Chile Gets Breathtaking Win Over Bolivia in La Paz

Results of S.American 2010 World Cup Qualifiers


On June 15, the Chilean national football team took a positive step forward in its attempt to qualify for the FIFA World Cup to be held in 2010 in South Africa. The preparation process designed by coach Marcelo Bielsa (that includes banning all press reporters from training sessions) paid off as Chile scored another three points with a 2-0 victory over Bolivia. Due to the altitude of La Paz, (the world’s highest capital city at 3600 meters), Bielsa traveled two-weeks ago with the team of young players with an average age of 23 to the city of Calama in Chile´s northern desert area. Calama is located at an altitude of 2.500 meters and helped the players get used to running with less oxygen and also to the longer distances covered by the ball due to the lighter atmosphere. The Chilean delegation took the flight to La Paz only four hours before the match in order to reduce the effects of “La Puna” (a local term used for the side effects of the altitude such as dizziness and difficulties in breathing). As the match began, the Chilean team surprised fans from both countries at the Hernando Siles Stadium by immediately taking the initiative and had its first clear chances of scoring in the 15th and 17th minutes by means of striker Alexis Sanchez (River Plate, Argentina).
Ten minutes later it would be a defender, Gary “Pitbull” Medel that would open up the scoreboard with a spectacular overhead kick after a shot by Pedro Morales hit the crossbar. By now many Chilean players were showing the effects of the altitude but were able to end the first half with the one goal lead. In the second half Bolivia reacted and took control of the match but was unable to equalize. Gary Medel became the hero of the evening since during a counterattack in the 75th minute the defender scored yet again with a close range low shot after connecting with the ball from a corner on the right wing.
After the match the Chilean players celebrated on the pitch and captain Claudio Bravo sent a televised message to some teammates that had not shown much interest in playing for the national team due to Bielsa´s harsh discipline. “Instead of going to discotheques or being at home with your family you guys should be here playing for your country,” said Bravo. Will Chile will be able to repeat this performance next Thursday in Puerto la Cruz against Venezuela?. The local team has improved tremendously and is not the pushover team it once used to be and also got a good result as it managed to draw 1-1 with Uruguay on June 14 at the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo. Apart from this result, Venezuela defeated Brazil for the first time in its history during a friendly match played two weeks ago in Boston, U.S.A, so the local players are in a confident mood and have promised to defeat Chile.


In the other matches played on June 15, Ecuador was only seconds from getting a historic result in Buenos Aires against two time world champions Argentina. With only three minutes remaining Ecuador was winning one nil when local coach Alfio Basile made a desperate move and put on striker Rodrigo Palacio that managed to equalize with only seconds of the match remaining. Meanwhile in Asuncion, Paraguay, the home team proved that its good form is no lucky streak as it defeated Brazil by 2-0. Paraguay is now the leader in the points table with 13, followed by Argentina with 10 points, Colombia 9, Brazil 8,Venezuela and Chile with 7, while Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia are out of the race with 5, 4, 3 and 1 points respectively.

The next fixtures are as follows:

June 17-18, 2008

Brazil-Argentina

Bolivia-Paraguay

Ecuador-Colombia

Venezuela-Chile

Uruguay-Peru

S.America Gears Up for 2010 World Cup Qualifiers

Brazil will play Argentina and Chile coach nominates players

The excitement increases among the local fans as the Brazilian national team prepares to face its archrival, Argentina on June 18. The qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup will be played at the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte and there will surely be a full house of approximately 60,000 spectators. However Brazil, will first have to travel to Asuncion, Paraguay to play the local team on June 14. Paraguay has an unbeaten record in a difficult qualifying tournament, (where each team must play eighteen matches in a two year period) including a win against Chile by 3-0 in Santiago and will prove a hard rival for the Brazilians. Even so, some players of the “Green and Yellow” team (the nickname given by its fans to the Brazilian national team) have declared that they are more interested in beating Argentina. “Due to the rivalry between Brazil and Argentina, this match has a unique importance. We respect Argentina,but Brazil must also be respected,” said Diego, an attacking midfielder currently playing for Werder Bremen in the German Bundesliga.
With regards to the absence of two key players, Kaka (A.C.Milan) and Ronaldino Gaucho (Barcelona) , Diego stated that he was sure that those players replacing them would perform well.

The other fixtures are as follows :

June 14-15, 2008

Uruguay-Venezuela

Paraguay-Brazil

Bolivia-Chile

Argentina-Ecuador

Peru-Colombia

June 17-18, 2008

Brazil-Argentina

Bolivia-Paraguay

Ecuador-Colombia

Venezuela-Chile

Uruguay-Peru





Copa Libertadores (S. American Club Champions League)

On June 4, at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Fluminense qualified for the finals of the Libertadores Cup after defeating Boca Juniors of Argentina by 3-1. Boca Juniors (last year´s champions) started off well after Martin Palermo scored in the 57th minute but Fluminense struck back immediately with a spectacular free kick goal by Washington only five minutes later. Goals by Dario Conca (70th minute) and Dodo (92nd min.), secured Fluminense´s victory over Boca Juniors. The match ended on a sour note as yet again Argentine players were involved in a brawl with local police and rival players. Fluminense is one of Rio´s most popular clubs but had never qualified for the final of the Libertadores, the most prestigious club tournament in South America. Next week Fluminense will have to play a relatively unknown team,Liga Deportiva Universitaria of Quito,Ecuador in a two way final.

Chile National Team:
Marcelo Bielsa (S.America´s highest paid national team coach) recently published in the football federation webpage the list of players that will take part in the next two qualifying matches against Bolivia (June 15) and Venezuela (June 19). Until now Chile has only beaten Peru, lost to Argentina and Paraguay and drawn with Uruguay.
The match against Bolivia will be played in La Paz, the world’s highest capital city, at an altitude of 3,600 meters (11,811 feet) while Puerto La Cruz, in the intense heat of Venezuela’s amazon jungle area will host the second game against the local team. Bielsa´s list caused a controversy among the Chilean press and fans since many key players were left out for different reasons. Jorge Valdivia, recently voted best player of the Brazilian league was left out by Bielsa since the coach believes that “ it´s not the right moment for Valdivia to play”. Bielsa also showed that he privileges discipline over playing capacity by rejecting Arturo Vidal (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany), Claudio Maldonado (Fenehrbace, Turkey) and Luis Jimenez (Inter Milan, Italy). Vidal was not included in the squad after refusing to take part in a preparation tournament in France. Instead, Vidal declared that he needed a rest and traveled from Germany to Santiago where was seen on many occasions partying in exclusive discoteques. Maldonado angered Bielsa by stating in a Turkish newspaper that “to play in La Paz at such an altitude is dangerous for players.” The absence of Luis Jimenez was the most expected since the Inter Milan player just does not get along with Bielsa. The coach has left Jimenez as a replacement on several matches and since then the player has shown little interest in playing for Chile.
The full list of players published in the ANFP(Chile federation) webpage is as follows:



Christopher Toselli (GK) U. Católica (Chile)
Claudio Bravo (GK) Real Sociedad (Spain)
Miguel Pinto (GK) U. de Chile
Osvaldo Gonzalez U. de Concepción (Chile)
Waldo Ponce Velez Sarsfield (Argentina)
Rafael Caroca Colo Colo (Chile)
Gonzalo Jara Colo Colo
Cristian Álvarez Beitar Jerusalén (Israel)
Ismael Fuentes Jaguares de Chiapas
(Mexico)
Hugo Droguett Tecos (Mexico)
Roberto Cereceda Colo Colo
Gary Medel U. Católica (Chile)
José P. Fuenzalida Colo Colo
Manuel Iturra U. de Chile
Carlos Carmona O'Higgins (Chile)
Pedro Morales U. de Chile
Carlos Villanueva Real Sociedad (Spain)
Fabián Orellana Audax Italiano (Chile)
Alexis Sánchez River Plate (Argentina)
Mark González Betis (Spain)
Jean Beausejour O'Higgins
Daud Gazale D. Concepción
Humberto Suazo Monterrey (Mexico)

Brazil´s Best Footballer is from Chile

Jorge Valdivia Leads Palmeiras to win Sao Paulo State Championship
It was a week-end of exciting football all over Brazil as most state championships in this nation of 190 million people came to an end.

In Sao Paulo, the industrial capital of Brazil, all attention was focused on the Palestra Italia Stadium, home ground of the Palmeiras F.C that represents the Italian community but also has millions of fans all over the country.


The Palmeiras fans were anxious to see their team defeat Ponte Preta and end the 12 year dry spell of not having won any tournament, except for 1999, when Palmeiras won the Libertadores Cup (South American Champions league). The Palestra Italia was full to its 30,000 capacity and many thousands were left out since the day before the police had reported that many tickets had been forged by a gang that stole the printing machine from the stadium.
Fundamental in helping Palmeiras win its 22nd Sao Paulo State Championship (known by the locals as Paulista) has been Jorge Valdivia, a 24 year old attacking midfielder that was transferred in 2006 from Chilean club Colo Colo. At first Valdivia had a hard time winning a permanent place in the Palmeiras squad but after six months he had become the favorite of the fans not only in Sao Paulo but also in the rest of Brazil that nicknamed him “The Magician”.


The green Palmeiras shirt with Valdivia´s name on the back has become the most sold in Sao Paulo sports stores. In 2007 Valdivia was voted “Best Attacking Midfielder” by the Brazilian press and during this year’s championship his goals were crucial to get Palmeiras into the final after defeating archrivals Corinthians (1-0) and Sao Paulo F.C. (2-0). During the first half against Ponte Preta on Sunday, Palmeiras were already 2 goals up but it was Valdivia that wrapped up the match in the 70th minute as he scored a spectacular goal (his ninth in the tournament) with a long range shot after dribbling four rival players. The Palmeiras fans went into ecstasy as they sensed they were well on the way to reaching their objective and began to shout “We are the Champions” while setting off fireworks, green flares and smoke bombs as play continued. Alex Mineiro scored two more goals and also became leading goalscorer of this year’s Paulista championship with 15 goals. After the match Brazilian TV highlighted Valdivia´s goal and statements where he declared that along with the birth of his daughter, this was the most important moment in his life. Now Palmeiras fans are worried since the club has received offers of up to US$ 40 million from several European clubs that want to hire Valdivia. The “torcida” (organized supporters club) has begun a fundraising campaign in order to raise Valdivia´s salary and allow the Chilean player to continue at Palmeiras and help the team win this year’s “Brasileirao” (Brazilian National Championship) that will begin in a few weeks. What will decide the fate of Brazil’s most popular footballer? The devotion of the Palmeiras fans or the club’s financial needs due to a debt of several million dollars?

Results from other State Championship finals:

Rio de Janeiro: Flamengo 3 - Botafogo 1
Rio Grande do Sul: Internacional 8 - Juventude 1
Minas Gerais: Cruzeiro 1- Atletico Mineiro 0
Parana : Atletico Parana 2 - Coritiba 1
Bahia: Vitoria 5 – Itabuna 1

Manchester United Holds Barcelona to Goalless Draw at Nou Camp

English club near to playing final of UEFA Champions League

Barcelona and Manchester United played the second semifinal of the UEFA Champions league on April 23 at the Nou Camp Stadium in front of 98,700 spectators. The other was played the day before in Liverpool where the home team drew 1-1 with Chelsea. Manchester United had not played at this stadium since 1999 when it won that year’s edition of the UEFA Champions League after defeating Bayern Munich of Germany. This was the English club’s second time to win the European competition, the first being in 1968. Barcelona have also won this trophy twice (1992 and 2006) and the local fans are certainly eager to win it a third time. The match could have begun disastrously for Barcelona if Cristiano Ronaldo had scored the penalty that was awarded to him in the second minute of play. The Portuguese national team player and currently the player with the highest transfer fee in world football headed the ball towards the Barcelona goal but Gabriel Milito blocked it with his hands and referee Massimo Bussaca pointed to the penalty spot. Amazingly, Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot missed the goal completely and also squandered a great opportunity for his team to go ahead in the scoreboard. This missed chance lifted the spirits of the Barcelona players that headed by Argentine star Lionel Messi began to constantly attack the Man.Utd goal. However, Messi and his teammates were unable to finalize the many chances they created for themselves, while Man.Utd were satisfied to stay in its own half and prevent Barcelona from scoring. Apart from Messi, there were two other Argentineans on the field, Carlos Tevez (Man. Utd) and the before mentioned Milito. There were no goals scored in the first half and the only clear chance for Barcelona occurred in the 51st minute when Messi and Samuel Etoo made a good combination of passes that the Cameroon striker was unable to convert from close range. In the 61st minute the Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard realized that Messi had tried all his tricks against Man.Utd and so substituted him with Bojan Krcic. The final twenty minutes continued that usual trend as Manchester United´s disciplined defenders kept the locals at bay and obtained its objective of getting a goalless draw. After this result, Man.Utd has to beat Barcelona by a one-goal difference at Old Trafford in order to advance to the final. In theory that match will be played on May 21 in Moscow but the Russian Football Federation has declared that if two English teams qualify, it will renounce to staging the final of the 2008 UEFA Champions league.

Chilean Football Gets Historic Result Against Uruguay

Nearly beats local team but ends with a valuable 2-2 draw in Montevideo

Another round of the South American qualifying tournament that will hopefully end with Chile going to play in the next World Cup to be held in 2010 was held between November 17 and November 18. On Saturday the first match ended with an expected 3-0 win by Argentina over Bolivia at the "Monumental" Stadium in Buenos Aires.
The second match began shortly after at the "El Campin" Stadium in Bogota, Colombia where the home team could only defeat up and coming Venezuela by 1-0 after Ruben Bustos scored from a free kick with only eight minutes of play remaining.
The last match was held in the evening at the "Defensores del Chaco" Stadium in Asuncion, capital of Paraguay, where the host team demolished Ecuador by 5-1. This result caused the resignation of the Ecuadorian coach Luis Fernando Suarez, that in the previous tournament managed to qualify Ecuador to the 2006 World Cup. In spite of the respect that Suarez has among the Ecuadorian fans, the coach just could not continue after his team has had 11 goals scored against it and has lost the first three matches.
On Nov. 18 at 4:00 p.m. local time, Chile faced Uruguay at the mythical "Centenario" Stadium in Montevideo, the same where the "Sky Blues" (as the Uruguayans are nicknamed) won the first World Cup in 1930.
After this first World Title, the Uruguayans have built up a reputation for being one of the toughest teams in S.America and its players are renowned for their fighting spirit. On the week prior to the match the main topic for conversation among Chilean fans and football reporters was whether the national team could finally change the course of history and manage to get a positive result at the "Centenario", since it has lost all four previous World Cup qualifying matches played there. Sebastian Abreu, a Uruguayan striker, also known as "El Loco" (the Madman) added further controversy as he accused the Chilean players of being scared to go onto the pitch at the Centenario and that the pressure would help his team win the match. After 40 minutes of play, most Chilean fans felt that history would repeat itself as Luis Suarez scored with a hard low shot for Uruguay. In the second half Chile's coach Marcelo Bielsa made a long awaited substitution as Eduardo Rubio gave his place to Carlos Villanueva, the leading goalscorer in his country's first division championship. Bielsa´s move paid off as in the 58th minute Villanueva made a great cross from the left wing to team captain Marcelo Salas that scored with a spectacular diving header. However the best was yet to come as ten minutes later Matias Fernandez (Villarreal,Spain) dribbled into the Uruguayan area and was brought down by Diego Lugano. With all the calm earned through years of experience in such famous clubs as River Plate(Argentina), Lazio and Juventus (Italy) Salas scored the penalty with a precise left footed shot. The three thousand Chilean fans that traveled to Montevideo (some for as long as 50 hours by bus) went into ecstasy since now it seemed that their team would end up with the three points for the first time in history. With twenty minutes of play left, it seems that finally the pressure of playing at the "Centenario" took its toll on the Chilean players as they began to make incredible mistakes, bad passes and avoidable fouls against he locals, that once again made use of their traditional fighting spirit and equalized in the 80th minute as Sebastian Abreu finished off a fast counterattack. The last ten minutes seemed like an eternity for the brave three thousand that were at the Centenerio as well as for millions that were watching the live television broadcast. Chilean goalkeeper became the hero of the afternoon as he thwarted Uruguay from scoring on several occasions, including a one on one situation with a Uruguayan striker that nearly scored after leaving the defenders behind.
Finally the magic moment came as the referee blew the final whistle to end the match, that left Chilean fans with the feeling that the national team could have ended up with the victory. A fan interviewed by a TV crew in a bar in Santiago described the match perfectly. "After all it was the Uruguayans that drew the match, we were winning, they were the lucky ones." Now Chile gets ready to face Paraguay on Nov 21 at the National Stadium in Santiago, and it seems that under the firm leadership of Marcelo Bielsa, many may be getting their baggage ready to travel to South Africa in 2010. The final match was played in Lima, Peru as the local team obtained a respectable 1-1 draw against five time World champions Brazil, and now the points table is as follows:

1) Argentina (9 points)
2) Paraguay (7 points)
3) Brazil (5 points)
4) Colombia (5 points)
5) Uruguay (4 points)
6) Chile (4 points)
7) Venezuela (3 points)
8) Peru (2 points)
9) Bolivia (1 point)
10) Ecuador (0 points)