Snak

Argentina and Colombia with one foot in the World Cup´

Argentina destroyed Venezuela 3-0 in Buenos Aires. Gonzalo Higuaín scored two goals while Lionel Messi added another from the spot.

Alejandro Sabella´s team now have 23 points and are close to qualifying for the World Cup with a few matches yet remaining.

Colombia celebrated at the Metropolitano stadium in Barranquilla after their resounding defeat to lowly Bolivia 5-0. Colombia is now in second place with 19 points, two more than Ecuador who on Friday did not play owing to their bye-week.

Macnelly Torres in the 20th minute, Carlos Valdés (48), Teo Gutiérrez (62), Radamel Falcao (84) and Pablo Armero (90+3) scored Colombia´s goals. José Pekerman´s team is getting closer to returning to the World Cup for the first time since France in 1998.

Uruguay is in fourth place with 13 points followed by Chile and Venezuela (12), Peru (11), Bolivia and Paraguay (8).

The South American qualifiers give four direct berths to the World Cup and the fifth place team plays a one-off game with the fifth place team from the Asia zone for a spot.

Uruguay had every opportunity in the world to leave their Centenario stadium in Montevideo with the victory against a crestfallen Paraguay squad. But a defensive error five minutes from time cost them the win.

Luis Suárez had zipped through the Paraguay defense to open the scoring in the 81st but it was Edgar Benítez who capitalized on Diego Lugano´s error to tie the game four minutes later.

The round came to a close in the Nacional stadium in Lima where Peru revived their chances of qualifying by eking out a 1-0 victory against Chile in the ´Pacific Classic´.

The Incas, coached by Sergio Markarián, got all three valuable points thanks to a goal by Jefferson Farfán in the 87th minute when a draw looked inevitable.

On Tuesday, in the twelfth round of games, Bolivia will welcome Argentina to La Paz, Chile takes on Uruguay in Santiago, Venezuela and Colombia play in Puerto Ordaz and Ecuador and Paraguay duke it out in Quito.

Results from the eleventh round of games on Friday:

In Barranquilla: Colombia - Bolivia 5-0

In Montevideo: Uruguay - Paraguay 1-1

In Buenos Aires: Argentina - Venezuela 3-0

In Lima: Peru - Chile 1-0

Colombia celebrate in Barranquilla

http://www.youtube.com/w…HuolqGWZF2Q

Colombia thrashed Bolivia 5-0 Friday in the Metropolitano stadium in Barranquilla. The match was part of the eleventh round of games in the South American qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup. With the win Colombia has climbed to second in the standings with 19 points.

Colombia got their goals from Macnelly Torres (20), Carlos Valdés (48), Teófilo Gutiérrez (62), Radamel Falcao García (84) and Pablo Armero (90+3).

"It was difficult, rewarding, but difficult to win in this temperature (34 degrees Celsius). We didn’t expect to score so many maybe 1-0 or 2-0 but this was amazing," said the first goal scorer Macnelly Torres.

After victories in 2012 over Paraguay (2-0), Chile (3-1) and Uruguay (4-0), Argentinian coach Jose Pekerman’s squad recorded their fourth win on the trot reaching 19 points and is temporarily one point behind Argentina (20) who later face Venezuela in Buenos Aires.

"This was the work of the whole team it was a game that we took advantage of all the open spaces. Thanks to God for giving the victory, we have to enjoy it. Now we have to prepare for Venezuela”, said the ‘Tiger’ Falcao after the match.

Colombia will now prepare for their twelfth round game scheduled for March 26 where they will visit Venezuela in Puerto Ordaz. Meanwhile Bolivia will look to play their last card in the qualifiers against Argentina in La Paz.

They can now seriously think of Brazil after a 16 years absence from the FIFA World Cup.

Paraguay gets a draw at the Centenario

http://www.youtube.com/w…giBE2qQTZbo

Paraguay got a point and rekindled hope on the road to Brazil 2014. Paraguay and Uruguay played out a 1-1 draw on Friday at the Centenario stadium in Montevideo. This was an eleventh round qualifying match.

Striker Luis Suarez scored at the 81 minute mark that seemed it would give the victory to Uruguay. Edgar Benítez had other ideas and equalized for the Guarani in the 86th.

In a scrappy game -especially by the Paraguayans- that cut into the flow of play, the Guaranies tried to disrupt Uruguay´s attack and hit them on the counterattack.

For a while Uruguay took control of the match but their strikers lacked effectiveness.

The first minutes of the game showed an arrhythmic Uruguay. The Paraguayans looked to keep the game away from their area but were no real threat to Uruguay.

However in the final minutes of the first period a poor clearance by Uruguay led to Cristian Riveros´s shot that keeper Fernando Muslera just pushed aside for a corner.

Uruguay´s response was swift and a powerful shot from Nicolás Lodeiro was pawed away by Barreto followed by Suarez´s header that went just inches over the crossbar.

In the second half the game became more intense, with Paraguay giving the ball away to Uruguay who patiently waited for the right moment.

Uruguay had to wait until the 81st minute for Suarez to taka a Lodeiro cross and put the ball into the net to open the scoring.

But their joy was short lived as five minutes later the Paraguayan´s got the tying goal after a blunder by Uruguayan captain Diego Lugano, who flicked the ball and put it on the feet of Edgar Benítez who beat Muslera with a low shot.

With this result Uruguay is on 13 points and is for the time being in fourth place in the qualifiers. Paraguay is on 8 points and remains in last place.

In the next round of games, nest Tuesday, Uruguay faces Chile in Santiago while Paraguay will visit Ecuador.

Argentina strengthens their lead (3-0)

http://www.youtube.com/w…WgrnJ-qYJDk

Argentina strengthened their lead in the South American qualifiers on Friday night by crushing Venezuela 3-0 thanks to the relentless firepower up front, with two goals from Gonzalo Higuain and one from star Lionel Messi.

Higuain scored at 29 and 59 with two runs into the box at full steam while Messi scored on a penalty kick in the 45th before some 50,000 people in the stands at Monumental stadium.

Argentina now has 23 points in the table, ahead of Colombia who has 19. Venezuela fell behind in the standings with 12 points, out of the four automatic berths for the World Cup.

The fifth place team in the standings will play a one-off game with the fifth place team from the Asia zone.

Venezuela had been the only team who had beaten Argentina in the first round winning 1-0 in Puerto La Cruz.

Argentina will now travel to La Paz to take on Bolivia on Tuesday while the Venezuelans will welcome Colombia.

The Albiceleste squad did not hold back when cracks opened in the wall of Venezuela´s defense of two lines of four.

Messi was again a factor with his explosive runs dragging defenders behind him, but this time with new partners owing to the absence of the suspended Angel Di María and the injured Sergio Agüero.

The first goal was the result of a beautiful combination of passes that ended at the feet of Higuain, a merciless scorer when entering the box and with space.

The Real Madrid striker brought his A-game to the match.

Venezuela did not react being more concerned with staving off an onslaught of goals instead of trying to tie up the game. Venezuela defender Gabriel Cichero gave Argentina their next goal when he handled the ball inside the area with Messi dispatching the penalty.

The penalty, from the four-time best player in the world, put Venezuela on the brink.

Messi returned to action with a pass into the area where once again Higuaín appeared to nail shut the game.

Peru gets all three points

http://www.youtube.com/w…mJPGHbS3YdM

Peru defeated Chile 1-0 on Friday night in the Nacional stadium in Lima.

Striker Jefferson Farfan scored the game´s only goal in the 86th minute finishing off an excellent play by his compatriot, defenseman Josimar Yotún.

In a high intensity game where both teams proposed an up-tempo game it was the team coached by Sergio Markarián that outlasted the Chilean team.

In their last visit to Santiago, October 11th of 2011, Markarián´s team fell 4-2.

With eleven out of eighteen games in the book it is Argentina who lead the standings with 23 points followed by Colombia (19), Ecuador (17), Uruguay (13), Venezuela and Chile (12), Perú (11), Bolivia (8) and Paraguay (8).

Peru has their bye-week for the next round of games. Instead they will play a friendly against Trinidad and Tobago in Lima.

On June 6 in the thirteenth round of games Peru will welcome Ecuador to Lima.

Chile will now welcome Uruguay on Tuesday to Santiago.

Stilling...

Argentina 23 10 7 2 1 16
Colombia 19 9 6 1 2 13
Ecuador 17 9 5 2 2 3
Uruguay 13 10 3 4 3 -2

Chile 12 10 4 0 6 -5

Venezuela 12 10 3 3 4 -4
Perú 11 10 3 2 5 -4
Bolivia 8 10 2 2 6 -7
Paraguay 8 10 2 2 6 -10

"Maza" no jugará vs E.U.

MÉXICO -- El defensa central de la Selección Mexicana, Francisco Rodríguez, no podrá ver actuación en contra de Estados Unidos el próximo martes en el Estadio Azteca, debido a la acumulación de tarjetas a lo largo de la eliminatoria de CONCACAF para el mundial de Brasil 2014.

El ´Maza´ vio la amonestación casi al finalizar el encuentro entre México y Honduras que culminó en empate a dos goles, tras cometer una falta sobre un jugador rival.

Rodríguez fue titular y completó los 90 minutos de los dos encuentros que el Tri ha encarado, ante Jamaica y Honduras, en el Hexagonal Final rumbo al Mundial.


Luis Suárez valora punto conseguido

SAN PEDRO SULA -- Luego del empate con sabor a victoria que rescató Honduras a dos goles ante México, el técnico de los catrachos, el colombiano Luis Fernando Suárez explicó que su equipo debe sacar dos grandes lecciones del partido de este viernes en el Olímpico Metropolitano: "Un partido con sabor agridulce porque la propuesta que nosotros pensábamos tener, sobre todo en la primera parte, no se pudo conseguir, ellos hicieron las cosas mucho mejor que nosotros, tuvieron más la pelota. Cuando nosotros recuperábamos el balón, el primer pase que pensábamos era un pase largo, nos llenamos de mucha ansiedad en ese primer tiempo y nos debe quedar de lección para lo que venga".

"Cuando uno va a enfrentar a un equipo como el mexicano, se les querrá ganar siempre, sobre todo si se está en casa, pero hay formas de ganar y la conducta nuestra no fue la mejor para poder ganar, creo que esa situación que debe aprenderse y quedar guardado en el disco duro para los próximos encuentros", señaló.

Y de la reacción que tuvo su equipo en los segundos 45 minutos para quitarle a México el triunfo, Suárez destacó: "Lo que se presenta en el segundo tiempo también nos debe de dejar algo bien interesante, que es la actitud, las ganas, el carácter que puso la gente, que sabían que aun perdiendo 2-0 se podía ir para delante y afortunadamente se pudo lograr ese empate. Creo que hay lecciones tienen que ser aprendidas, estas dos son importantes", reiteró.

Suárez también reconoció la actitud de sus jugadores y de la afición, que nunca dejo de apoyarlos: "Nunca le va a gustar a uno empatar en casa, pero después de la forma como se empató, pienso que hay mucho en la actitud de la gente, que tengo que ponerlo en alto valor, que seguramente nos va a ayudar a poder conseguir cosas jugando como local o como visitante, eso es lo más importante. Todos los partidos van a ser así, en cada partido se va jugar una final, ojalá que tengamos resultados positivos, pero sabemos que no va a ser fácil, hoy empatamos ante un equipo que hizo las cosas muy inteligentemente y por eso se valora mucho más el punto que se logró rescatar".

Finalmente, el estratega de los catrachos habló de las modificaciones que realizó en su equipo y que le permitieron alcanzar un heroico empate: "Lo de Roger Espinoza fue importante, y lo de Jerry Palacios también fue bastante bueno, entró enchufado en algo que era complicado porque eran tres delanteros, pero Carlo (Costly) lo entendió muy bien y fue muy importante por el lado izquierdo. Los cambios generaron cosas positivas", concluyó.

Adriano offers himself to Palmeiras

Adriano, the Imperador, has offered himself to Palmeiras as he attempts to return to football.

The former Flamengo and Inter Milan striker has not played since March 2012, he has struggled with injuries and poor fitness since he left Flamengo in 2011.

The Imperador called Palmeiras executive director José Carlos Brunoro early this year, and could be signed if fully fit. Brunoro said: "Palmeiras don´t rule out signing great players and if he is fully fit, he fits in".

The executive director added that "If Adriano proves that he is fully recovered and has a career, financial and personal project, we would accept to talk".

José Carlos Brunoro completed: "Since that first call, he hasn´t contacted us again, we didn´t talk about contract length, values or anything else".

Palmeiras have, however, officially denied that they are currently negotiating with the striker.

Adriano has previously played for Palmeiras´ arch-rivals Corinthians and São Paulo, and nearly joined a Chinese club in February, but he was deemed unsuitable.

Palmeiras are currently playing the São Paulo State League and Copa Libertadores, and will play in Brazil´s Série B from May to December.

Chelsea-bound Wallace set to start for Fluminense against Duque de Caxias

Fluminense´s right-back Bruno is not fully fit and will thus be rested as the Tricolor face Duque de Caxias for the Rio de Janeiro State Championship this Saturday.

Chelsea-bound Wallace will replace him, this will be his second game for Flu this season as he made his debut against Audax last weekend.

The full-back was part of Brazil´s squad in the South American Under 20 Championship and has not been given much playing time since it was agreed he will join Chelsea in August.

Fluminense will also be missing national team players Diego Cavalieri, Jean and Fred, who are in Europe for Brazil´s friendlies against Italy and Russia. Colombia´s national team player Valencia is also unavailable.

Deco will be back to the first team as manager Abel Braga hopes he recovers his fitness. The midfielder however felt pains in his knee during the week.

Fluminense´s expected lineup is: Ricardo Berna; Wallace, Leandro Euzébio, Gum and Carlinhos; Edinho, Diguinho, Wagner and Deco; Wellington Nem and Samuel.

Dibben

Det giver heller ingen mening at kampen blev spillet færdig. Der var jo ikke meget fodbold over det.

AaB mod Nordsjælland blev stoppet for meget mindre.

Enig, men heldigvis flaskede de andre resultater sig for Costa Rica, det ser faktisk godt ud..2 udekampe er overstået - et point, og jamaicanerne på besøg næste gang...det jo ikke utænkeligt at Mexico slår USA og Panama - Honduras spiller uafgjort i Panama...