Natacha Pisarenko
“Argentina has a reputation as a footballing giant for a good reason. With the possible exception of Brazil, no other country exports so many wonderful talents across the world, giving leagues from Spain to Sweden and Italy to Israel a South American flavour. As the Torneo Final reaches its closing stages, many of the latest generation of youngsters are already being watched attentively by European scouts, hopeful of finding the next Messi or Kun Aguero. But who are the top young players currently playing in the Primera Division?” Bleacher Report

“The hundred-and-thirty-seventh episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam, Peter and Andrés joined by German Dan to discuss an interesting weekend of matches, at the end of which Colón were still top of the Torneo Final pile, and looking increasingly likely to avoid relegation, points deduction or no points deduction. There were surprising results on Saturday and more predictable ones on Sunday, which concluded with a dire goalless draw between Quilmes and Boca Juniors. Boca’s next match is of course at home to their arch rivals River Plate, so as ever we dedicate a chunk of this week’s pod to previewing the superclásico; will River get their first win in La Bombonera in a decade? Can Boca lift their game? We also discuss Dan’s side Argentinos Juniors, and what’s gone wrong for them, and Peter tries to give us a quick lowdown of what mentalness is happening at Independiente this week. All this and more awaits…” Hand Of Pod

“Summer is a hellish time to be in Buenos Aires. First, because the temperatures are enough to wilt even the strongest constitution – I type this whilst sitting in the living room in my pants, with the air conditioning on, and thanks to the 40 degrees Celsius outside, I’m still sweating. But for the football fan, there’s a more prosaic reason: from mid-December until early February, the Argentine league shuts down, and with clubs relocating to coastal resorts or holiday towns far from the capital to undergo ‘pre-season’ (I use inverted commas because technically, we’re actually halfway through the season), there’s no competitive football to enjoy.” World Soccer

“Summer is a hellish time to be in Buenos Aires. First, because the temperatures are enough to wilt even the strongest constitution – I type this whilst sitting in the living room in my pants, with the air conditioning on, and thanks to the 40 degrees Celsius outside, I’m still sweating. But for the football fan, there’s a more prosaic reason: from mid-December until early February, the Argentine league shuts down, and with clubs relocating to coastal resorts or holiday towns far from the capital to undergo ‘pre-season’ (I use inverted commas because technically, we’re actually halfway through the season), there’s no competitive football to enjoy. Still, this is Argentina. And so it is that, amongst the phalanx of meaningless kickabouts involving the likes of Argentinos Juniors against a Uruguayan second division side playing two halves of 35 minutes each way in front of a crowd of ten people, we also have some equally meaningless – but far more famous – fixtures. Saturday night will bring the first of three (three!) pre-season friendlies between River Plate and Boca Juniors.” In Bed With Maradona

“Crowds thronging Saint Peter’s Square on Wednesday to welcome the new Pope knew that, quite apart from the fact his predecessor is still alive, they were witnessing an historic event. Francisco I (as he’s known on his home continent) is the first Latin American to become leader of the world’s Catholics, and also the first Jesuit. Of course, everyone who had their Papal fact-checking priorities right had only one question on their minds; which football team does this Argentine Pope support?” ESPN

“Gonzalo Ludueña started it and now there’s no stopping it. Gonzalo was fourteen at the time. He played in the youth team at River Plate in Argentina and shared a dormitory with a handful of other players at the club’s residency. One day one of them scored twice in a game against Huracán and was awarded the Man of the Match Award, sponsored by the petrol company Esso whose adverts famously involved a prowling Tiger and whose slogan ran: Put a Tiger in Your Tank.” SI

“‘There are two stories,’ a leader of the Rat Stabbers told me. We were filing through police lines toward the cylinder, the stadium of a powerful Buenos Aires soccer team called Racing. Inside, about 60,000 enemy fans waited to crucify us. His name was Jorge Celestre—Georgie Blueskies—but he was explaining the name of his fan club, the Rat Stabbers. They were the diehard supporters of Estudiantes, a pro soccer team southeast of Buenos Aires. The first story was about some medical students—owing to their lab work, ‘rat stabbers’—who founded Estudiantes more than a century ago. It was a nice story about a studious, successful Argentina, a country that started the 20th century with futuristic dreams and progressive ambitions.” Outside Online

The barra bravas: the violent Argentinian gangs controlling football
Saturday 20 August 2011: “Like many of those living in Villa Fiorito, one of Argentina’s most dangerous slums, Jose Mendez takes his shots at glory when he can – like the day five years ago when he slung the shirt of a rival football club over his shoulder and paraded through the streets of his neighbourhood like a returning warrior. Cigarette clamped between his teeth and basketball shirt hanging off his skinny frame, Mendez recounts the fight he waged to win his trophy: the crowded streets after a big match; the other fan putting up a struggle; Mendez, pumped up on chemicals and cheap beer, knocking him down into the street, smashing his face and kicking him until he could get the shirt off his back.” Guardian

Boca Juniors players got off their bus just to fight Tigre fans
April 12 2012: “Tigre beat Boca Juniors 2-1 with the help of an 88th-minute own goal from Boca’s Rolando Schiavi. After the match, when Boca got on their team bus to head home, Tigre fans decided to give them a taunting send-off because that’s what horrible people do. The Boca Juniors players didn’t appreciate this, but instead of telling their driver to peel out and disregard anyone in the way, they made the poor decision to get off the bus and start fighting the Tigre fans. Looking like a swarm of bumblebees, the Boca players attacked while police tried to break up the two sides. Rubber bullets were fired in the air and the players were eventually shoved back into the bus, but there were no winners here. Especially among the side fighting in matching outfits.” Dirty Tackle

“Julio Falcioni was furious; his team disconsolate. The coach scanned his depleted dressing room, and found the one he was looking for: ‘You,’ he bellowed. ‘You’re not the coach, I am!’ His victim was shocked. Juan Roman Riquelme is a man defined by ambiguity, his face hard to read at the best of times, but Boca Juniors’ enigmatic and mercurial talisman was quite clearly stunned – and then just bloody angry.” In Bed With Maradina