This feature is part of The Masterminds IN 1974, Argentine football had unquestionably seen more prosperous days. The national side had just been dumped out of the World Cup in Germany having…
Tag: argentina
THE STADIO DELLE ALPI was a cold, cavernous, characterless stadium. The architectural monstrosity was designed by Studio Hutter and built from scratch ahead of the 1990 World Cup. Tucked away on the…
”Mi amigos” is how Diego Maradona is known to describe them. Ali Bin Nasser and Bogdan Dotchev are not on cordial terms with one another. Over three decades on, they still blame each…
From South America to Panama to the United States, the Copa América has been inching ever closer to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, where the first match of the Copa América Centenario –…
Anyone that has followed football for the last 12 years is more than familiar with the miracles Lionel Messi is capable of. The mind of every fan in the world has stored an…
As featured on Guardian Sport With one brief, shocking press conference, he was gone. Marcelo Bielsa announced to the media at the Stade Vélodrome following Olympique Marseille’s 1-0 loss to Caen that he had…
There has always been a condescending stigma attached when a talented player leaves Europe for the eastern side of the world: Asamoah Gyan was disowned by football purists for turning down a career…
Jeremy Clarkson, the former presenter of Top Gear, was, in 2014, reportedly chased out of Argentina by an angry mob, having incited the local population with a number plate that read H982 FKL.…
Cast your minds back, if you will, to the summer of 2006. Fresh off the back of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany two members of the Argentina squad that were knocked…
Few cities in the world are brought to a complete standstill when hosting a football match. Glasgow is one, as is Milan. Manchester is also gripped in the feverish excitement of derby day when…
ON 5 APRIL 2015, Venezuelan painter and sculptor Paul del Río turned a gun on his own chest and pulled the trigger. A single bullet pierced the artist’s heart, ending his life in…
On the northern edge of Buenos Aires, on the banks of the Rio de la Plata, resides a giant of Argentine club football: Club Atlético River Plate. The history of the sporting club…
As featured on Guardian Sport ARRIGO SACCHI INSISTS that his comments were misinterpreted and not racist, but many remain unconvinced. “Italian football is now without dignity or pride because it has too many…
FOOTBALL IS UNDOUBTEDLY the most feverishly followed sport in Argentina, much like its South American neighbours. However, Argentina is distinctive in that football and politics have remained inextricably linked throughout history and this…
WELCOME TO BUENOS AIRES, a furnace of football fanaticism and arguably the epicentre of ultra activity in the Southern Hemisphere. Argentina’s capital is notorious for being a city that breathes football, and…