What does First Division have that Second Division doesn't - besides the topclass football stars, great stadiums, more class, higher budget and it not being a disgrace to play in? Not much, I tell you.
Second Division means rivals you've never faced, travelling through the whole country, making small changes that seem huge in comparison to everything else, the return of players who really love your club, winning a league you've never won before, and coming up with a thousand excuses to pretend you don't care!
River Plate's 1-1 tie yesterday against Belgrano wasn't enough to stay in Primera División, and the team has been relegated to second division for the first time in its 110 years.
River Plate faces the worst crisis in the club's 110 years of history. After losing 2-0 against Belgrano de Córdoba, the team is on the edge of being relegated to second division. They must win by at least 2-0 at home on Sunday to be saved.
Tension showed last night when a bunch of fans broke into the field in the middle of the game to threaten some of the players, mainly Arano and Roman - the latter being risponsible for the penalty which gave Belgrano the lead. Almeyda, probably the only man in the team respected and supported by fans, approached to back up his teammates and received encouraging words by the "fans". The veteran player, who came back from his retirement because he missed his club, was later seen on the verge of tears, same as coach JJ López.
River has only obtained 12 out of the 30 points played at the Monumental during this tournament, and hasn't won any of the last 8 games.
A meeting will be held today to see if the next game at River's stadium will be played without fans. River tickets had sold out 2 hours after the sale started.
Sepp Blatter will make way for a successor as FIFA president in four years' time if he is re-elected in June, he has announced.
Blatter is seeking a fourth term as FIFA president and is being challenged by Asian confederation chief Mohamed Bin Hammam.
The 75-year-old told UEFA's Congress in Paris on Tuesday that if he wins he will definitely stand down in 2015, saying: "You know very well that I am a candidate for the next four years as FIFA president but these will be the last four years for which I stand as a candidate." He added: "Together we have the task of bringing together the adventure we have started. "We want to ensure a better future for our youth."
The new president will be elected at a Fifa Congress which starts on 31 May.
With Bin Hammam vowing to increase Fifa's decision-making power and spread its considerable wealth, Blatter is facing his first challenge since Issa Hayatou took him on - and lost - in 2002.
Bin Hammam is also currently attending the Congress for European football's governing body, Uefa, as they lobby federation presidents for their vote on 1 June in Zurich. Uefa members make up more than one quarter of the maximum 208 Fifa voters that Blatter and Bin Hammam will attempt to woo. The winner needs a two-thirds majority of valid votes cast in the first ballot, or a majority in the second.
Fifa has set an 1 April deadline for other candidates to be nominated by a single member federation. "We are in extra time," said Blatter, referring to the time left before the election. "Let's wait and see what the outcome will be."
The Manchester City player repeated that he doesn't want to continue playing football for more than three or four years, and added that he doesn't imagine himself retiring in Boca Juniors. "Except my dad asks me, I see it as a far option."
The sum doesn't seem to be that bad at first, considering the quality Román has as a player, but the numbers do jump to one's attention when you consider Riquelme only played 135 minutes this season (one and a half match), for which he won 600,000 dollars.
Lineups: RIVER: Juan Pablo Carrizo; Paulo Ferrari, Adalberto Román, Alexis Ferrero, Jonatan Maidana; Roberto Pereyra, Walter Acevedo, Matías Almeyda, Erik Lamela; Ariel Ortega, Mariano Pavone. Coach: Juan José López
BOCA: Javier García; Christian Cellay, Matías Caruzzo, Juan Manuel Insaurralde, Clemente Rodríguez; Jesús Méndez, Sebastián Battaglia, Matías Giménez; Juan Román Riquelme; Pablo Mouche, Martín Palermo. Coach: Claudio Borghi
Featuring the return of AMAZING AND FLAWLESS AND POWERFUL AND INCREDIBLE MATÍAS ALMEYDA ♥. Oh, and the return of GK Javier García to Boca's line up since Luchetti argued with coach Borghi and was left out.
Also, Paul McCartney is going to be at the stadium watching it.
As you all probably know by now, Nestor Kirchner died yesterday. The former president was 60 years old. The matches of Primera División that would take place this weekend (and el Ascenso as well) have been suspended. Many footballers have paid their respects through their websites and Twitters, and have sent their support to Cristina Fernandez, Kirchner's wife and current president of Argentina.
Leo Messi: "Lionel Messi and family, along with the Leo Messi Foundation wish to express their deep sorrow at the death of Dr. Nestor Kirchner, and accompany President Cristina Fernández and her entire family in their pain with sincere affection and solidarity."
Kun Agüero: "I've just heard about the death of ex president Kirchner. Sad news. My condolences to president Cristina and her family".
Meanwhile, it was reported that Diego Maradona would be flying to El Calafate to pay his respects to the family. No news channel has confirmed this, though.
( Read more... ) I'm not a kirchnerista, and I'm not a peronista either, but I am able to recognize the good things Kirchner has done for the country, along with his mistakes. Let's be respectful, please. ¡Fuerza Cristina! Sources: Olé, Clarín, my tv, etc.
ETA: Maradona has just gotten there. He's standing next to Cristina. And there are really good pics here, if anyone is interested.
In today's derby between Independiente and Boca, the Independiente fans gave a very peculiar welcome to the xeneizes: they threw at goalkeeper Luchetti "bolas de fraile" (similar to bagels) and "Paragüitas" (chocolate sweets with the shape of umbrellas) before the match started.
These two words ("bolitas" and "paraguas") are used as degrading terms for people from Bolivia and Paraguay, the preferred insult from most of teams' fans to attack Boca fans, considering the number of Bolivians and Paraguayans that support their team.
The chants that came with this was the now usual"Son la mitad más uno, son de Bolivia y Paraguay. Yo a veces me pregunto, che negro sucio, si te bañás. Boca, que asco te tengo, lavate el culo con aguarras." (You are the half plus one, you're from Bolivia and Paraguay. Sometimes I ask myself, hey nasty nigger, if you shower. Boca, you repulse me, wash your ass with kerosene.) It makes reference to Boca's fans' nickname "La mitad más uno".
Riquelme still hasn't signed and his contract divides Boca in two
The directives meeting that had been scheduled for yesterday was cancelled. According to what was leaked, treasurer Daniel Angelici had a harsh discussion and insults were exchanged with president Ameal. Angelici, linked to former president Macri, doesn't agree with the new conditions of the contract and threatened to resign.
· How does promotion/relegation works? · What teams play in First Division? · Why is the season divided in two? · How do teams qualify for Libertadores/Sudamericana Cup? · What are the main rivalries between teams?
Apertura '10 will start in only 2 weeks, so you better be ready for it! Here's some basic info about how football works around here.
The winter novela comes to an end: Riquelme will continue playing in Boca. "I'm already a Boca player. The only thing left is to make the paperwork with the accountants. I hope that in a few days we are all happy," he said.
The winter novela left that cold weather that Riquelme talked about a few days ago. Finally, after much negotiation, Roman confirmed that he accepted an offer from Boca, and that he "just needs to sign the papers with the accountants in order to remain a player in the club."
"We have to do the paperwork and make sure that both the club and I are happy. There, I would be Boca player", he confessed, and also added: "Everyone expected the things to work faster. The president is making a huge effort for me to continue. (...) It happened to be extended a little longer, but we are near the end of everything as we want it", he says.
Without giving details on the negotiation, Riquelme confirmed that the club ended up offering the four-year contract he wanted, and that "economic matters were never a problem". Thus, Boca will have one of the greatest idols for a long time. "I want to prepare myself well to give joy to the fans for four years," confessed Roman, still injured and eager to recover. And so, the novela had its happy ending.
Want to follow Primera División? THEN GET ON IT BITCH BECAUSE APERTURA '10 IS HAPPENING AND I HAS THE FIXTURES ( FIXTURE UNDER THE CUT. ARE YOU EXCITED!!!?!?!! ) NOTE: I changed the date format, considering most people here speak English. So if you speak Spanish and you think '05.09.10' means 'September 5th, 2010', WROOONG. It means 'May 9th, 2010' Keep that in mind while reading the dates! :D
We were talking about female refs the other day, and I mentioned Salomé Di Iorio, argentine football's female referee. Just today I was reading Olé and found and interview with her, so I thought I'd share.
“They've thrown coffee, rolls of paper and sneakers at me...”
Source. I've been to matches where she was working as an assitant ref, and she's absolutely right. She disallowed a goal in my reserve team's match (yes, I go earlier to see the babies play, whatever) and it caused an uproar in the stands. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have happened with a guy. Another time, she just walked by and the asshole sitting next to me stood up and clapped while saying "Nicely done, judge, nicely done" even though the only thing she'd done was stand there and be hot. That asshole.