Walter KANNEMANN has been excellent for Brazilian club Gremio lately and has finally received a call-up to the Argentina National Team.
Now 27, the former San Lorenzo and Atlas man has been included in interim Argentina coach Lionel SCALONI’s list for next month’s matches against Guatemala and Colombia. Speaking with Sportia, here’s what he had to say:
“I am happy for having this opportunity. I hope to be as good as possible for it. I never really thought about if this should have happened before. If it didn’t happen, I would have been another fan of the Argentina National Team.
“I try to be my bst, to contribute what I can and to help out my team mates. I’ve always played as a center back in Brazil but if I have to play as a full back, I have no problem.”
KANNEMANN won the Copa Libertadores twice, the first time in 2014 with San Lorenzo and the second coming in 2017 with Gremio.
Out of the nine matches which took place on Saturday and Sunday in the Argentina Superliga, five of them finished in draws.
Defensa y Justicia vs. Atletico Tucuman was the first match on Saturday and it finished in similar fashion to that of Newell’s and Independiente. A goal less first half meant we were treated to two goals and a red card in the second half. Ricardo NOIR scored an Olympic goal, that is to say directly from a corner kick. Alexander BARBOSA equalized for the home team from the spot with six minutes left. Guillermo ACOSTA later lost his head and was sent off in injury time for Atletico Tucuman.
Former Ajax and Nice man Dario CVITANICH scored the lone goal of the match, also from the spot, for Banfield in their 1-0 win against Gimnasia de la Plata. It was a big win for Banfield as they had lost their opening match last weekend against Rosario Central.
The second draw on Saturday came between Argentinos Juniors and Godoy Cruz. A 0-0 draw haltered Godoy Cruz’s chances of going top of the table after they won their opening match of the season. Argentinos Juniors find themselves in the bottom half of the standings in 21st position with only one point.
A frustrating start to the season continues for both River Plate and Belgrano as they drew 0-0 which means a second consecutive draw for both teams. They are now four points behind league leaders Rosario Central who picked up two wins out of two.
San Martin picked up their first win of the season and find themselves on four points following a 1-0 win against Patronato. The latter are in 22nd position with a lonely point.
In a back and forth match, Colon drew 2-2 against Tigre. Diego VIERA opened the scoring for the visitors to give Tigre a 1-0 lead. Former Argentina international and 2004 Olympic gold medalist Clemente RODRIGUEZ equalized for Colon. Just one minute later, Juan CAVALLARO restored Tigre’s lead. Javier CORREA drew Colon level for the second time in the match.
Aldosivi came from behind to win 2-1 against Huracan. Diego MENDOZA scored early on in the match for Huracan to give them a 1-0 lead. The second half saw Ivan COLMAN score for Aldosivi before Matias PISANO left it late by scoring the match winner in the 88th minute.
Former Inter man Ruben BOTTA scored in the 26th minute for San Lorenzo and Nicolas BLANDI doubled their lead against Lanus. However, Sebastian RIBAS cut San Lorenzo’s lead in half right before half time. Nicolas THALLER made it 2-2 in the 46th minute which ended up being the final score.
Lisandro LOPEZ has made it two goals in two games as he scored in Racing Club’s 2-0 win against Velez. Guillermo FERNANDEZ sealed the win late in the 83rd minute.
Monday’s matches are Boca away to Estudiantes while San Martin de Tucuman host Union. The reports for both of those matches will be up on Monday evening.
Lionel MESSI, Sergio AGUERO and FRanco CERVI weren’t the only Argentine players to score for a team in a top European league as Lucas ALARIO scored the match winner in Bayer Leverkusen’s 1-0 win against Pforzheim.
https://youtu.be/Mu_3vrTRxQo
The former River Plate man scored a penalty in the win and has fallen off the radar the past year. Since joining the German club, ALARIO scored 9 goals in 23 league matches. The likes of Dario BENEDETTO, Mauro ICARDI and more recently Giovanni SIMEONE have been selected ahead of him for the Argentina National Team.
PSG are reportedly open to listen to offers for Argentina international Giovani LO CELSO.
Per a report by L’Équipe, the league champions are willing to let go of Giovani LO CELSO, since he is not in the plans of new coach Thomas THUCHEL. Still only 22, the former Rosario Central man joined PSG back in January of 2017 and playing minutes did gradually go up under previous coach Unai EMERY.
The reason for TUCHEL preferring other players over LO CELSO has more to do with his profile rather than his talent. The rumored buy-out clause is that of €40 million. He has a contract until 2021 with the club but at the moment, no offers have come in for the Argentine midfielder.
Former Argentina and Inter defender Walter SAMUEL will reportedly join the Argentina staff.
Per a tweet by CL Merlo, Walter SAMUEL has everything agreed with the AFA and will join interim Argentina coach Lionel SCALONI as one of his assistants. As we reported a few days ago, there were rumors that SAMUEL would join the staff.
Walter Samuel acordó con AFA y será uno de los ayudantes de campo de Lionel Scaloni. Como defensor, jugó 55 partidos con la selección argentina y convirtió 5 goles. Luego de una larga… https://t.co/ZAyygYrrs0
