VERON wants to come back

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February 27, 2007

I´ve been doing the math and the numbers are not lying. Juan Sebastián VERÓN will be 34 years-old come South Africa 2010.

Is he as old as we tend to think? Or will he be able to get to the next World Cup as an impact player?

We are moments away from the moment in which COCO will name his first 20-21 players from the local league to start building up a team with the focus on the Copa America Venezuela 2007 (starting in June).

When all the main newspapers and websites from Argentina start to talk about a name, it´s almost certain that some piece of info have leaked out from the AFA and it´s just a matter of time until we can confirm the rumours.

Now Juan Sebastián VERÓN talked with the media (Olé.com.ar) and he´s saying he is anxiously waiting for the list to be officialised and is dreaming of seeing his name on it.

He said:

“The desire I’ve got, leads me to feel that I could be on the list, but nothing is official yet, there are rumours, but so far they´re only that: just rumours.

“I would love to be in the next World Cup. The only thing standing in my way (to South Africa 2010) could be my age, but I still feel plenty of will to play and to be in our national team. Even though I consider that I had a good career, it´ll be like closing something very important.”

In that very last sentence, I don´t think it´s clear if he means he wants to finish his career playing “something very important” as a World Cup or if he means that it´ll be “closing something very important” referring to the very hard period he had after the 2002 World Cup in which he was blame by the entire public opinion for Argentina´s quick elimination.

He added:

“I went through different phases, anger, frustration and I was asking my self “why?”. Then I calmed down and started to live with it (being away from the National Team). Even if football is very important for me, it never stops being just a sport and sometimes we create a big drama around it. It was not a nice sporting moment for me, because when you play football you always have a number of goals and to be a part of our national team is always one of them.”

A star coming back amongst 20 local names

By

Roy Nemer

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February 26, 2007

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It has been rumoured that Coco BASILE will name a list of players from the Argentine league as early as this week.

The return of Juan Sebastián VERÓN is something that should not surprise anybody.

COCO wants to work with this group of players for the Copa America (Venezuela 2007 in June) but for that tournament, he will also call-up some big names from Europe.

In the meantime, he´ll have the time to work more time with his players than any regular big country national team and he can only benefit from that. Especially knowing that very soon, most of the players in the list will eventually move to Europe as well.

Now, before he makes that list public, here are the names that has been sounding strongly:

Goalkeepers:
Juan Pablo CARRIZO (River Plate)
Oscar USTARI (Independiente)

Defenders:
Paulo FERRARI (River Plate)
Daniel DÍAZ (Boca Juniors)
Eduardo TUZZIO (River Plate)
Hugo IBARRA (Boca Juniors)
Hernán PELLERANO (Vélez Sársfield)
Germán RÉ (Newell´s Old Boys)

Midfielders:
Mario BOLATTI (Belgrano)
Leonardo PONZIO (River Plate)
Fernando BELLUSCHI (River Plate)
Juan Sebastián VERÓN (Estudiantes)
Neri CARDOZO (Boca Juniors)
Agustín PELLETIERI (Lanús)
Sebastián LETO (Lanús)
Daniel MONTENEGRO (Independiente)

Forwards:
Mariano PAVONE (Estudiantes)
Ezequiel LAVEZZI (San Lorenzo)
Rodrigo PALACIO (Boca Juniors)
Mauro ZÁRATE (Vélez Sársfield)

POLL: Who is the best Argentine player RIGHT NOW?

By

Roy Nemer

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February 23, 2007

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I´ve been thinking after the World Cup and with a new process starting at the helm of our national team and it is a good idea to invite you to vote for who you think is the best Argentine player these days.

You may have your favourites, you can vote with your heart, but what I´m looking for is for an unbiased opinion and what I would like you to consider who is playing the best football right now.

Here´s my Top10 players (not in order) but you can also vote for others:

Roberto ABBONDANZIERI (GETAFE): It´s hard to put keepers to compete against field players. Sometimes it´s unfair for the keeper, because his job doesn´t stand out as much, but in this case, I think he is worth a nomination here. In his first season at Getafe, he is La Liga´s top goalkeeper and currently leading the Zamora prize standings (the prize awarded to the keeper who received less goals during the season in Spain). He is ahead of Iker CASILLAS (Real Madrid), Víctor VALDEZ (FC Barcelona) and PALOP (Valencia) and playing for a small club like Getafe, makes this an even more important achievement.

Roberto AYALA (VALENCIA): After a brilliant World Cup, he is keeping up a good level of performances and have secured a move from Valencia to Villarreal for next season. Yesterday, unfortunately, some Valencia supporters have painted some walls in the city with death threats and insults for our national team most capped player.

Gabriel MILITO (REAL ZARAGOZA): A fine season from “The Marshal”. Commanding Zaragoza´s defense and playing a great game in Paris against France.

Nicolás BURDISSO (INTERNAZIONALE): 16 straight wins for Inter with Nico scoring some goals and playing very well. He is also Inter´s top scorer in the Coppa Italia this season with four.

Esteban CAMBIASSO (INTERNAZIONALE): Another great reason why Inter is running away with the title in Serie A. CUCHU is a key member of the black & blue midfield and he is also contributing with a number of goals, like the one he scored this week against Valencia for the Champions League.

Javier ZANETTI (INTERNAZIONALE): After unfairly missing out of the World Cup squad, PUPI have comeback to our national team and played a part in Argentina´s goal against France. He is also standing out for Inter where he plays in defense or midfield depending on where MANCINI needs him.

Luis “LUCHO” GONZALEZ (FC PORTO): Scored what probably is the best goal of the Champions League´s current season and it is an established figure in our national team. Is helping Porto in their quest to repeat the Portuguese title obtained last year while they are still alive in the Champions League.

Sergio AGÜERO (ATLÉTICO MADRID): KUN is playing more minutes now and he is proving his worth with crucial goals for “ALETI”. He managed to make the press talk about an Atlético player other than Fernando TORRES and now it´s rumoured that a lot of European clubs are after his signing.

Diego MILITO (ZARAGOZA): A scoring monster, Diego is really fighting for the Pichichi prize (award given to La Liga´s top goalscorer). He has hard competition with KANOUTÉ and RONALDINHO, but he is hanging in there and he doesn´t seem to be willing to stop.

Javier SAVIOLA (FC BARCELONA): He is always there and he scores at every chance he has (like in Paris against France). He started the year with 8 goals between La Liga, Copa del Rey and that friendly against France.

Argentina to play Colombia, Paraguay and USA in the Copa America

By

Roy Nemer

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February 15, 2007

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It’s been really busy yesterday. Lots of news regarding our national team and our football in the future.

Here´s a brief list of the most important news from yesterday:

DRAW FOR THE COPA AMERICA VENEZUELA 2007

Argentina will play in Group C against United States, Colombia and Paraguay (in that order).

Our debut will be against United States on 28 June at Maracaibo.

Group A will see the host Venezuela playing against Bolivia, Uruguay and Peru.

Group B contains Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador and Chile.

COPA AMERICA 2011

This is something I didn´t expect and I had no idea about, but it has been confirmed that the Copa America 2011 will be played in Argentina!

I remember I was 10 when the Copa America was last played in my country (1987) and Uruguay were the winners (while Argentina and Brazil didn´t even make it to the final match and didn´t even finish in the top three -which were Uruguay, Chile and Colombia-).

WORLD CUP QUALY

It´s been confirmed that the fixtures will again be the same as in the last two editions of the South American World Cup Qualifiers. Argentina will then start playing against Chile and will close the campaign aiming to secure a ticket for South Africa 2010 with a game against Uruguay.

Will this be the year…..again????

By

Roy Nemer

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February 9, 2007

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Every year we ask the same question: Will Argentina win the Davis Cup this time?

Today the moment to start giving some answers has come for our team.

Without our best player of the moment, David NALBANDIAN, Argentina will look for a difficult first round away tie against Austria.

José ACASUSO and Guillermo CAÑAS will face Stefan KOUBEK and Jurgen MELTZER respectively on Friday.

It´s going to be very tough playing on a fast surface that clearly gives the advantage to the Austrians, but we´ll see if the team steps up to the challenge.