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Román Martínez, tras el clásico: "es un envión anímico muy importante"

LA PLATA -- El mediocampista de Estudiantes de La Plata Román Martínez afirmó que haber ganado el clásico de la ciudad frente a Gimnasia "es un envión anímico muy importante" para seguir entre los equipos que pelean los primeros puestos en el Torneo Final.

"Es un campeonato muy irregular, cualquiera le gana cualquiera. Este es un envión anímico muy importante pero todavía faltan muchas fechas. Si ganás un par de partidos te metés ahí arriba, pero si perdés caes varios lugares", analizó Martínez.

El ex Tigre y Espanyol de Barcelona, entre otros equipos, remarcó que "la motivación por el triunfo es buenísima" y espera que sirva para "seguir corrigiendo errores".

Al referirse a la irregularidad del campeonato y del fútbol argentino en la actualidad, Martínez no dudó en advertir que si les toca "salir campeón con pocos puntos bienvenido sea", tal como ocurrió en los últimos torneos, con Newell´s y San Lorenzo.

Para el volante, que en el clásico que se jugó en el bosque platense reemplazó a Juan Sebastián Verón, "la idea de juego" que propone Mauricio Pellegrino "está clara, pero después en el campo puede pasar por cualquier cosa", y destacó que ellos salen "siempre entramos a ganar el partido".

Estudiantes lidera el Torneo Final junto a Colón con 15 puntos, producto de cuatro victorias, tres empates y una derrota.

Liga MX Roundup: Cruz Azul, Toluca maintain blistering form

Two Liga MX teams faced a tough decision this weekend and made different choices. Cruz Azul and Tijuana are both down by a goal in the CONCACAF Champions League tournament to Sporting Kansas City and the L.A. Galaxy, respectively. The second leg looms early in the coming week, so that left a difficult choice of "to rest, or not to rest" the best players on the squad this weekend.

But with Toluca´s Friday win over Queretaro by two goals, Cruz Azul was faced with losing the top spot in the table with a defeat to Xolos, who for their part risked losing their hold on the eighth and final playoff berth.

Cruz Azul handed the reins over to their top players. Marco Fabian responded, continuing his campaign to catch the attention of Mexican coach Miguel Herrera by scoring two goals. Tijuana gambled on the club´s youth, and that move nearly paid off with an early lead by Richard Ruiz and a late chance to equalize that was missed by Paul Arriola.

With the 2-1 victory over Tijuana, Cruz Azul returns to the top of Liga MX, but the next chapter of the CCL competition has yet to be written. A Sporting Kansas City draw or win may leave coach Luis Fernando Tena regretting his choice.

Toluca put the pressure on the league leaders with a tidy 0-2 victory over Queretaro with goals from Pablo Velasquez and German Brambila. Toluca is also taking part in the CONCACAF tourney, but not facing a deficit in the home leg quarterfinal versus the San Jose Earthquakes.

While Toluca is close behind Cruz Azul in the table, Queretaro drops to sixteenth. To add insult to injury, the club is in financial disarray now that the owner, Amado Yanez has been accused of fraud. Liga MX administrators have expressed surprise at the situation, while putting the club into administration so players can finally be paid.

On the field, the biggest shock of the weekend was the 5-0 result that Pumas pasted on Atlante on Sunday. Martin Bravo scored twice, and three other players pitched in to prove that the UNAM is well and truly back from the depths of despair that sunk the team last season. The squad is now alone in third place in the league with 18 points.

Atlante is still relegation-bound, but if the club bounces back from this latest loss, they could escape that fate and even make the playoffs. The team is just outside of the chosen eight, sitting in ninth place.

Club America fought back twice from a goal down as Rubens Sambueza first set up Paul Aguilar, and then Juan Carlos Valenzuela, for goals with incisive passes. Still, the final result against Chiapas FC was a 2-2 draw, which leaves Las Aguilas in sixth place in the table, which wouldn´t even get them a top seed in the Liguilla, if they started this week. Club America still has much to do to return to their old dominance.

One player who seems to have his groove back is Oribe Peralta. He had a key assist and goal in Santos Laguna´s 3-1 victory over Pachuca. The Laguneros are now at fifth place in the table.

Guadalajara is also back to winning ways. Their fans rejoiced as Chivas beat Leon 1-0 on a goal by Giovani Hernandez. The result leaves the club tied with arch-rival Club America on points.

Other relegation contenders battled for points against each other when Veracruz and Atlas met, with a Maikon Leite goal in the first half settling things in Atlas´ favor. The club won three precious points to help them escape the possibility of descending to another league.

From the stands, new acquisition Guillermo Franco could see just how much he is needed at Monterrey, who lost at home to Morelia, 0-1. The win was probably the best welcome present that the Monarchs could give their new coach, Angel Comizzo.

A tight deadlock between Puebla and Tigres was finally broken by an 81st minute goal by Damian Alvarez. The result keeps Tigres on an upward trajectory in the table. The club has gone from dead last to possibly in playoff position as early as next week.

At this point, the 2014 Clausura season has only two constants: Cruz Azul and Toluca have stayed at the top for weeks, while everything else in the table has gone topsy-turvy in a continually changing cycle.

What exactly is the Xolos blueprint?

TIJUANA -- When the Los Angeles Galaxy confirmed David Beckham´s arrival in January 2007, two hours down the road and over the United States-Mexico border in Tijuana, another football-related experiment was in its embryonic stage: The idea for Club Tijuana had been conceived, but the team hadn´t played an official game and the Estadio Caliente -- which will play host to Galaxy in the CONCACAF Champions League second leg quarterfinal on Tuesday -- didn´t exist.

Back then, the loose goal of the team´s current owners was simply to bring quality football to a region of Mexico that had been under-represented for years.

The club´s ascent since those first baby steps has been well-documented, but is worth repeating.

Promotion to the first division came in May 2011, followed swiftly by winning the Liga MX´s Apertura 2012 tournament. Then there was that heady Copa Libertadores quarterfinal run last year.

But while the club has garnered international press and stories about increasing numbers of American players at the club both rile and excite soccer fans north of the border, not too much is known how the organization is set up and what the future plans are.

With that in mind, ESPN FC sat down recently with general manager Ignacio Palou to dig a little deeper into a club that is clearly working with a different ethos than most in the Liga MX.

Palou, a former Puebla and Cruz Azul goalkeeper, was actually involved in setting up a project in Tijuana before the current owners came onboard. He doesn´t speak much to the press, but is the key person in the institution in bridging the football and business elements of the club, overseeing the youth system, signing players and putting coaches in place.

"In 2007, nothing was here," admitted Palou in Tijuana recently. "What attracted me was the chance to be able to grow a team in a region that needed a sporting identity."

In other words, it was a blank canvas and the aim for the nascent Xoloitzcuintles was to go from nothing to reaching the first division in five years.

At the time, it would´ve seemed highly ambitious, especially with only one team gaining promotion each year from Mexico’s second division and the winner of the Apertura and Clausura seasons facing off each year in a playoff.

Once in the first division, the club pumped significant money into buying experienced players like Egidio Arevalo, Cirilo Saucedo, Fernando Arce and Jose Sand to avoid the common occurrence in Mexico of a team dropping straight back down.

But while the club clearly has the type of money to go out and invest in ready-made players when it needs, it is the youth system that seems to be the real priority moving forward.

"In the longer-term future, we want to produce players and have 50, 60 or 70 percent of the first team (produced) in-house," stated Palou, who has previously managed Puebla. "It is the cornerstone (of the club)."

"My dream is to make it the best development process in the country," he added.

Palou admits that it is difficult to compete with teams in Mexico that have storied histories of producing quality players, but it doesn´t seem that the desire to become Mexico´s best is just bravado from Palou, especially when considering the infrastructure Xolos are putting in place.

The club employs four full-time scouts and currently has over 1,000 young players (from aged four upwards) in its schools -- three of which are in California (Oxnard, Temecula and Chula Vista).

The best are taken to Tijuana to continue their development. Unlike some other Mexican teams, the Xolos schools aren´t franchises -- they are free -- and Palou says that the club has even had to take action against "pirate" Xolos schools springing up in Michoacan and Monterrey and charging young players.

The key to the youth development model that Tijuana is following is that Palou and Xolos believe they have a niche corner of North America that is both rich in talented young players and under-explored.

The Mexican states of Sonora, Sinaloa and Baja California, along with California and part of Arizona in the United States are the main focus of scouting efforts, according to Palou.

The acquisition of Dorados de Sinaloa last May was another step in integrating the process of the youngsters. Javier Guemez and Elio Castro had experience playing competitive, professional soccer week-in, week-out in the second division with Dorados before becoming established first team regulars this season.

At present, young players like Alejandro Guido, Stevie Rodriguez and Edgar Villegas are moving between Dorados, Tijuana´s Under-20s and the first team and are the first batch of players to go through a process designed to bridge the substantial gap between U-20s soccer and that of the Liga MX.

Like around “35 to 40 percent” of the youngsters in the Xolos youth system, Guido and Rodriguez are dual nationals and the fact the United States is so close is naturally important to the club´s identity.

"We are a bicultural region because we live on the border," said Palou. "My daughter studies at university in San Diego, there are kids that go to school in the U.S. and live in Tijuana."

Palou adds that U.S. national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann and assistant Martin Vazquez are kept informed of who the dual national youngsters are.

"There are children and youths in our academy that have dual nationality, not because they look for it for football, but because it is normal here (in Tijuana)," explained Palou.

But while the U.S. influence in Xolos is important, it isn’t the only foreign influence on a club in a city known as being somewhere in which “the majority of the inhabitants are not tijuanenses,” according to Palou.

"Our team mirrors Tijuana, with many ideologies, many nationalities, Mexican-Americans..." said Palou. "We´ve been labeled (as a team) with a lot of foreigners, but having two nationalities doesn´t mean you are foreign."

In terms of the five foreigner berths that each club in the Liga MX is allowed, Tijuana´s outlook is also different from the general trend in Mexico.

"The idea is to get players that can be sold on to Europe, that come to contribute and help us and then keep growing," said Palou. "Players that want to be in their national team."

That involves bringing in talented South American youngsters -- who are naturally attracted to the Liga MX´s higher wages -- and developing them. The prime example is Fidel Martinez, who is now a crowd favorite at Tijuana. The 24-year-old Ecuadorian arrived at Xolos in 2012 and has matured to become one of the team´s key figures.

Intense research was done into the player´s lifestyle and off-the-field habits and the whole Martinez clan -- mother, father and two siblings -- uprooted to Tijuana after Fidel signed.

Now an Ecuadorian international with realistic ambitions of making the World Cup, Martinez is on course to accomplish the club´s and his hopes of moving to Europe.

Certainly a tour around the club´s brand new changing rooms, expanding stadium and its closeness to San Diego would likely appeal to future players like Martinez.

Despite the initial and surprising success for Xolos, it is still early days for soccer in Tijuana. There will no doubt be ups and downs moving forward, but the positive for the city and region is that there is a long-term infrastructure in place that makes you think the club won´t be going anywhere anytime soon.

A win against California´s L.A. Galaxy in the CONCACAF Champions League would be another important indicator of just how far the club has come.

Chivas level with America after much-needed win vs. Leon

GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- It felt like one collective sigh of relief when Giovani Hernandez latched onto a defense-splitting through-ball by Israel Castro and beat Leon goalkeeper William Yarbrough at his near post to open the scoring for Chivas on Sunday.

The early sixth minute goal was Chivas´ first in just under 300 minutes of Liga MX football and was enough to secure a 1-0 victory in front of 30,000 fans inside the Estadio Omnilife.

The win lifted Chivas into seventh in the Liga MX table and with just two weeks to go until the Clasico Nacional in Guadalajara, Chivas are now level on points with Club America.

But the most important thing for coach Jose Luis Real is that the team put in a much-improved performance on last week´s dismal 2-0 loss at Club Tijuana.

After Sunday´s game, Real said he was relatively happy with the performance and complained he had been forced to tweak his team this season both due to injury and to get the right balance in the starting lineup.

On Sunday, Omar Esparza returned at right back for the suspended Nestor Vidrio, Edgar Solis was on the left wing and Rafael Marquez Lugo was once again demoted to the bench, while Omar Bravo missed out through injury.

The major plus for Chivas was man-of-the match Jorge "Chaton" Enriquez, who reminded us all that it may still be premature to write him out of the Mexico national team picture ahead of Brazil 2014.

Playing with more license to attack ahead of holding midfielder Castro, Enriquez was a constant headache for the opposition, although it would´ve been better to see him up against Leon´s usual midfielder trio of Carlos Pena, Luis Montes and Jose Juan Vazquez, who were all rested ahead of La Fiera´s Copa Libertadores game on Wednesday against Emelec.

The truth is that with Enriquez fit and on form, Chivas is an entirely different outfit. He´s also popular with fans and has made a point after the last the last couple of home games of saluting the Chivas barra brava.

Hernandez was also a positive and the chemistry between him, Enriquez and Castro in the center of the field is starting to bear fruit.

It was Hernandez´s first goal in the Liga MX for Chivas and the onus moving forward has to be the midfield engine to be both more creative and chip in with more goals.

While it was a positive evening´s work for Chivas, it was against a Leon side that made eight changes from its last game and there are still obvious flaws, especially in the attacking third, where Aldo de Nigris still seems isolated.

Chivas at the moment are organized and compact, but have scored more than one goal just once in their last 25 matches.

But the bottom line is that while Real tinkers to find the right balance in his team -- a process that will likely go beyond the next transfer window -- getting points on the board gives everyone around the club a much-needed lift.

Off the field, the atmosphere was vibrant inside the stadium, helped by the sizable contingent that made its way from Leon -- which is only about a 2.5-hour drive from Guadalajara -- and that Monday is a national vacation in Mexico.

The Omnilife will be full for Chivas´ next home game, with a struggling America side the visitors and the two clubs going into Mexico´s biggest game a maximum of three points apart.

Enig - undrer mig over begrundelsen for at stemme ham ind som nr 1 ?

Enten er der nogle liderlige brasilianere med kærlighed for argentinere (meget usandsynligt!) eller så har Luigi betalt lidt penge for at få lidt positiv PR efter Internacional´s fiasko sæson.

Seedorf burde klart ha taget den titel. Han var med til at løfte Botafogo efter de solgte Vitinho og han hjalp Botafogo med at deltage i Copa Libertadores efter mange års fiasko.
Internacional vandt jo INTET, kun Gauchão. Men er det virkelig incitament for, at han skal vinde?

Junior confirma la salida de Miguel Ángel "Zurdo" López como entrenador

BARRANQUILLA -- Las expresiones de confianza de Miguel Ángel "Zurdo" López en poder corregir el rumbo del Atlético Junior no bastaron para salvarle el puesto al entrenador argentino.

Mediante un comunicado de prensa, las directivas del club confirmaron la salida del estratega de 72 años, quien poco antes había asegurado tener claro el diagnóstico del equipo y los correctivos a tomar, luego de sufrir la tercera derrota consecutiva en el Apertura, una caída por 3 a 1 frente a Tolima.

"Sé por qué pasan las cosas y cómo se corrigen", había declarado. "Esa es la tranquilidad que tengo. Vamos a implementar variantes en la figura, porque tenemos para recuperar el nivel que teníamos hace 3 partidos".

Horas después de esa declaración de López, el club emitió el siguiente comunicado oficial:

"Junior FC S.A. se permite informar que en el día de hoy se ha tomado la determinación de modificar el cuerpo técnico del equipo profesional de primera división.

"De esta manera deja de ser director técnico de la entidad Miguel Ángel López Elhall y deja de ser preparador físico Juan José Ordóñez Gribaudo.

"Se encargará de la dirección técnica del equipo a David Pinillos y se encargará de la preparación física a César Gaitán.

"Agradecemos el esfuerzo y la dedicación del cuerpo técnico saliente".

López deja al elenco ´rojiblanco´ ubicado en la séptima posición del casillero general, con 15 puntos, a 10 del líder Atlético Nacional.

El ahora ex director técnico del cuadro ´tiburón´ había expresado confianza en clasificar a las semifinales.

"Seguimos dependiendo de nosotros, que es lo más importante y con jugadores para superar todo esto", había dicho. "Si sacamos el 50 por ciento de los puntos en juego, clasificamos".

Según el timonel argentino, Junior ha extrañado a Luis Carlos Ruiz, transferido a China: "Con la salida de Ruiz se desarticuló un poco la parte ofensiva, y eso afectó la circulación en el medio campo".

Junior estrenará DT interino el jueves, el exfutbolista Pinillos, frente a Uniautónoma, en una semana de doble duelo, que incluye un choque el domingo ante Envigado.

El nombre que más suena para dirigir al equipo es el colombo-uruguayo Julio Avelino Comesaña, quien ya ha ocupado el banquillo del Junior en varias oportunidades.

El campeonato colombiano se ha cobrado ya el cargo de seis directores técnicos.

El "Zurdo" López se une a Pedro Sarmiento (Independiente Medellín), Julio Comesaña (Patriotas), Guillermo Berrío (Alianza Petrolera), Leonel Álvarez (Deportivo Cali) y Hernán Pacheco (Fortaleza).

Sabella afirmó que el grupo está conformado de cara al Mundial

BUENOS AIRES -- El director técnico del seleccionado argentino, Alejandro Sabella, regresó de Europa donde observó y visitó a varios futbolistas con vistas al Mundial de Brasil y afirmó tener "el grupo conformado".

Sabella y sus colaboradores se quedaron en el Viejo Continente, tras el amistoso ante Rumania (0-0) disputado el pasado 5 de marzo, para visitar, entre otros, al capitán del seleccionado argentino, Lionel Messi, en Barcelona.

"Los 26 que estuvieron en Rumania tienen grandes posibilidades de estar en la lista", adelantó Sabella, en diálogo con los medios en el Aeropuerto de Ezeiza, en referencia a la lista de 30 preseleccionados que deberá entregar el próximo 13 de mayo.

En este sentido, fue consultado por las probables presencias de Esteban Cambiasso y Carlos Tevez y reiteró que será "muy difícil" ya que tiene "el grupo conformado".

Y sobre el defensor Gabriel Paletta, quien debutó con el seleccionado italiano, indicó que estuvo en observación pero prefirió a "otros centrales".

`Pachorra` también le dedicó un elogio a Messi, quien el pasado fin de semana se convirtió en el máximo goleador de la historia de Barcelona con 371 tantos.

"Sigue batiendo récords, es impresionante. Ahora seguirá su camino", cerró.

Argentina debutará el l5 de junio ante Bosnia en el estadio Maracana de Río de Janeiro en el marco del Grupo F, que también integrarán Irán y Nigeria.

Enten er der nogle liderlige brasilianere med kærlighed for argentinere (meget usandsynligt!) eller så har Luigi betalt lidt penge for at få lidt positiv PR efter Internacional´s fiasko sæson.

Seedorf burde klart ha taget den titel. Han var med til at løfte Botafogo efter de solgte Vitinho og han hjalp Botafogo med at deltage i Copa Libertadores efter mange års fiasko.
Internacional vandt jo INTET, kun Gauchão. Men er det virkelig incitament for, at han skal vinde?

Ja det lugter lidt underhåndsaftale som du selv er inde på har Internacional spillet op til vanlig standard og vundet fucking nada - det burde være Seedorf, Guerrero eller Vargas i mine øjne - det virker som noget kompensation af en art.

Copa Inca 2014

Aurich golea a San Simón, mientras Cristal, Alianza y Universitario empatan

LIMA -- El Juan Aurich goleó este domingo con anotaciones de Oscar Vílchez y los paraguayos Edgar Balbuena y Roberto Ovelar al San Simón, con lo cual pudo subir al primer lugar del grupo A de la Copa Inca, jugada la fecha cinco del torneo.

San Simón anotó por intermedio del paraguayo Daniel Ferreira y se ubica en la última posición de su grupo.

En otro partido atractivo de la fecha, el Sporting Cristal igualó 2-2 con Alianza Lima con goles de Irven Ávila y Carlos Lobatón, mientras que Juan Diego González Vigil y el uruguayo Pablo Míguez anotaron por el Alianza.

El actual campeón peruano, Universitario, empató el sábado 1-1 con San Martín para enojo de los hinchas que siguen sin ver una victoria de su equipo en esta temporada.

Los goles fueron anotados por el paraguayo Cris Martínez para el Universitario y el colombiano Luis Perea para San Martín.

Universitario va último en el grupo B, mientras que UTC encabeza esa liguilla tras empatar 1-1 con el Sport Huancayo.


mål

http://www.youtube.com/w…o9wkP0_hu9w

River: ingresaría Uribarri o Ferreyra

BUENOS AIRES -- La derrota ante All Boys ya es pasado. Por eso, a menos de 48 horas de la finalización del partido del último domingo, el plantel de River volvió a las trabajos en Ezeiza, ya con las miras en el partido ante Lanús.

Los trabajos se basaron en ejercicios regenerativos y tareas físicas, con el objetivo de ponerse a punto físicamente y comenzar a preparar el partido ante el equipo de Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

Para dicho partido, el previo al Superclásico que se disputará el próximo 30 de marzo, Ramón Díaz realizará al menos un cambio obligado, ya que deberá reemplazar a Lionel Vangioni, expulsado durante el primer tiempo del partido ante All Boys.

Los candidatos a ocupar el puesto son Osmar Ferreyra o Bruno Uribarri. Con el exdefensor de Colón se armaría una clásica línea de cuatro defensores, mientras que con el "Malevo", se pararía con línea de tres defensores.

De esta manera, con la incógnita por despejar, el probable equipo para recibir a Lanús sería: Marcelo Barovero; Gabriel Mercado, Jonatan Maidana, Éder Álvarez Balanta, Bruno Uribarri u Osmar Ferreyra; Carlos Carbonero, Cristian Ledesma, Ariel Rojas; Manuel Lanzini; Teófilo Gutiérrez, Fernando Cavenaghi.

River recibirá a Lanús, desde las 18:15 hs. del domingo con arbitraje a confirmar. Justamente, en esta fecha, se cumplirá una ronda completa (19 partidos) que el equipo de Ramón Díaz no logra ganar fuera del Monumental. ¿Se cortará la racha ante Boca el próximo 30 de marzo?