AFA | Superliga Argentina de Fútbol

[SirBalon]

Discuss Everything Football Argentina

[SirBalon]

Belgrano fan is thrown from the stand in the Córdoba Clásico

 

Last Saturday the local Córdoba derby between Belgrano de Córdoba and Talleres de Córdoba suffered an incident that has rocked football. 22 year old Emanuel Balbo a Belgrano fan was thrown off the centre tier of the Mario Alberto Kempes Stadium where he went head first and died due to his cranial injuries.  Apparently a fight broke out between the fans and three spectators just tipped Emanuel over the tier where he went head first.

 

[tarzanontoast]

I’ve only just noticed that there are 30 teams in the Argentina Premera Division.

Therefore 29 matches in total, with an additional 30th game being the "Fecha de Clásicos" – in which each team play their closest rival (as an extra derby, great for the fans).

I was wondering, at 30 teams, is this the largest league in world football? 

(Current standings below)

[SirBalon]

Argentina have always had a very unique format in their league with the "Apertura" and the "Clausura".

In a way it's dedicated to how football was originally played. They're the only surviving league that witholds the traditional association football ethics. 

[tarzanontoast]

24 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

Argentina have always had a very unique format in their league with the "Apertura" and the "Clausura".

In a way it's dedicated to how football was originally played. They're the only surviving league that witholds the traditional association football ethics. 

I’m not sure I like the lowest-average-of-three-seasons rule. Favours the big fishes. 

[ScoRoss]

The league system is Argentina has been a mess for years, with the next few years showing no sign of that changing. Having a league where every single team have differing fixtures isn't a fair way to decide a league champion.

Even when this will be over, they'll be left with 24 teams. Which is far too many in a top flight league. All of this and the 'average points' to decide relegation, just indicates a lack of leadership in the AFA and trying to please everyone.

[SirBalon]

FIFA cancel Messi's 4 match ban

 

Excellent news for Lionel Messi and the Argentina national side after both Messi's legal team and the AFA successfully reversed the 4 match ban the Argentinian player received in Argentina's 1-0 victory over Chile in a World Cup qualification game.  Messi apparently insulted the referee by saying "La concha de tu madre" (Your mum's pussy) when the referee denied to appreciate a foul on him.

The punishment from FIFA when they read the referee's report was to hand out an unprecedented 4 match ban.  A situation that occurs all the time when footballers say things in the heat of the moment al over the world.  FIFA has rectified by stating that they committed an error in handing out such a severe punishment and has been reduced to a 1 match ban which has already been served.  So Lionel Messi will now be permitted to play their next World Cup qualifier against Uruguay on the 31st of August.

It seems that the laws are different elsewhere in the world because when Barcelona tried to get a three match ban imposed on Neymar for clapping as he was sent-off was ignored and maintained.

 

La FIFA le quita la sanción a Leo Messi

[SirBalon]

Maradona's first agent Jorge Cyterszpiler takes his life

 

Many of you will be asking yourselves why this is news, but for the avid football follower that delves in a bit deeper and outside his own insular mindset, this is big news because a lot of history is archived in moments such as those that Jorge Cyterszpiler was involved in.

Right now there aren't too many details on exactly what's occurred but his body was found dead on the ground after falling from the Hotel Faena in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires.  He was staying in room 707 on the second floor where it seems he jumped to his death from the outside terrace the room had.

The picture above is after Diego Armando Maradona signed for FC Barcelona in 1982.  There you can see Maradona and his agent Cyterszpiler arriving at Barcelona's airport, El Prat.

According to some sources he had fallen into depression after his marriage failed and was on antidepressants to control his terrible moments of unhappiness.

Jorge Cyterszpiler born in Argentina 1956 was the architect on Maradona's best moments in his career taking him from Argentinos Juniors to Boca Juniors and subsequently to FC Barcelona and then SSC Napoli.  He was the pioneer in professional agents where no other player had given all protagonism to his representative in negotiations.  A licensed economist who accompanied Maradona from 1977 to 1985 where they fell out after Maradona started to indulge in recreational drugs and take a different route to the professional one Cyterszpiler wanted his friend and client to take which would fit into the very professional world of footballers we have today.  They parted company on bad terms at the time but after a number of years re-established their relationship as great friends once more.

In the picture above we see the first meeting between Diego Maradona and Pelé in Brazil which Cyterszpiler organised (on the right) and invited the biggest football magazine of the time "El Gráfico" to the meeting.  A very astute move because Maradona was only really known in Argentina at the time, but this caused a boom and everyone started to talk about him and a flurry of other football magazines worldwide especially in Europe got hooked into the Maradona boom.  From that moment on there were scouts at every single one of Maradona's games in Argentina.

So ahead of his time was Cyterszpiler at the time that he even organised (with third parties)a meeting with the president River Plate, Aragón Cabrera (arch rivals of Boca Juniors) to cause a public interest in the player and with that entered FC Barcelona because they wanted to capture him before the boom became overbearing and other giant clubs like Real Madrid and others in Italy go in on the act.  Cyterszpiler then organised a meeting between César Luis Menotti and FC Barcelona so that the package would include the football guru (Menotti) and the future king to be, Diego Armando Maradona.

On their parting in 1985 Jorge Cyterszpiler said this about Maradona; "I loved him and I will always love him.  I've never spoken a bad word about him and I never will because that's my concept of friendship."

[Spike]

Anyone watching Superclasico right now?

[Berserker]

Me

[SirBalon]

I already made a thread for Argentinian football here:                    AFA | Liga de fútbol Argentina                 

I'll be recording it because I've got a big day tomorrow. 

[Spike]

9 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

I already made a thread for Argentinian football here:                    AFA | Liga de fútbol Argentina                 

I'll be recording it because I've got a big day tomorrow. 

My thread is better.

[Berserker]

12 minutes ago, Teso Dos Bichos said:

https://mobile.twitter.com/LeeStobbs06/status/863858482478551044/video/1

That foul. 

riBer plate winning 2-0

That was a red.

Hope there is not pepper spray today.

[Guest]

Can someone tell me why Loustau is always reffing these games?

[Berserker]

Get the fuck in!

[Spike]

Martin Demichellis has retired. Underrated defender, great nine games out of ten but the other one was lost due to his retardation.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Spike said:

Martin Demichellis has retired. Underrated defender, great nine games out of ten but the other one was lost due to his retardation.

I always liked him. Always received shit and never understood why. Sure he had his flaws and wasn't a perfect defender but overall he was nowhere near as bad as some made him out to be.

The highlight of his career for me was the 2014 World Cup where to me he was the second best defender in the tournament, behind Mario Yepes.

[SirBalon]

Shame River couldn't do it...  But they've come a long way in the past two seasons after that disaster.  Next season I'm sure they'll sort themselves out because there isn't all that much to do which is what the table suggests.

[SirBalon]

The Adidas River Plate 1989-1990 Season

 

In the early-nineties, when the replica shirt industry was in its infancy and “mail order” was the closest thing to online shopping, South American club shirts were like gold dust. Even in today’s global marketplace they are are seldom found in stores, so imagine my surprise when twenty-two years ago I walked into a small sports shop in my hometown to find the 1989-90 River Plate shirt hanging on a rack beside several other Argentine shirts. My friend and fellow football enthusiast Tom bought the Boca Juniors shirt from the same period (the one with the FIAT sponsor) and I seem to recall they even had Independiente. Quite how this small-town establishment had managed to procure such an exotic selection of Buenos Aires-based club shirts remained a mystery, but rather than ask questions I quickly bought the shirt with “la banda roja” (it cost a mere £10) before someone else got hold of it.

I’d never seen a River Plate match on television, and only ever seen grainy photos of the Argentine league in World Soccer magazine, to which I was a monthly subscriber. Without internet or even satellite television, this was the only way for a twelve-year-old to stay informed of football taking place on the other side of the globe. From what the magazine pages told me, everything about Argentine football seemed different from the increasingly corporate game in Europe: the pitches were covered in ticker-tape, all the players seemed to have long hair, and they were still using the original adidas Tango balls.

After a long barren spell River Plate had started winning again in the late-1970s, and in 1986 won the Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup for the first time. But no sooner were those historic victories achieved that the team began to break up. The elegant Uruguayan playmaker Enzo Francescoli had already left for France, and fan favourite Norberto Alonso retired in 1987, leaving a gaping hole in midfield. River then suffered a mass exodus that including some of South Americas’s most talented and experienced players. Between 1988 and 1989 goalkeepers Pumpido and Goycoechea, defenders Ruggeri and Gutierrez, midfielders Gallego, Borghi, Gorosito, and forwards Caniggia, Troglio, Funes, Alzamendi and Balbo all parted ways with the club. At the same time defender Daniel Passarella — the only outfield player from Argentina’s 1978 World Cup squad still active at a high level — returned to “Los Millonarios” for one final season. Immediately following his retirement he took over the coaching of the club, his first experience of management, and led the team to an unexpected Primera División title.

River Plate’s kit barely changed in this period, maintaining a classic adidas template throughout the 1980s. In 1989 their sponsor switched from Fate O (an Argentine tyre manufacturer) to Peugeot, and they also ditched the lion logo that had appeared on the shirt since 1984. The 1989-90 season in Argentina was the fifth and final edition to dispense with the traditional format of the Metropolitano and Nacional championships, and instead follow a standard European-style league system. The decidedly unglamourous River side kept pace with defending champions Independiente for the duration of the campaign, eventually surpassing their rivals from Avellaneda in week 27 of the season. In May, having racked up a five-point advantage, River held on for a draw in the head-to-head clash with Independiente. Two brilliant goals from striker Ramón Medina Bello in their next home match against Estudiantes were enough to secure La Banda the title with two games to spare.

Less than a month later, when the world’s national teams convened in Italy ahead of the World Cup, several of the key men in River’s title victory — including Medina Bello, Gustavo Zapata, Leonardo Astrada, Héctor Enrique, Juan José Borreli and the Uruguayan Rubén Da Silva — were missing. Carlos Bilardo’s Italia ’90 squad contained just two players from River’s championship-winning side: Sergio Batista, a midfield survivor from 1986, and defender José Serrizuela, who converted the first penalty in each of Argentina’s shoot-out victories during the tournament. There was no room either for River’s promising young forward, Gabriel Batistuta. The striker had settled quickly at El Monumental, scoring some spectacular goals in the process, only to be dropped inexplicably by Passarella midway through the season. Both parties claimed there was never any dispute between them; indeed when Passarella refused to select long-haired players for his Argentina squad in 1998, Batistuta was the one man for whom he made exception. “El Bati” left River and moved across town to bitter rivals Boca Juniors, where he forged a lethal partnership with Diego Latorre and soon caught the attention of Fiorentina.

The Primera División format became much more convoluted in 1990-91. The league portion of the competition was split into two rounds, the Aperturaand Clausura, the combined points of which would determine a final league table, from which the top two would meet in a two-legged final to decide the title. River finished second in the Apertura but only tenth in the Clausura, and third overall. Their shirt was identical to the previous season, except the V-neck had become a proper collar. What I like most about this shirt is its construction. Unlike the modern kit on which River’s famous red sash is printed within the material, here it is sewn into the garment as a separate piece of fabric, lending the shirt and its most distinctive feature a little extra weight.

In 2014 I visited Buenos Aires for the first time, and one warm afternoon I took a two-hour walk up Avenida Luis Maria Campos and Avenida del Libertador, through the affluent Belgrano neighbourhood to the leafy barrio of Núñez. The purpose of this epic pilgrimage was of course the Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti, the home stadium of River Plate and the venue for Argentina’s historic first World Cup triumph in 1978. As I approached the stadium, I began to notice a sharp increase in pro-River and anti-Boca graffiti, while suddenly all billboards had gone from advertising cellphones and ice cream to candidates for the River Plate presidency. Avenida Lidoro J. Quinteros looks like any other residential street, but there at the end of it, like a giant Coca-Cola endorsed UFO, sits the national team’s stadium.

Fittingly for a club that likes to call itself “El Mas Grande”, El Monumental is the largest stadium in the country. Though parts of the construction look as if they’ve barely seen a lick of paint since 1978, the ground’s ultra-modern Museo River is the benchmark against which all future stadium tours must be measured. They’ve literally thought of everything: hundreds of trophies, goals on video, an alphabetical listing of every player to represent “Los Millonarios, a gallery of River-inspired artwork, plus an interactive time tunnel in which River’s successes and failures on the pitch are placed in context with important events in Argentina’s history. Alongside the vintage match-worn shirts on display is a graphic illustrating every River kit from 1901 to 2014, which is how I was able to finally pinpoint mine. Visitors are even allowed to enter the dressing room and stroll around the athletics track. Looking out into the vast arena form the comfort of the stand’s old wooden seats, as our tour guide regaled us with facts about the stadium, I took tremendous pleasure in wearing a shirt I’d bought over two decades ago, and hung onto ever since for a moment just like this. Incidentally, modern reproductions of the classic eighties shirt are now on sale at the official River Plate store for 229 pesos.

Dedicated to: @Berserker

Credits to: James Campbell Taylor

[Berserker]

1 hour ago, SirBalon said:

The Adidas River Plate 1989-1990 Season

 

In the early-nineties, when the replica shirt industry was in its infancy and “mail order” was the closest thing to online shopping, South American club shirts were like gold dust. Even in today’s global marketplace they are are seldom found in stores, so imagine my surprise when twenty-two years ago I walked into a small sports shop in my hometown to find the 1989-90 River Plate shirt hanging on a rack beside several other Argentine shirts. My friend and fellow football enthusiast Tom bought the Boca Juniors shirt from the same period (the one with the FIAT sponsor) and I seem to recall they even had Independiente. Quite how this small-town establishment had managed to procure such an exotic selection of Buenos Aires-based club shirts remained a mystery, but rather than ask questions I quickly bought the shirt with “la banda roja” (it cost a mere £10) before someone else got hold of it.

I’d never seen a River Plate match on television, and only ever seen grainy photos of the Argentine league in World Soccer magazine, to which I was a monthly subscriber. Without internet or even satellite television, this was the only way for a twelve-year-old to stay informed of football taking place on the other side of the globe. From what the magazine pages told me, everything about Argentine football seemed different from the increasingly corporate game in Europe: the pitches were covered in ticker-tape, all the players seemed to have long hair, and they were still using the original adidas Tango balls.

After a long barren spell River Plate had started winning again in the late-1970s, and in 1986 won the Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup for the first time. But no sooner were those historic victories achieved that the team began to break up. The elegant Uruguayan playmaker Enzo Francescoli had already left for France, and fan favourite Norberto Alonso retired in 1987, leaving a gaping hole in midfield. River then suffered a mass exodus that including some of South Americas’s most talented and experienced players. Between 1988 and 1989 goalkeepers Pumpido and Goycoechea, defenders Ruggeri and Gutierrez, midfielders Gallego, Borghi, Gorosito, and forwards Caniggia, Troglio, Funes, Alzamendi and Balbo all parted ways with the club. At the same time defender Daniel Passarella — the only outfield player from Argentina’s 1978 World Cup squad still active at a high level — returned to “Los Millonarios” for one final season. Immediately following his retirement he took over the coaching of the club, his first experience of management, and led the team to an unexpected Primera División title.

River Plate’s kit barely changed in this period, maintaining a classic adidas template throughout the 1980s. In 1989 their sponsor switched from Fate O (an Argentine tyre manufacturer) to Peugeot, and they also ditched the lion logo that had appeared on the shirt since 1984. The 1989-90 season in Argentina was the fifth and final edition to dispense with the traditional format of the Metropolitano and Nacional championships, and instead follow a standard European-style league system. The decidedly unglamourous River side kept pace with defending champions Independiente for the duration of the campaign, eventually surpassing their rivals from Avellaneda in week 27 of the season. In May, having racked up a five-point advantage, River held on for a draw in the head-to-head clash with Independiente. Two brilliant goals from striker Ramón Medina Bello in their next home match against Estudiantes were enough to secure La Banda the title with two games to spare.

Less than a month later, when the world’s national teams convened in Italy ahead of the World Cup, several of the key men in River’s title victory — including Medina Bello, Gustavo Zapata, Leonardo Astrada, Héctor Enrique, Juan José Borreli and the Uruguayan Rubén Da Silva — were missing. Carlos Bilardo’s Italia ’90 squad contained just two players from River’s championship-winning side: Sergio Batista, a midfield survivor from 1986, and defender José Serrizuela, who converted the first penalty in each of Argentina’s shoot-out victories during the tournament. There was no room either for River’s promising young forward, Gabriel Batistuta. The striker had settled quickly at El Monumental, scoring some spectacular goals in the process, only to be dropped inexplicably by Passarella midway through the season. Both parties claimed there was never any dispute between them; indeed when Passarella refused to select long-haired players for his Argentina squad in 1998, Batistuta was the one man for whom he made exception. “El Bati” left River and moved across town to bitter rivals Boca Juniors, where he forged a lethal partnership with Diego Latorre and soon caught the attention of Fiorentina.

The Primera División format became much more convoluted in 1990-91. The league portion of the competition was split into two rounds, the Aperturaand Clausura, the combined points of which would determine a final league table, from which the top two would meet in a two-legged final to decide the title. River finished second in the Apertura but only tenth in the Clausura, and third overall. Their shirt was identical to the previous season, except the V-neck had become a proper collar. What I like most about this shirt is its construction. Unlike the modern kit on which River’s famous red sash is printed within the material, here it is sewn into the garment as a separate piece of fabric, lending the shirt and its most distinctive feature a little extra weight.

In 2014 I visited Buenos Aires for the first time, and one warm afternoon I took a two-hour walk up Avenida Luis Maria Campos and Avenida del Libertador, through the affluent Belgrano neighbourhood to the leafy barrio of Núñez. The purpose of this epic pilgrimage was of course the Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti, the home stadium of River Plate and the venue for Argentina’s historic first World Cup triumph in 1978. As I approached the stadium, I began to notice a sharp increase in pro-River and anti-Boca graffiti, while suddenly all billboards had gone from advertising cellphones and ice cream to candidates for the River Plate presidency. Avenida Lidoro J. Quinteros looks like any other residential street, but there at the end of it, like a giant Coca-Cola endorsed UFO, sits the national team’s stadium.

Fittingly for a club that likes to call itself “El Mas Grande”, El Monumental is the largest stadium in the country. Though parts of the construction look as if they’ve barely seen a lick of paint since 1978, the ground’s ultra-modern Museo River is the benchmark against which all future stadium tours must be measured. They’ve literally thought of everything: hundreds of trophies, goals on video, an alphabetical listing of every player to represent “Los Millonarios, a gallery of River-inspired artwork, plus an interactive time tunnel in which River’s successes and failures on the pitch are placed in context with important events in Argentina’s history. Alongside the vintage match-worn shirts on display is a graphic illustrating every River kit from 1901 to 2014, which is how I was able to finally pinpoint mine. Visitors are even allowed to enter the dressing room and stroll around the athletics track. Looking out into the vast arena form the comfort of the stand’s old wooden seats, as our tour guide regaled us with facts about the stadium, I took tremendous pleasure in wearing a shirt I’d bought over two decades ago, and hung onto ever since for a moment just like this. Incidentally, modern reproductions of the classic eighties shirt are now on sale at the official River Plate store for 229 pesos.

Dedicated to: @Berserker

Credits to: James Campbell Taylor

Very nice mate, appreciated it.

Have the link?

[True Blue]

Brasil > Argentina

Neymar > Messi

True Blue > Berserker

 

[SirBalon]

4 minutes ago, Berserker said:

Very nice mate, appreciated it.

Have the link?

Sent it to you mate! 

[SirBalon]

2 minutes ago, True Blue said:

Brasil > Argentina

Neymar > Messi

True Blue > Berserker

 

Shut up!

Shouldn't you be training?

You've been out for three years! 

[Berserker]

3 minutes ago, True Blue said:

Brasil > Argentina

Neymar > Messi

True Blue > Berserker

 

Serbia > Bosnia

Djokovic > Dzeko

Everyone > True Blue

[SirBalon]

54 minutes ago, Teso dos Bichos said:

Gabriel Heinze is being linked to takeover coaching duties for San Lorenzo. Diego Agurrie left the team after getting eliminated from la libertadores. 

If his character as a coach is anything to go by when he was a player, then it would be very interesting to see his career develop in the managerial sense.  He was a marvellous player and one that seems to have been forgotten in terms of how much he offered.