Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
Independiente’s barrabravas bristle at “no cash” pledge
By Rex Gowar
Argentina’s soccer hooligans appear to warm up for a new championship just like their teams with Independiente’s ‘barrabravas’ threatening trouble at an off-season friendly after being told by the club’s new administration “there is no cash”.
The impoverished giants from Avellaneda, record seven-times South American champions, voted in new president Javier Cantero last month who at once confronted the hardcore fans and told them they would get no funds.
It is common practice in Argentina for barrabravas to demand and get match tickets and funding to travel to away matches under threat of violence in a never-ending cycle of impunity.
Independiente played San Lorenzo in a friendly on Thursday in Mar del Plata where the barrabravas made their discontent felt with insulting chants at the board and threats against club members and peaceful fans in adjacent stands.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Brazil look unbeatable but have they peaked too soon?
Ten wins in a row and unbeaten for eighteen games. The run includes 2-0 and 3-0 wins over Italy, 4-0 wins in Uruguay and Venezuela, 3-0 in Chile and, of course, Saturday's 3-1 demolition of Argentina, the first time Brazil's arch-rivals have lost at home for 16 years. Nothing, it seems, can stand in the way of Dunga's Brazil and and a sixth world title.
There's only one small problem: everyone was saying the same about Carlos Alberto Parreira's team four years ago after they won the Confederations Cup with a 4-1 win over Argentina in the final. Like Dunga's team, they were Copa America champions at the time and their so-called Magic Quarter of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka and Adriano looked unstoppable.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Will Argentina be better off without Riquelme?
Even before this week's outburst and his decision to quit Argentina for the second time in three years, Juan Roman Riquelme's future with the national team had looked uncertain.
Riquelme missed their first two matches under Diego Maradona because of club commitments and, without him in midfield, Argentina shook off the apparent lethargy which had marked their last few displays under Alfio Basile.
