Snak

Vidal outlines Chilean excitement

Arturo Vidal has spoken of the nervous energy among Chile´s players ahead of their crucial FIFA World Cup qualifying match with Colombia.

A win for either team in Barranquilla on Friday would secure their place at next year´s showpiece in Brazil.

Colombia currently occupy second spot in the CONMEBOL group behind Argentina, who have already qualified, while Chile are two points behind their next opponents in third, with the top four certain to progress.

After reaching the second round of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Chile are excited by the prospect of making it to the finals once again.

"Of course there is anxiety; it is a fundamental game for us," said Juventus midfielder Vidal.

"We are close to something historic, qualifying twice for the World Cup.

"We have a very difficult rival, which is Colombia. They´re in a little bit of a better position than us but it´s a really important game, so we are keeping our enthusiasm up so we play at 100 per cent."

Chile goalkeeper and captain Claudio Bravo is confident his team will handle the big occasion in Colombia.

"The anxiety is part of this," he added. "We are very accustomed to living in these moments. A qualifying game is much more important than a regular club match."

Despite the prize at stake, Colombia boss Jose Pekerman expects an entertaining encounter.

He said: "The match should be one of the most exciting in the qualifiers because of the way we and Chile play.

"In general, the players are in good form. We have to adapt to what we want to do and we have to be clear when we begin a match and know what type of game we want to play."

Mostaza Merlo ya es el técnico de Racing

BUENOS AIRES -- Luego de tres días de reuniones entre miembros de Comisión Directiva, el presidente de Racing, Víctor Blanco, y Reinaldo Carlos Merlo llegaron a un acuerdo formal que definió la llegada del entrenador al club de Avellaneda.

Merlo ingresó al hotel Savoy cerca de las 17:20 y una hora y media después finalizó la reunión, de la que participaron los dirigentes Víctor Blanco, Marcelo Cima, Adrián Fernández y Roberto Torres.

De esta manera, Mostaza afrontará su tercer ciclo como técnico de la Academia. Sus anteriores pasos fueron de 2001 a 2002 y de 2006 a 2007, aunque el primero será el más recordado por darle el campeonato a Racing tras 35 años de sequía.

"Por suerte, todo bien. Para mí es una alegría que Racing me haya vuelto a contratar. Hay que trabajar y hacer las cosas lo mejor posible", fueron las primeras declaraciones del campeón del Apertura 2001, el último título que logró la institución.

"Que me venga a buscar Racing es un honor. Ojalá pueda devolverles toda la confianza que tienen en mí", agregó el exentrenador de River, Rosario Central y Douglas Haig, entre otros.

"El llamado me sorprendió", admitió Mostaza, quien en los últimos días se desvinculó de Aldosivi, luego de haber dirigido un puñado de entrenamientos. El DT, que se ganó una estatua tras el título, se mostró optimista: ""Vamos a pensar en positivo. Vamos a pensar que va a salir todo bien".

Sobre el presente del equipo, último en el Torneo Inicial, declaró: "Racing tiene buen plantel. Tal vez haya que trabajarlo un poco anímicamente". También conformó que el domingo asistirá al estadio Ciudad de La Plata, donde La Academia visita a Estudiantes.

El DT comenzará a trabajar el lunes por la tarde en el Cilindro, junto a su ayudante René Daulte.

Estudiantes aguarda por Gil Romero

BUENOS AIRES -- De cara al partido que Estudiantes deberá disputar ante Racing, el próximo domingo, Mauricio Pellegrino mantiene una duda en cuanto al armado del mediocampo, debido a que está en duda Gastón Gil Romero.

El volante central trabajó, durante la semana, de manera diferenciada y realizando kinesiología por una dolencia en el gemelo derecho y será esperado hasta último momento. En caso de no llegar, su lugar será ocupado justamente por Mariano González, mediocampista formado en Racing.

De esta manera, los once elegidos para jugar ante Racing serían: Gerónimo Rulli; Leonardo Jara, Santiago Vergini, Leandro Desábato, Jonathan Silva; Gil Romero o Mariano González, Israel Damonte, Román Martínez; Franco Jara, Guido Carrillo y Patricio Rodríguez.

Cabe recordar que el encuentro ante los de Avellaneda se jugará en el estadio Centenario de Quilmes y Estudiantes intentará volver al triunfo que no se le da desde la quinta fecha, cuando superó por 2-0 a Boca.

De Felippe preservará a Parra

BUENOS AIRES -- El entrenador de Independiente, Omar De Felippe, aseguró que para el partido con Almirante Brown contará con el delantero Matías Pisano y confirmó que Facundo Parra será preservado y será reemplazado por Sebastián Penco o Cristian Menéndez.

"Pisano puede estar, pero a Parra lo vamos a cuidar. Entre Menéndez y Penco estará el reemplazante", expresó De Felippe.

De este modo y con la no inclusión de Parra (debido a una contractura en su gemelo derecho) dentro de los concentrados el entrenador deberá elegir a su reemplazante o, por una cuestión táctica, que Pisano sea reemplazado por el juvenil Martín Benitez.

En la defensa del equipo, podría darse el ingreso de Cristian Tula a la zaga central en lugar de Samuel Cáceres; Claudio Morel Rodríguez seguirá como central y será el volante Federico Mancuello lo hará como lateral por ese sector.

"Mancuello tiene mayor libertad jugando como lateral, tiene mejor panorama y eso le permite pasar más al ataque", explicó el DT.

Más adelante se refirió al volante izquierdo Juan Manuel Trejo y destacó que lo eligió para esa posición por su "buen cambio de ritmo y llegada".

Al referirse al encuentro con Almirante Brown, De Felippe expresó: "Imagino un partido duro. Tiene a (Héctoir) Rivoira que es un gran entrenador y que conoce la categoría. Tenemos que cuidarnos de la pelota parada ya que tienen jugadores muy altos".

El DT, que fue ayudante de campo en el año 2005 de Julio Falcioni, paso en el cual tuvo a Sergio Agüero como jugador, agradeció los elogios que el jugador le brindó en la presentación de su biografía y manifestó: "Le agradezco a Sergio sus palabras, ojalá cuando vuelva al club yo siga estando".

AUTORIZAN VENTA DE ENTRADAS

El titular de la Agencia de Prevención de Violencia en el Deporte (Aprevide), Oscar Boccalandro, confirmó el jueves que Almirante Brown podrá vender 4.500 entradas para el partido del sábado ante Independiente y por lo tanto el encuentro se jugará en Isidro Casanova.

El conflicto se basaba en que el organismo de seguridad no le permitía a Almirante Brown vender entradas por el miedo a que hinchas encubiertos de Independiente puedan ingresar al escenario, teniendo en cuenta la interna de su barrabrava.

La pelea de los cabecillas de la barra del club de Avellaneda derivó en la suspensión en la fecha pasada del cotejo contra Unión de Santa Fe, luego de encontrarse armas blancas y de fuego en un local cercano al Estadio Libertadores de América.

De esta manera, el problema se descomprimió y Almirante-Independiente, se jugará el sábado, a las 16, por la duodécima fecha del Torneo de la Primera B Nacional.

Kampprogram.

CONMEBOL

23.00

Venezuela - Paraguay
Ecuador - Uruguay
Colombia - Chile

01.00

Argentina - Peru


CONCACAF

23.00

Honduras - Costa Rica

00.30

USA - Jamaica

03.30

Mexico - Panama

The final reckoning in South America

Notoriously tight, furiously competitive, the surprise is that South America´s marathon World Cup qualification campaign goes into the last two rounds with so little still to be decided.

Argentina are already through. Barring an extraordinary mathematical accident, Colombia will join them. At the other end, Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru have run out of road, and Venezuela need a miracle.

In short, then, there are three places left -- two automatic, the other one a spot in a playoff. And there are three teams chasing them. Two of those teams will be able to make plans for Brazil 2014 in the next few days. The other will have to think about overcoming Jordan -- against whom Chile, Ecuador or Uruguay would all consider themselves strong favourites.

Chile, though, will be very disappointed if they have to settle for the playoff. They are the form side. Under electric little coach Jorge Sampaoli, they have won their last four games. Another win ensures them a place in Brazil. Two draws will almost certainly see them over the line. One draw may even be enough.

The real battle goes on below them, between the side currently in fourth, the last of the automatic places, and the fifth-place team. Ecuador and Uruguay are separated only on goal difference, which seemed an unlikely scenario just a few months ago. Going into June´s matches Ecuador were second in the table, seven points clear of sixth-place Uruguay, and with a game in hand.

That lead has been whittled away. Ecuador have had something of a crisis in confidence. The tragic early death of Cristian Benitez was a blow to morale; another blow came in a friendly played against a second-string Germany side in the United States at the end of May. Ecuador´s defensive deficiencies were ruthlessly exposed by the dynamism of their European opponents.

Germany were four up after 23 minutes. The South Americans hit back strongly, and perhaps ended up deserving better than a 4-2 defeat. But doubts about their capacity to defend were sown. The team have not subsequently played with the same conviction, accumulating two draws and two defeats in four World Cup qualifiers.

Uruguay, meanwhile, have displayed their legendary fighting spirit at the time they needed it most. Back in June, the playoff spot looked like the realistic limit of their aspirations. Since then, they have won away at both Venezuela and Peru -- direct rivals for fifth place at the time.

In the context of a CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying campaign that has seen just 12 away wins to 37 home, these are superb results. And then, with a heavily patched up defensive unit, Uruguay ended Colombia´s long unbeaten run with a 2-0 win in Montevideo. Overtaking Ecuador and claiming an automatic place became a realistic ambition -- but it will need another brave away performance, this time at the altitude of Ecuador´s mountain fortress of Quito. This is undoubtedly the standout game of Friday´s round.

Uruguay´s Luis Suarez has the ability to trouble Ecuador in Quito.
Uruguay will surely sit deep, look to suck Ecuador forward, and slip Luis Suarez on the counterattack, where he is capable of setting off the panic bells in that weak defensive unit. But Ecuador, with the sinuous dribbling of Jefferson Montero and the powerful shooting surges of Antonio Valencia, have plenty of tools to unlock the Uruguayan defence. Some aging limbs in the visiting side might really feel the effects of the altitude (2,800 metres above sea level) as the second half wears on. It truly is a fascinating tie.

The other matches are of more than academic interest. In front of their own fans in the sweltering Caribbean port of Barranquilla, Colombia will want to seal their place in style, while also dismissing a feeling that they have gone off the boil in the past few months. Chile, full of attacking verve, will want to demonstrate that they can defend away against such a dangerous opponent.

Meanwhile, Venezuela and Paraguay both want to build for the future. In Paraguay´s case, it was never going to be easy to replace the generation that pushed Spain so hard in the 2010 World Cup quarterfinal. Francisco Arce, coach at the start of the campaign, surely tried to change too much too soon. Now Paraguay have nearly two years to build toward the next campaign. And Venezuela have certainly become more solid under coach Cesar Farias -- but have missed out on making their World Cup debut as a result of not scoring enough goals. Last time out against Peru, a young Venezuela side with a more attacking balance played an excellent second half. Can that be sustained?

In the case of the Peruvians, that 3-2 defeat was yet another disappointing result away from home. Since failing to reach the 1998 World Cup on goal difference, Peru´s record on the road comes straight out of the chamber of horrors -- in the subsequent four campaigns, their trips have yielded two wins, six draws and 26 defeats, with 21 goals scored and 75 conceded. Their last away win in World Cup qualification came all the way back in June 2004. This has to be improved if they are to make it to the competition once more. Friday´s trip to Buenos Aires gives Peru an opportunity to end their away campaign on a high note -- and it also offers host Argentina a chance to look at some of their options.

Of course, the primary aim of a World Cup qualification campaign is to get the team safely over the line. But there is also a secondary objective -- prepare for the competition. On Friday a run of injuries means that Argentina will be without several first-team players; the midfield axis of Javier Mascherano and Fernando Gago will be missing. Striker Gonzalo Higuain is another absentee -- as is captain and talisman Lionel Messi, top scorer of the qualifiers, who in the course of this campaign has at last reproduced his Barcelona form in the shirt of his country.

Argentina´s plans to lift the trophy next year are, of course, built around Messi. But what if injury should strike again? Like it or not, coach Alejandro Sabella needs to prepare for just such a dreadful eventuality. The Peru game, then, is doing him a favour.

Jeg ser frem til en masse god bold i aften. Danmark vinder over tudehovederne med et Bendtner-hattrick og Honduras skyder Costa Rica i sænk (desværre dibben).

I øvrigt nogle lækre sild du fik postet her forleden FAS.

@ Kayokay...

Cool har dig på HON-CR

Kampprogram.

CONMEBOL

23.00

Venezuela - Paraguay
Ecuador - Uruguay
Colombia - Chile (FAS)

01.00

Argentina - Peru (FAS(?)


CONCACAF

23.00

Honduras - Costa Rica (KAYOKAY, DIBBEN (?)

00.30

USA - Jamaica (FAS?)

03.30

Mexico - Panama (FAS)

I øvrigt nogle lækre sild du fik postet her forleden FAS.


Nåh de der colombianere, ja vi skal jo varme op til Musabloggen ;-)