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Only three days to go to the end of the Clausura championship in Argentina. As we have seen, San Lorenzo has a three point lead over Boca Juniors and five over Estudiantes. On Friday, San Lorenzo will be visiting Argentinos Juniors in what remains the most complicated match from here to the end of the tournament. Argentinos Juniors, known in Argentina as el “Bicho”, is bringing to a close a good season. A Buenos Aires squad, from the Paternal quarter, AJ historically has one of the best breeding grounds in the State. Out of this club’s youngsters came Diego Armando Maradona (and in fact, the Bicho stadium is now dedicated to the great number 10) who later went on to Boca, then Barça and Naples. Another player from the Argentinos Juniors school, though he never played in the first team like Diego, is Juan Roman Riquelme, now at Boca. The list of Paternal youngsters is long and prestigious (a brief selection in the video): there is also Esteban Cambiasso who, as we see in the video we have offered you, recalls the birth of his career in the white and red club.

Probably a decisive day for the Argentine championship. On Friday, San Lorenzo drew with Argentinos Juniors which just goes to show what a difficult match it was – as we had said. A great chance for the teams behind to catch up with the leader....but nothing came of it: both Boca and Estudiantes lost and now the title seems within reach of Ramon Diaz’s squad which only needs to win on Sunday to take the title.
Boca was beaten in the Colon final in the incredible stadium known as the “Elephants’ Cemetery” at Santa Fé: the decisive goal, making the score 2-1, came at three minutes from the end and was scored by Ramirez. Estudiantes had probably already abandoned the dispute on the last match day when Simeone’s team lost badly to Racing. Lots of away wins this time – 4 games ended 0-1. Rosario Central beat Quilmes, now practically relegated, Independente beat Arsenal, Banfield beat Gimnasia Jujuy, and, finally, Gimnasia La Plata beat Newell’s at Rosario (this is the first win with Pancho Maturana on the bench of the “Lobo”). Draw with goals between Lanus and Belgrano while Velez Sarsfield beat Nueva Chicago 2-1.

Tabla: SAN LORENZO 39 puntos, BOCA JRS 35, ESTUDIANTES 33, RIVER y ARSENAL 29.

PALMEIRAS - CRUZEIRO 1-3

The solitary record of Paraná did not last long in Brazil. As expected, it was beaten at home by São Paulo (penalty goal scored by the goalie Rogerio Ceni) and lost the championship lead in favour of the more famous Botafogo, which took advantage of Grêmio’s hangovers tied to the semi-final of the Libertadores and won by three goals. Draw with goals in the carioca classic between Vasco and Fluminense (various reserves were fielded in the Flu team in view of the Copa do Brasil match), with Romario’s team moving into third place in the championship together with Corinthians, stopped by Santos at Vila Belmiro. A great and surprising away win for Cruzeiro which beat Palestra Italia by three goals and moved the Palmeiras environment which is at less than three points from the top. Flamengo drew with Sport at Recife; same score (1-1) at Minerão between Atlético Mineiro and Atlético Paranense. Significant home wins for Figueirense over Goiás and for Juventude over América of Natal.

Table: BOTAFOGO 10 points, PARANA' 9, VASCO and CORINTHIANS 8, ATLETICO PR, SAO PAULO and PALMEIRAS 7, GREMIO and FIGUEIRENSE 6.

ENGLAND - BRAZIL 1-1

Despite continuation of national championships, with the Argentine Clausura nearly at an end, the national teams take the field in preparation for the next Copa America. The results and above all the playing standard of Brazil and Argentina, the two natural favourites to win the continental trophy, leave commentators somewhat perplexed. In the matches played so far, Argentina managed a draw in Switzerland and then went on to win 4-3 against Algeria. Neither of the two matches proved easy: while in Switzerland, the opponent team was more credible and a downpour gave Alfio Basile’s men more than one alibi, against the north-Africans only the skill of individual players (especially Messi and Tevez) prevented cutting a poor figure on the neutral Barcelona field, with the Algerians in front at the end of the first half. Some dull playing from Brazil as well. After saving the match against England at the end of the ninetieth minute, thanks to a goal by Diego (voted the best player of the year by the Bundesliga) the squad also showed itself to be under par a few days later against Turkey, only managing a goalless draw and receiving bitter criticism from the Country’s press for the lack of scoring opportunities created. When the three points are at stake however, things will probably take a different turn.

San Lorenzo has taken the Clausura championship. The false steps of rivals Boca and Estudiantes in the last matches enabled the Boedo club to already celebrate after the next to the last match in its home stadium, the “Nuevo Gasometro”, obviously packed out. It was necessary to beat Arsenal to take the title: Lavezzi and Fernendez did the job of taking Ramon Diaz’s men to victory. In the lead by 2-0, San Lorenzo conceded two goals before closing the match 4-2 in the second half. Ramon Diaz, the former Avellino, Napoli, Fiorentina and Inter centre forward was carried triumphantly: his merits are plain to see. Boca came second (1-0 against Belgrano) and is ready for the Libertadores final, to be played against the Brazilian side, Gremio. Estudiantes also had a good season, winning the Apertura championship: 2-0 against Argentinos Juniors and final third place. River drew away from home against Nueva Chicago thanks to a penalty in extra time and earned itself a place in the next Libertadores. Draws for Vélez and Lanus too and between Godoy Cruz and Newell’s. The Independiente of the new coach Troglio beat the already relegated Quilmes 4-1. Wins for Rosario Central against Gimnasia Jujuy, Racing at La Plata against Gimnasia and Colon against Banfield.

VASCO - GREMIO 4-0

The draw of championship leader Botafogo meant there is now a threesome at the top. Vasco, thanks to a goal from the immortal Romario (two goals for him) and bad performances from Gremio (which has its mind set on the Libertadores final), and Corinthians, making up ground against América of Natal, have now caught up with Botafogo and taken the lead, one point ahead of Parana. Curitiba’s squad played a great game to draw 4-4 against Nautico at Recife. Easy wins for Figueirense against Flamengo (4-0), for Fluminense against Sport and, away from home, for Goias against Atletico Paranaense. Important away wins for Atlético Mineiro against Sao Paulo at Morumbi and of Juventude against Cruzeiro at Minerao. After being knocked out of the Libertadores semi-final, Santos was beaten by Internacional, with a decisive goal from Alexandre Pato, the new talent of Brazilian football.

The Law of the Bombonera has been upheld. Boca Juniors won the first-leg of the Copa Libertadores 3-0 against the Brazilian team Gremio, which will now need a miracle during the return match at home at the Olimpico of Porto Alegre to straighten things out. We should not however be deceived by this clear victory of the bosteros; the match proved a hard fought one and provided plenty of interesting moments. The Brazilians had some good chances and held the field well, even when they were one man down after Sandro Goiano was sent off 15 minutes into the second half; what is more, the goal that ended the match came at the 89’ and was a muddled up affair. Outshining all the rest was the genius of Juan Roman Riquelme (1 goal and the total control of the game), in what may well have been his last match at the Bombonera if the rumours going round that he could well be back in Europe next season are true. First of all however, there is a cup to win…

With the title already in the bag, the last day of the Argentine Clausura trophy pronounced the last verdicts. One of these was very painful for the city of Cordoba; a victory against Banfield was not enough to keep Belgrano in the premier league. Also relegated was Quilmes, which on the last day battled on well against champion team San Lorenzo until the 85’, when Andres Silvera scored the winning goal. The play-off to stay in the Primera Division will be between Nueva Chicago and Godoy Cruz, to meet Tigre and Huracán respectively. Straight into the Argentine premier league on the other hand go Olimpo of Bahia Blanca and San Martín of San Juan. Sure of playing in the next Libertadores: San Lorenzo, Boca, Estudiantes, River, Arsenal (preliminaries), while if Boca were to win the final being played against Gremio, this would mean another place for Argentina, to the benefit of Lanús, which would go through to the preliminary matches.

BOTAFOGO - NAUTICO 3-1

There are two main reasons why the Brazilian championship leader, Botafogo, has surged ahead: the first is that the historical team of Rio de Janeiro, coached by Cuca, is playing well. The other, quite simply, is the extra match: on Friday it played an early 12th round against Vasco and Botafogo won 4-0. The game was played during the week because of the Pan-American Games due to be staged in Rio. Between Saturday and Sunday, the sixth round was played and Botafogo won again 3-1 against Náutico, while Vasco was beaten by São Paulo at the Morumbi Stadium. Corinthians, who are just behind the leaders, drew 0-0 with Paraná. There were two away wins of the day, Cruzeiro beat Grêmio, busy preparing to make up lost ground in the second match of the Libertadores final against Boca, while Santos beat Juventude 2-0. Draws for Flamengo – Internacional (2-2), Atlético Paranaense – Fluminense (1-1) and Sport – America (2-2). Bad match for Palmeiras away to Goiás. Convincing win for Atlético Mineiro over Figueirense, 4-1.

Tabla: BOTAFOGO 17 puntos, CORINTHIANS 12, VASCO 11, ATLETICO 11, PARANA 11, SAO PAULO 10.

GREMIO - BOCA 0-2

Not even the heated-up environment, before and after the match of Porto Alegre and the Olimpico scared Boca which, on the contrary, even managed to win and therefore raise up, for the sixth time in its glorious history, the Copa Libertadores, the Champions’ of South-America. Outright protagonist was Juan Roman Riquelme, the scorer of the two goals in Brazil that put an end to the contest once and for all, and who was obviously voted the best player of the competition. After ending the first leg 3-0 at the Bombonera, all Gremio could do was attack like mad right from the early minutes. Boca left ample room for manoeuvre but withstood the onslaught and, in the second half, closed the match with two goals from Riquelme, the first of which a true masterpiece. Now, the club of the quarter founded by Genoese emigrants at Buenos Aires is trying to keep hold of its number 10 any way it can, also in view of the World competition the club will be playing in in December in Japan and which will also see the participation of Milan, representing Europe.

A half-day the one just played in the Brasilerao. Half-day because the championship leader, Botafogo and some of the teams close on its heels, starting with Corinthians, were unable to play because their matches were scheduled in a Rio de Janeiro that is preparing for the Pan American Games. The prestige victory of the day went to Sao Paulo, which beat Santos 2-0 at Vila Belmiro. Both teams have players engaged in the Copa America in Venezuela (Alex Dias, for Sao Paulo and Maldonado for Pelé’s former team) and what is more the Luxemburgo squad lost Zé Roberto, who returned to Europe to sign up with Bayern Munich.

A great win for Gremio in the Porto Alegre “derby” against Inter – at the Beira Rio stadium – and here too, star players Alexandre Pato and Lucas were absent, being engaged in the preparations for the under-20 world championship to be played in Canada. The other “classic” of the day was played at Belo Horizonte, between Cruzeiro and Atletico Mineiro and exciting moments were not lacking here either: the former were in front, 2-0 when they were caught up by Galo before scoring another two goals to win 4-2.
Palmeiras is still passing through a bad period and lost at home to Atlético Paranaense, while another away win, at Recife, against Nautico, put Goias up among the championship leaders, along with Parana, which beat Sport. Bottom position for America, beaten by Fluminense at Natal.

DAY 1

The Copa America 2007 has begun. Played for the first time in Venezuela, the world’s oldest football competition has, as always, two outright favourites: Argentina and Brazil. While the team of the new coach Dunga will have to do without a number of players (Kakà and Ronaldinho) who have chosen not to take part in the Cup, Argentina will be putting all its enormous potential in the field to again win the continental title, lost on penalties, against Brazil, last time round. As always in these tournaments, surprises will not be missing: this immediately became evident on the first day. Julio Cesar Uribe’s Peru, which is dividing the press in the country, played well and scored three goals against Tabarez’s Uruguay. The home team of Venezuela, the Vinotinto (as the national team is called because of the colour of their shirts), traditionally the less favoured team of the whole of South America, drew its first match against Bolivia 2-2. We shall be following the Copa America on RB.Com, and look forward to your contributions and comments!

Ney Castillo against Brazil, great goal!

DAY 2

DAY 3