February 24th

19.10– Belgrano vs. Unión de Santa Fe

Referee: Germán Delfino.

21.15– Atlético Rafaela-All Boys,

Referee : Mauro Vigliano.

February 25

19.10– Colón de Santa Fe-Olimpo de Bahía Blanca

Referee : Alejandro Toia.

19.10– Estudiantes -Independiente

Referee: Juan Pablo Pompei.

21.10– Argentinos Juniors-San Lorenzo

Referee: Pablo Lunati.

February 26

17.00– Racing Club-Banfield

Referee : Néstor Pitana.

17.00– Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba-Tigre

Referee : Sergio Pezzota

19.10– Vélez Sarsfield-Arsenal

Referee : Patricio Loustau.

19.10– Boca Juniors-Newell’s Old Boys

Referee: Carlos Maglio.

February 27

21.15– Lanús-San Martín (SJ)

We will do our best to have a historic team each day in order to give you a better perspective of the game from as many angles as possible. These brief blurbs will for many bring back memories or even learn a thing or two. It is the aim of us here at Simply Fútbol as we don’t just want to cover the game for you, we feel it.

Today’s team is the 1994 Vélez Sarsfield side that faced Champions League winners AC Milan in Japan.

This team had come off a dramatic win the Copa Libertadores against Telê Santana’s São Paulo at the Morumbí.  The Tricolor Paulista looked to three-peat and thus assert themselves further as the most dominant side in football at the time.  That match will be remembered by the finish via penalty kicks as well as the beginning.  That is mostly because there is one name that shone all by itself- Vélez Sarsfield’s charismatic and temperamental goalkeeper José Luis Chilavert.

Of course the squad came in to this encounter as heavy underdogs but it would be their work rate in the midfield as well as the power they had in the attack as Omar Asad fought for every single ball against players the likes of Mauro Tassoti, Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta and Paolo Maldini.

Asad generated the penalty kick in the 50th minute that would be executed by Roberto Trotta.  Seven minutes later, Asad would cash in on a Milan error and would score the second and final goal of the evening.

This match was the one that was talked about in Joe McGinniss’ book The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro.

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER

Atlético Nacional came in to Uruguay and absolutely manhandled last year’s Copa Libertadores runner-up and had very little in the competitive end as the Verdolaga were too fast and too skillful against a team that showed their age and lack of organization in a 4-0 thrashing.

Jhersson Córdoba and Dorlán Pabón  both earned braces in a match where the Colombian side showed no mercy from beginning to end leaving the Manya in dire straits as far as their continuation in the tournament.   Peñarol were in a must-win situation after having lost to Godoy Cruz last week and now they have to win at all costs against Universidad de Chile if they even want to have a shot at reaching the knockout stage of the tournament.

“We were a team with hierarchy as we faced a historic team.  Our plan was to come out and attack and not stay back and play scared,”- Jhersson Córdoba

Nacional’s schedule will be very tight from now until March 8th when they will head to Mendoza to face Godoy Cruz.  The win would most certainly help them clinch at least second place in the group.  Until then they will play Envigado in the domestic cup on Thursday and then they will play three consecutive matches on the road, culminating in their Copa Lib clash against El Bodeguero at the Malvinas Argentinas on March 8th.  Then they will face off against Medellín in that city’s big derby.

Peñarol have to rebound quick as they begin their Clausura campaign against El Tanque Sisley this weekend.

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER

While Peñarol began their new run towards title number six, Nacional were looking to build off their win in Rio de Janeira against Vasco Da Gama.  Instead a breakdown that lasted about two minutes was the difference for Paraguayan side Libertad to come away with a vital three points from Parque Central.

Nacional took the lead early one with a strike by Marcos Aguirre.  The possibilities were great for them to take a commanding lead in group 5, but in a span of just minutes in the second half the game turned around.   Four minutes, two counterattacks and a disorganized defense later Libertad took the lead and never looked back.  Amid chaos, order always prevails and that was exactly what occurred when Nacional’s need to win was trumped by Libertad’s call to order and poise.

Peñarol in the meantime were not able to generate much and Argentine side Godoy Cruz was able to win against last year’s runner-ups by 1-0.  The Uruguayan press rounded up their performance in Argentina in simply one word- wasteful.  The six chances that they wasted and the one-man deficit made all the difference in that world.

FOLLOW JUAN ON TWITTER

The Bolivian Football Federation announced on Wednesday that the national will be playing World Champions Spain as well as Brazil in future FIFA international dates.

FBF president said that due to their “great relationship with the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF)” they will be playing a friendly as they prepare for World Cup qualifiers.  According to Chávez, Brazil will not earn any money out of this particular match.

Meanwhile Spain have agreed to play the Bolivians, although the date and time has not been established yet.  Now the FBF will begin looking for the appropriate dates that would be most convenient to play these matches.

If these matches were to be held on Bolivian soil, they will most likely take place at the Hernando Siles in La Paz, one of the most physically demanding venues in the world as it lies 3,637 meters above sea level (11,932 feet).

The Bolivians look to have these two top squads as sparring partners for there playing on four occasions this coming year as they host Chile as well as Copa América podium finishers Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay.   For Bolivia, this phase will certainly make or break their World Cup hopes as they find themselves in last place with only one point after four matches.

One thing is for sure, Bolivia will be playing Cuba in Cochabamba at the end of the month.

FOLLOW JUAN ON TWITTER

If you are thinking of doing so online sports betting but are unsure which bookmakers you should choose, then why not come and check out Betfair’s latest odds!

Yeah, you heard me. Bob was a huge fan of the game.  He was a man filled with passions and football was one that filled his time and was integral in his life.

Bob, of course, was a huge football fan and he did everything he could in order to play when he had some time.  Before a concert, with family and friends… to him football was a way of life.  Looking at various pictures of him and having seen videos of him playing, well he was no slouch.

More importantly, Bob was genuine and so in touch with himself with a ball at his feet.  Those photos that you can find of him, he’s relaxed but yet mildly serious.   

His frenetic beats were a reflection of what his life was all about.  His laid back attitude was the antithesis of what football was about, although that temperment would switch whenever there was competition.  But it wasn’t a violent type of competitiveness.  Instead it was that of a childish nature according to many.  

It was sincere joy that he got from kicking a ball around with whoever was around, where ever he was.  Many even argued that if his first love wouldn’t have been music; Robert Nesta Marley would have had a promising career as a player.  

 “I love music before I love football. If I love football first, maybe that a bit dangerous, because the football very violent. If a man tackle you hard, it brings feelings o’ war!”- Bob Marley.  

His music as well as his love for football were reflections of how he thought the world should be.  HIs music emasculates an inspire classes and individuals that look to rise up from whatever or whoever is keeping them down.  

I mean his music fit into a footy match.  There is just no way you cannot get hyped up or inspired to go out there and run through a brick wall or dribble through a defense the way Maradona did against the English.   Unfortunately for many of us we would either get hurt, embarrassed or both in an effort to do that.  The point is that Bob believed that he could and that was what was most important. 

There was an urban legend where he supposedly told a few kids in Brazil while he was recording there that he, much like his idol Pelé, could play different positions.  This all while he prepared himself to play in a pick up game with them.   He also believed that your idols 

“Football is a whole skill to itself.  A whole world.  A whole universe to itself.  Me love it because you have to be skillful to play it!  Freedom! Football is freedom.”-   Bob Marley 

He fits perfectly in that role once you see him kick a ball.  His role is quite pronounced.  When you go all over the planet, Marley personifies the justice and peace that his music expresses and that many around the world are striving to obtain.  When he is seen kicking a ball, he encompasses all of that with his grasp for “the people’s game”.  This is what makes this all so perfect.   

I was way too small to appreciate him as he rocked venues all through Europe.  I was just a toddler when he was just making it in the United States and when he eventually passed away back in 1981.   Football, according to many urban legends was a reason for his passing because of a stomp he took on his foot which knocked out his toenail and eventually developed a gangrenous-type condition.  The reality was that there was a malignant malinoma already in his toe.    

When Marley passed, he was buried with two of his favorite symbols-  a bible, his red Les Paul guitar and a football.   

I might be a little bit late in giving one of the icons of not just soccer culture his respect on the 67th anniversary of his birth.  That is because I have spent most of my life celebrating the way he lived.  One of those ways was by playing the sport  Bob so dearly loved.   In a way, he was a person that kept that childhood romanticism to the game and refused to grow up despite the influence he ended up being.  Yeah, there was a bit of everything that  taken in the appropriate doses makes a life complete. 

Football was life to him, but in the positive sense.  He personified the innocence and passion for a pastime, but also knowing that there are greater things in life.   To be honest, there needs to be more of that nowadays as we see the game in its current state.   

Thanks, Bob.

FOLLOW ME ON  

The newest version of the uniforms that the Pentacampeão will be more thematic to their identity as a football nation.

The Verdeamarelha is a symbol of what Brazilian football is all about ever since they began wearing it back in the 1950′s.   It was a change that helped heal wounds left by the white uniforms that were last used in the 1950 World Cup.  Since then, every time that yellow jersey steps onto a pitch anywhere on the planet.

As far as performance, Nike continued to offer some of the best and most innovative eco-friendly technology that is out there.   The fabric of the new shorts is made with 100% recycled polyester, while the fabric of the jerseys is made with at least 96% recycled polyester.  So in essence the kits are made using an average of 13 recycled plastic bottles according to the Oregon-based sportswear firm.  

The fabric is now 23 percent lighter compared to previous versions of the Nike Dri-FIT  series.  The jersey also comes with fine laser-cut ventilation in order to help cool down the athletes as a complement to the Dri-FIT technology already in place.

The design is also aesthetically pleasing based on the simplicity that it offers.  The past few years, the designs did go a little more towards the creative side and even futuristic to a certain point; but now the creativity  based on simplicity has forged kit that is both modern  with an  identification to this country’s rich football tradition.

The shirt’s simplicity brings out the elegance with a solid  yellow body as well as a classic V-neck collar with a thin green trim.  The deep green cuffs give it a distinctive look, while under it you find the phrase Nascido Para Jogar Futebol (Born to Play Football) which was written in Pichacão graffiti.  This was one of the things that this template did not change compared to their latest template That distinct touch brings the edge out in Brazilian football as it encompasses a diaspora of cultures as well as backgrounds that emerge from cities like São Paulo and Rio to the most remote of villages in the Amazon.

Brazil will start using this jerseys in the coming months as they begin to prepare for next year’s Confederations Cup as well as the 2014 World Cup which they will host.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What is smart is that they decided on our appeal to the fan’s desire to predict and also to compete with their fellow Facebook fans.  Although the success of Mexican football on television is great, the nature in which the game was marketed with new audiences in their biggest market might have left lots to be desired. This trend is slowly turning around as the social media start to tap into the interests of the fans; aiding them towards becoming more interactive. The initiative taken by Azteca América was to develop the Gol O No Gol App on Facebook.

The purpose of this app is to post highlights of Mexican league matches and then have the visitor decide on whether the play ends up being a goal or not. It is a very entertaining way of Azteca to be use their content in alternate ways as well as helping spread the word about their league to everyone from the hardcore fan to the novice observer that is slowly getting the intricacies of the game in Mexico.

The app is as simple as can be when it comes to navigating and participating in its weekly competition where the top contestants win prizes.  All you have to do is click on the player to play the video, then when the video stops you scroll down to decide whether it was a goal or not.  If you guess right, your chances of being amongst the winners that week increase.  If you get it wrong, well there are quite a few more chances you will have in order to redeem yourself.

It is a vital step for Mexican soccer networks to really start to reach out to the newer generations through social media in order to start generating fans. Azteca América are also looking for ways to promote the teams that they televise here in the United States and have been able to spread the word effectively via this tool. Teams like Cruz Azul, Monarcas Morelia, Jaguares, Puebla and Xolos Tijuana have received even more publicity since this application has gone live. Since its inception, the app has been flooded with traffic and has seen a great deal of participation from fans. Fans can always log on to the Facebook App and “like it”.

CLICK HERE FOR REST OF ARTICLE