago) está demostrando un altísimo nivel, es un mediocampista que juega en la Selección Argentina y por eso tiene que tener buen nivel. Tenemos la suerte de contar con él y lo aprovechamos", remarcó el orientador xeneize.

"Los dos partidos que jugó (Gago) lo hizo en un buen nivel", resaltó el director técnico.

GAGO: "HAY QUE SEGUIR POR ESTE CAMINO"

El mediocampista Fernando Gago afirmó que Boca debe "seguir por este camino" de cosechar triunfos para mantenerse en las primeras posiciones del Torneo Inicial 2013.

"Hay que seguir por este camino para mantenernos arriba", resaltó el volante, luego de la victoria 2-0 contra Racing Club en La Bombonera.

En cuanto al partido ante el cuadro de Avellaneda, Gago comentó: "Fuimos constantes en todo momento del juego, dominamos los 90 minutos. Ganamos muy bien".

Gago dijo además que en lo personal se "siente muy bien", tras las lesiones que sufrió en el primer semestre y agradeció la ovación que le propinó el público xeneize.

"Es algo muy lindo que la gente te reconozca, yo me siento muy cómodo", concluyó el mediocampista del seleccionado argentino.


PARTE MÉDICO DEL PLANTEL

El marcador central Daniel Díaz sufrió una lesión en el músculo isquiotibial izquierdo y el lateral Emanuel Insúa, una lumbalgia, según el parte médico que proporcionó Boca Juniors tras el triunfo por 2-0 ante el Racing Club en La Bombonera.

Insúa por ese problema físico salió en el primer tiempo y fue reemplazado por Nahuel Zárate.

En cuanto al Cata Díaz, por su lesión fue sustituido en el segundo período y en su lugar ingresó Matías Caruzzo.

Al exzaguero de Colón de Santa Fe, Rosario Central, Getafe y Atlético de Madrid se le realizarán estudios para obtener un diagnóstico preciso.

Por otra parte, habrá que esperar hasta el martes para conocer el grado de mejoría del capitán Juan Román Riquelme acerca de la dificultad que lo aqueja en un gemelo.

Como esté el martes el talentoso armador permitirá empezar a evaluar si se hallará en condiciones de reaparecer el domingó próximo ante Argentinos Juniors en el Diego Armando Maradona, ya por la octava fecha del Torneo Inicial.

Uruguay 2 – Colombia 0: General analysis

Starting line-up

Muslera, Fucile, Giménez, Scotti, Mono, Arévalo, Tata, Cebolla, Lodeiro, Cavani, Suárez

Muslera: Had a solid game, won some face-to-face situations and improved considerably against crosses (an usual weakspot on his play, also atypical for a guy this tall).

Fucile: Credit to “El Maestro” here. I was surprised how this player can come back after so long, and play with hunger instead of nerves, this isn’t exactly a pleasant game to regain your form.

Basically he showed he’s always here available. In a post-match interview he said: ‘I don’t have friends inside the pitch. I get on this jersey and automatically opponents turn into ogres to me. Inside there it’s war’.

Giménez: “He had to dance with the ugliest one”, popular saying over here, fits perfectly to define this young boy’s duty. He’s barely 18. Showed confidence, attitude, strength, temper, timing and proved promising for the near future. The experiment went out okay.

Scotti: managed to organize the defense in a very tidy way. He was always last man in town, and payed especial attention to his new teenager partner, so credit to him, who meant a “defensive compass” to Giménez, his reference, the voice of experience in a kind and smart way.

Mono: Tireless. If I say he looked like the old Mono Pereyra, is it enough? His performance was unarguably beyond acceptable.

Arévalo: Was a beast. A hairy one (and nothing to do with his bald patch). A real pitbull. Looks like playing time in the US pretty much helped him. He was brave, active, and mostly precise on passing the ball.

Cebolla: Ran far. Not the best version of him, but acceptable. We need more of the onion.

Lodeiro: Probably and hopefully his last game in a Celeste jersey. I’m being a little harsh on him cause we never get what we expect from the guy. Psycologically he’s not ready. God knows if he’ll someday be. Some skills in there, not enough perhaps. Big players show up in big games. According to this, he’s not.

Tata: Not anyone’s cup of tea, but my limited football knowhow forces me to be frank here and admit he had a decent game, being active in midfield, participating, running, defending, and more importantly, the magnitude of this match neither enhanced nor worsen his typical game.

Cavani: A beast. Tried always to decide for the sake of the team, so he was not selfish. Defended well, yeah this is Uruguay we’re talking, Cavani is centre back, right back and also a striker, in fact, if my memory doesn’t trick me, it was him who stole the ball from the Colombians in our own pitch, passed to Maxi, received the ball after both ran like madmen and scored from a header. Surely deserving a wage increase.

Suárez: I noticed some selfishness in “El Pistolero” this time around. Not his best game, but we can forgive him for the countless times he saved our skin.

Stuani: Showed a cold mind in the good sense of it, precise with the ball, proved good as a midfielder and as a striker. Another credit to Tabárez, because even though we all wanted to see more of this player, like it or not, it was our coach who saw him first.

Gargano: Was very solid and seemed inspired for this game.

Ramírez: Showed exactly what’s expected from Lodeiro.

We are many steps closer, but we should not be happy allowing anyone to impose a possessional game over us. Spread the midfield with players who have a good enough ball control to endure any opposing pressure without making mistakes. That’s James Rodriguez type of player. It was impossible to get the ball off his feet, to force him to blunder, he would always find destiny to his passes. I witnessed something familiar to this watching De Arrascaeta in sub-20, amazing ball control and passing accurately vs. desperate Spaniards.

So it’s not about passing a ball when there’s nobody around to annoy, what counts is to achieve accurateness in passing against teams who don’t want you to do so, and who have quality to press and then pass. It is being able to hold that round thing waiting for something smart to do. You need some skills for that, and these are the type of player we need to welcome. Ball control, technique, tactical understanding of the game, strength or speed, accurateness are some of the ingredients which should be mandatory in any midfield. This is the answer to the million dollar question: Why can’t we play a possessional game. It is not because “we are Uruguayans” and it’s set in stone we should play cavern-man football.

I’d be glad to test, just to name a few: Cristóforo, Nacho González, De Arrascaeta, Ale Silva. Jiménez is great, but have you seen Guillermo de los Santos (Nacional wonderkid)? He also deserves a shot.

Conclusion is, all these suspensions and injuries were a blessing in disguise as they gave birth to a new era in which Change ain’t a bad word anymore. Generational change is more than welcome!

THE DAY AFTER

The Confederations Cup has come and gone and for La Celeste the result was as positive as winning the whole thing. Tabarez’ planning seems to be working as perfect as a Space Shuttle launch. In a matter of 3 months we went from having mere hopes of qualifying for the World Cup to now sitting pretty in fourth (with Ecuador) and optimistically eyeing a third place finish and 7th in FIFA rankings giving us an automatic group seeding for the World Cup.

What we persistently requested from “el Maestro”, new blood, due of suspensions and injuries he has been forced to bring on new players and they have all exceeded any expectations, hats off to Tabarez for Stuani!, yes Stuani is adding depth (and a potential future replacement for Forlan) in the front line that we have long needed and begged for and young blood Gimenez was thrown into a high profile game against Colombia and stared down Falcao of all strikers. Tabarez and La Celeste resurgence comes at the precise time, any later and it would have probably been too late to turn the ship around.

All this has brought to the forefront a concern that I have had for quite a while now. What happens the day after either October 15 and we are eliminated (if the moon and stars align, we lose both games left to Ecuador and Argentina and Venezuela crushes Paraguay) or July 13 and we silence the Maracana once more. Who is in line to succeed Tabarez? It is almost for certain that he will be stepping down as coach, and maybe taking on a managerial role at AUF, at least that’s what Bauza wants him to do. But who will take on the task of coaching the national squad, continuing all the work done by El Maestro and hopefully building on it for bigger and better things.

I think it concerns me because I truly don’t like any of the youth team options (Garay, Coito, Verzeri) even though they have triumphed in there coaching positions I just don’t think they have what it takes to take on the Major squad. Mainly because I believe the national squad is the ultimate prize for a track record of incredible results. The few that I would have wanted to see take on La Celeste coaching position are now past their prime, Nelson Acosta and Sergio Markarian. I would enjoy Fossatti given a second chance due to the fact that he turned around a campaign that had less chances then this one did last June, bigger personalities to contend with (Montero, Morales, Silva) and made it to semi-finals of the Copa America Peru ’04 and was finally eliminated in playoffs against Australia for the World Cup Germany ‘06, albeit not his fault due to the fact that after the home game in Montevideo, both squads had to scramble to the airport, hop on a plane fly half way across the world and play 3 days later. King Midas Gus Hiddink had a charter for his squad who not only travelled in first class but landed half way to Australia and did some stretching and recovery drills, while the Uruguay squad thanks to Figueredo and co. flew in two different groups in coach with no recovery until landing in Sydney. But I still try to make a mental list of possible candidates and I really can’t think of any other then the aforementioned Fossatti.

All Uruguayan coaches seem to be lacking expertise. Many have the years of service but no true laurels to merit the national squad (Gregorio Perez or Anibal Ruiz) others just lack experience (Diego Aguirre and Da Silva). We have all seen what happens when you appoint inexperienced coaches to top squads (Juan Ramon Carrasco, Diego Maradona) you may get lucky like Barcelona with Guardiola but chances are you will pay for the inexperience. In my own opinion the only foreigner that I would like to take a stint at La Celeste is Felipao, I believe his philosophy would fit in nicely with the Uruguayan player characteristics.

What eases my concerns is that the current president at AUF is a professional and has shown he is concerned more about the National Squad and its image and not personal goals like so many of his successors. He will surely work closely with El Maestro to appoint a coach with a similar profile. But I still think it’s worth pondering and even debating, Who should succeed El Maestro at the helm?

CONCACAF Champions League Preview: Sporting Kansas City, Toluca aim to continue good form

Sporting Kansas City and Toluca will look to retain their 100 per cent starts in the latest round of CONCACAF Champions League fixtures.

Major League Soccer outfit Sporting face Real Esteli at home on Wednesday having already inflicted a 2-0 defeat on the Nicaraguan side in the opening game of their 2013-14 campaign back in August.

Toluca of Mexico, meanwhile, travel to Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday to take on a Caledonia AIA team they beat 3-1 last month at Estadio Nemesio Diez.

Another Mexican team, five-time Champions League winners America, are also in action, but are looking to bounce back from a disappointing defeat.

Miguel Herrera´s men lost 1-0 to Costa Rica´s Alajuelense courtesy of a late penalty in their last outing, but have the chance to make amends against Sporting San Miguelito at home.

Cruz Azul - the joint-most successful club in the competition alongside America - do not feature in the latest round of fixtures, but could see their Group 3 lead cut when Herediano of Costa Rica host Haiti´s Valencia.

Elsewhere, San Jose Earthquakes will hope to inflict revenge for their 1-0 defeat to MLS rivals Montreal Impact over in Group 5, while LA Galaxy will also stay in the United States to host Isidro Metapan of El Salvador.

Another MLS side, Houston Dynamo, will not play this time around, but will watch intently as their group rivals W Connection of Trinidad and Tobago and Panama´s Arabe Unido face off.

Meanwhile, El Salvador´s Firpo play host to Victoria of Honduras with both teams chasing a maiden win.

Copa Sudamericana Preview: Sao Paulo face Universidad Catolica, River Plate meet LDU Loja

Sao Paulo will continue the defence of their Copa Sudamericana crown as they meet Universidad Catolica in the quarter-finals.

The Brazilian club defeated Tigre in last year´s final, having beaten Chilean opposition 5-0 at the last-eight stage before also seeing off Catolica in the semi-finals.

However, Muricy Ramalho´s men must travel for the second leg, and so will hope to build up a convincing lead at Morumbi when the tie gets under way.

Two-time Copa Libertadores winners River Plate are another illustrious club to have reached the quarter-finals this year, and they will take on LDU Loja of Ecuador there.

But Brazil are by far the best-represented nation at this stage of the competition, with a further four clubs from the country having made it through the first and second stages.

Coritiba and Ponte Preta both begin the quarters with home clashes, as they take on Colombian opposition in the form of Itagui and Deportivo Pasto respectively.

Bahia also face a team from Colombia in Atletico Nacional, though they will need to travel for the first leg, as will Sport Recife when they face Libertad of Paraguay.

Elsewhere, the two other remaining Argentine teams - Lanus and Velez Sarsfield - play Universidad Chile and La Equidad of Colombia respectively.

Costa Rica Primera Division Wrap: Saprissa remain top

Deportivo Saprissa remain top of the Costa Rica Primera Division with a game in hand after a 2-1 win at Santos de Guapiles.

Midfielder Diego Estrada secured a 30th minute lead for Saprissa, which they held until the half-time break.

Three minutes after the restart, Santos levelled the game as Cristan Lagos scored this third goal of the campaign.

But the division strugglers could not hold on to a point as Estrada scored his second goal on 87 points to secure the points for Saprissa.

Saprissa now move one point clear on top of the standings from Ajajuelense and also have a game in hand, while Santos have only one win from eight games and languish in ninth position.

Jerry Palacios´ hat-trick allowed his Alajuelense side to keep pace with Saprissa as they swept aside Cartagines 4-0 in front of their home fans.

The Honduran international struck in the fifth and 22nd minutes before completing his treble two minutes after half-time.

Alvaro Sanchez completed the rout in the 82nd minute.

In other results, Heradiano were powered by Yendrick Ruiz´s brace as they overcame Perez Zeledon 3-1 and Limon won 2-0 at rock-bottom Belen Siglo XXI.

Uruguay drew 2-2 with Carmelita and Puntarenas fought out a 1-1 deadlock with UCR.

Shakhtar Donetsk´s Fred sees Spain and Brazil comparisons

The talented midfielder has the opinion that the two countries share a similar tactical approach to the game as he prepares to face Spanish opposition on Tuesday

Shakhtar Donetsk attacker Fred believes there are similarities between Spanish and Brazilian football as his team prepares to face Real Sociedad in the Champions League.

The Ukrainian side have a history of bringing through Brazilian footballers, with 11 players from the country currently on the club´s books.

Also, Seleção stars Fernandinho and Willian have also recently made their names at the club.

Now, Fred, who joined the club in a €15 million deal from Internacional back in July, believes the possession-based style of football favoured by his countrymen has been replicated by the Spanish, reports Goal.com.

"From my personal observations, the Spanish style of play, with a large number of passes, is somewhat similar to the Brazilian one," he told the club´s official website.

The 20-year-old gave his thoughts on the prospect of playing Champions League football for the first time and admits playing in the competition is a childhood dream.

He added: "We need to work hard to beat Sociedad as there are no weak outfits in the Champions League. Since childhood, I dreamed of becoming a great football player.

"Now I play for a strong European club against strong rivals. So you can say that my dream is coming true."

Bernard eager to make Champions League debut

Shakhtar Donetsk´s winger Bernard has admitted that he is eager to make his Champions League debut this week. The Ukrainian team will face Spanish club Real Sociedad at the Anoeta Stadium in San Sebastián, on Tuesday.

Bernard did not play on Saturday against Karpaty for the Ukrainian league, as he was rested for this week´s Champions League game.

The former Atlético Mineiro player talked with reporters about his career and his expectations, he said: "Everything in my life happened fast.

Since I started playing, I imagined how my professional career would be like, joining the senior team first, then winning titles, achieving my biggest dream of playing for the national team, everything happened at the right time.

Now it isn´t anything different, playing the Champions League is another stage in my career that is close to happening, and I am very happy and eager so that Tuesday comes quick.

"I trained hard during the weekend and I am feeling great for this game, it will be a tough game as we are debuting in an away game, but I believe we can return to Ukraine with a good result."