AS WORLD CUP FINALS GO, the one played out between Argentina and West Germany in 1986 would take some beating for drama. The game seemed won, before being cast into huge doubt,…
Tag: argentina
THERE ARE TEAMS that win promotion to the top tier then fall after a short spell and never manage to return. But it is possible for clubs with decades of top-flight history to…
In arguably the worst foul in World Cup history, Cameroon’s Benjamin Massing took out Argentina’s Claudio Caniggia with all the force of a nation
THERE IS AN ADAGE in sport that success is easier to attain than it is to maintain. Keeping the motivation and hunger to get up every day and repeat the process once…
LINIERS DIDN’T CHANGE much on 1 July 1943. Crowded trains still carried exhausted workers from the grimy, industrial barrio into the centre of Buenos Aires. The San Cayetano church still welcomed worshippers…
THIS SUMMER MARKS the 40th anniversary of when Argentina first won the World Cup, a triumph shrouded in controversy from a time that cast a shadow over South America’s second largest country.…
FOURTEEN MINUTES INTO EXTRA-TIME, after he opened the scoring for Argentina and Dick Nanninga equalised for the Netherlands, Mario Kempes burst into the box. He charged past two Dutch defenders and bundled…
Arsenio Erico, Paraguay’s greatest footballer and the highest-scoring player in Primera División history, deserves his place in legend
FOOTBALL IS THE ONLY SPORT ON WHICH COMMUNITIES CAN BE BUILT. There are other sports out there which can attract tens of thousands of fans, but none of these can bond ties…
In 1958, the beginning of the decline of La Nuestra – the skill-based, extravagant and truly unique brand of football which had characterised Argentine football – could be traced back to one…
ON THE HILLY COUNTRYSIDE of Serra Riccò, deep inside the bowels of a parish church, Don Stefano Vassallo cracked a wry smile. After days of painstaking research, scrolling through copious archived documents,…
BRITS ARE OFTEN PERCEIVED as having an island mentality, an insular view of oneself no doubt exacerbated by the unexpected Brexit vote last June. Another characteristic of island mentality is the perception…
THEY HAVE DONE IT TWICE, but can they do it a third time? That was the question before the 2016/17 Primera División season. Club Atlético Temperley from the southern Buenos Aires suburb…
Illustration by Federico Manasse There are certain footballers that transcend the beautiful game; mere mortals who watch football see them as ethereal beings. These are the players who elevate the game to…
Ituzaingó is a district in Buenos Aires, only a 45 minutes train ride from the centre of the metropolis. Its team, Club Atlético Ituzaingó play in the Primera D, the lowest tier…
No, it wasn’t anything like the 6-1 humiliation from 2009, but Argentina’s recent 2-0 loss to Bolivia in La Paz was a setback for a group of guys that can only be…
WITH THE EYES OF THE WORLD ON HIM in Juventus’s first leg Champions League quarter-final clash against Barcelona, Paulo Dybala did not disappoint. La Joya (The Jewel) showed everyone exactly what he’s…
In the 50s, Argentina boasted one of the great attacks. The chief supplier was was Orestes Corbatta, a flawed genius in the mould of Garrincha