A Long, Hot Summer

Slow news week. A minor inconvenience for Argentina's premier sports daily Olé who still have column inches to fill. We've discovered that Napoli and Argentine midfielder Jesús Dátolo has posed for Italian gay magazine Romeo Mag, his club we're informed aren't happy as one of the pictures features the hallowed Napoli shirt. Other fillers include a section encouraging fans to send in summer holiday snaps featuring their sporting idols, San Lorenzo's Diego Simeone leaves very little to the imagination in a minute pair of Speedos, enough to put many a reader off their medialunas.

Back to the football - new signings are thin on the ground at the time of writing. One absentee, Santiago Silva (once) of Banfield has failed to join the champions for pre-season training. The Apertura's leading goalscorer seems to be heading back to Velez who own half his contract. Banfield's president Carlos Portell is unwilling to pay $2.5m for complete ownership of the striker's contract - Estudiantes or River beckon. Teams are limited to four new recruits each during the summer break and most are a long way from nearing this limit. Financial constraints once again have helped to stifle the market, we're all aware this is a global economic slump and as such buyers from Europe are few and far between. Without revenue from the old continent the perilous state of Argentina's top clubs becomes all the more acute. Figures recently released show that only five of Primera A's 20 clubs are in the black, it'll be interesting to see if the Government's handout in exchange for TV Rights makes any difference in the months to come. No surprises that both Boca and River occupy first and third places respectively in the debtors list. Arrivals may be borne of necissity, Diego Buonanotte will be absent from River for months following his car crash - his physical injuries will heal but the mental scars will last for a long time and he may never be the same player again. Of a less serious nature is the the knee injury suffered by Boca Juniors' midfielder Sebastain Battaglia which will rule him out for the duration of the Clasura. One player who looks to be heading to Europe is 19 year old Eduardo Salvio of Lanús after being touted around he seems to favour Spain and if reports are to be believed Atletico Madrid will sign him. Ironically Lanús are one of those rare exceptions - a well run, solvent club whose existence doesn't depend on this transfer going through. Salvio's arrival at the Vicente Calderon could see Sergio Aguero move on.

The provinces this weekend will be graced by the big clubs as the various tradional Summer Tournaments get underway; a few clásicos of varying descriptions and a couple of superclásicos will take place this month before the proper games start at the end of January. Olé will then have someting to write about - and so will I! Finally Verón has put his heart and his family ahead of a lucrative move to Manchester City and will stay at Estudiantes. One spell in Manchester regardless of the team would seem to be enough for Seba .

Hot!!? Jesus Datolo's photoshoot:

http://momento24.com/en/2010/01/05/datolo-was-photographed-for-a-gay-magazine-and-his-club-wants-to-punish-him/

Please Release Me

In footballing parlance the goalkeeper is widely assumed to be the crazy and some may say mad member of the 11. 'Mad' could be a word used to describe the mood of ostracised Boca Juniors goalkeeper Mauricio Caranta. Appearing on the football show Gol de Medianoche earlier this week the 30 year old alluded to a secret pact existing between leading clubs not to sign him and rescue him from the Argentine equivalent of being sent to Coventry.

For those not familar with the the saga the first rumblings of any issues came last October when Caranta announced to the media that he had a delicate family problem linked to his daughter. He refused to reveal the nature of the problem but added that coach Ischia 'understands and supports me'. Ischia's support and understanding lasted for approximatley 3 months and came to a grinding halt at Boca's summer training camp when the 'keeper wasn't allowed to enter the team hotel and told that he was no longer wanted. On-line allegations that Caranta had an affair with Ischia's daughter have also surfaced - something that he categorically denies and are unfounded but this has no doubt added to the intrigue. Fast forward to this month which has seen the player win a court case effectively allowing him to be transferred provided a club comes looking for him and not the other way around. Confused? Lanús could well be in the frame to sign him if things go to plan although the AFA and president Julio Grondona may well be called upon to aid negotiations between the two clubs.

To the untrained eye the whole thing seems simple - Boca don't want him (whatever the reasoning) so sell him, marginalise him in the reserves make reference to some disappointing displays in training or his ongoing personal problems. Afterall a club can only support a player for so long, they're not charities or welfare institutions. To effectively bar Caranta from the club is surely asking for trouble? A situation where only lawyers will profit. Whether you're on the side of the player or the club why should he be prevented from working and pursuing his career?

Later on in the TV show he resisted what must have been a strong temptation to talk negatively about Boca 'it would show a lack of respect to speak ill of the club' and concluded that 'I haven't won, neither have Boca, we've both lost'.

We're often told that in modern game the balance of power in football has shifted wholesale from club management and owners to the players. This episode demonstrates that in some instances the opposite is still the case.

Hasta luego!

Are We There Yet?

Football is a great game for those of us who love the odd cliche, in fact even talking about cliches has become somewhat of a cliche..............lets see: 'marathon not a sprint', 'its a results business', 'he knows where the goal is' (always an advantage for a striker I find). Whilst Liverpool were dismantling Manchester United today the-crap-performance-after-a-midweek-game cliches were given an airing ie United look 'heavy legged' etc. As to why a routine 2-0 home victory over an uninspired Internazionale should take it out of a club able to field two world class first teams is anyone's guess. But I'm not a professional pundit.

Looking at the 8 Champions League quarter finalists the furthest any of them will have to travel is probably around 1100 miles. Things are slightly less convenient for the big teams before the knock out stages as they have the trauma of travelling to Eastern Europe but UEFA's seedings normally ensure these sides are dispensed with before Christmas. Spare a thought then for Lanús who in their next game in the Copa Libertadores travel north for 5000 miles to face Chivas Guadalajara of Mexico. In a previous group game the team also travelled to Venezuela to face Caracas where they were soundly beaten 3-1. The team are currently bottom of Group 6 but hopefully they can take some comfort from the Air Miles they are clocking-up.

After taking 3 points from 3 games in Group 6 Estudiantes coach Leonardo Astrada resigned last week in the wake of their 1-0 loss to Deportivo of Quito, Ecuador. Altitude training should have been on the schedule during the summer break as Quito sits at a lung busting 9300ft (2850m) above sea level and their next trip takes them to a similar altitude at Universitario de Sucre in Bolivia. Could you imagine the reaction of Messrs Fearguson on Wenger on having to play in the clouds? With just one win from 3 games San Lorenzo too haven't exactly set the competition alight either and have threatened to lodge an official complaint to CONMEBOL after their bus was attacked as the team made its way to the stadium in Lima to face Universitario. Boca Juniors made the epic trip to Deportivo Tachira in Venezuela. The journey would test the resolve of the most determined backpacker with stops in Lima and Bogota before an overnight stop in Cúcuta, Colombia and 60km road trip across the border. Surprisingly Boca negotiated this 'potential banana skin' and ran out 1-0 winners, although the midweek trip may have taken it's toll on the team as they went down 2-0 against Independiente last weekend.

It's still very early days in the competition as we're only half way through the group stage and I haven't even mentioned River who have back to back games against Nacional of Montevideo to come which is a mere hop across the water. The world's most prolific top-flight goalscorer Argentine Lucas Barrios of Colo Colo is proving 'he knows where the goal is' after scoring 3 times in the competition so far including the opener at their away win against Palmeiras.

The variety of teams in the Copa Libertadores ensures that the eleven players on the pitch is only one aspect of the game.

Hasta luego!