Fútbol Fútbol Fútbol: Argentina national team

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Group A Copa América 2011

Match reports and highlights from Group A of the 2011 Copa América tournament.

Standings

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Colombia	3	2	1	0	3	0	+3	7
Argentina	3	1	2	0	3	1	+3	5
Costa Rica	3	1	0	2	2	4	-2	3
Bolivia	3	0	1	2	1	5	-4	1

Results

01-07-11
Argentina	1-1	Bolivia
02-07-11
Colombia	1-0	Costa Rica
06-07-11
Argentina	0-0	Colombia
07-07-11
Bolivia	0-2	Costa Rica
10-07-11
Colombia	2-0	Bolivia
11-07-11
Argentina	3-0	Costa Rica

Match reports

Copa América 2011 kicked off with great fanfare on 1 July 2011 in La Plata. After the completion of the opening ceremony the first game featured the hosts Argentina against a Bolivia side thet had not won in 9 games and had not experienced victory outside their own borders for 19 games.

The game was a real disappointment for the star studded Argentine team, they failed to score in the first half and then went a goal behind after Edvaldo Rojas put the visitors ahead in the early minutes of the second half when his flick managed to dribble slowly past Ever Banega and goalkeeper Sergio Romero. Argentina huffed and puffed but couldn't find an equaliser until five minutes after the introduction of substitute Sergio Agüero, who scored with a thumping volley on 76'. Argentina didn't really come close to scoring a winner in the remaining minutes. A 1-1 draw against such humble opponents could only be seen as a disastrous start to the tournament for the hosts. As for Bolivia their Argentine manager Gustavo Quinteros can be rightly proud of his players, their hard work and tactical discipline earned them a share of the points in a game against the host nation and favourites.

In the next game Colombia recorded a narrow 1-0 victory against an inexperienced Costa Rica side. In my predictions for the tournament I expressed concerns that Costa Rica would take a mauling in this game, however they looked robust for most of the first half, even after Randall Brenes got himself sent off after 28 minutes. Adrian Ramos scored Colombia's goal seconds before half-time after a defence splitting pass from Fredy Guarín, one of the few times that Colombia managed to show up the inexperience of the Costa Rica back line.

Argentina's status as tournament favourites was further diminished after they could only manage a tepid 0-0 draw with Colombia. The second highly disappointing result for the home side has got Sergio Batista's many critics riled up and it is no surprise given the incoherent and inept display his team put on. Argentina looked out of ideas up front and relied on goalkeeper Sergio Romero to make a number of vital saves at the back. This criticism of Argentina shouldn't detract from Colombia's achievements so far, they were in far from scintilating form in their opening two games and this draw hardly compares to Colombia's finest ever result on Argentine soil back in 1993 but they have secured a couple of good results and put themselves on the brink of qualifying for the knockout stages of a senior international tournament for the first time since they reached the Copa América semi-finals in 2004 as defending champions.

After their solid and disciplined display to earn apoint against Argentina Bolivia crashed to a 0-2 defeat against a highly inexperienced Costa Rica side. This was Bolivia's 20th successive game without a win on foreign soil and leaves them needing nothing short of a win against Colombia in their final group game if they intend to reach the second round. The first half was fairly evenly matched with 19 year old striker Joel Campbell standing out with his pace and ball control he was involved in the best of Costa Rica's play for the remainder of the match. Costa Rica's Argentine coach Ricardo Lavolpe must have been glowing with pride as his young team took control of the game in the second half, especially given the fact that only two of his players were over the age of 22, (27 year old defenders Heiner Mora & Johnny Acosta). Josue Martínez opened the scoring in the 59th minute after fine work from Joel Campbell in the buildup. Campbell then hit the crossbar with a cracking free kick before Bolivia were reduced to 10 men in the 71st minute as Ronald Rivero was sent off for blocking a goalbound shot with his arm. Substitute Allen Guevara missed the penalty but Bolivia's indiscipline cost them again on 76' when Walter Flores was sent off for kicking out at Joel Campbell. In the 79th minute Campbell scored the goal that his performance so richly deserved. The result leaves hosts Argentina in third place and dependent on beating Costa Rica in their final match to ensure qualification.

Colombia secured their progression to the quarter-finals with a comfortable 2-0 victory against Bolivia, Radamel Falcao scored both of their goals in the first half. The result ensured that Colombia topped the group and completed a group stage without conceding a single goal, the only other time they achieved this was in 2001 when they won the tournament.

Argentina went into their final group game with Costa Rica knowing that anything other than a win would lead to almost certain elimination. The hosts won the game 3-0, Sergio Agüero established a one goal lead just before half-time tapping in after a goalkeeper error. Agüero scored his second early in the second half after a perfectly weighted assist from Lionel Messi. Then in the 63rd minute Messi set up Ángel Di María for the third with an even better pass. The result meant that Argentina qualified automatically as group runner-up and that Costa Rica would have to wait to find out if they would qualify as one of the two best third placed teams, however with only three points and a goal difference of minus three, they were dependent on an unlikely sequence of results.

TyC World Cup 2010 advert with subtitles

While British viewers of the 2010 World Cup had to the watch endless variations on a dreadful theme that was the "Carling camels" advertising campaign over in Argentina the sports channel TyC came up with something a bit more emotive and inspiring.

Lujos: Juan Pablo Sorín caño against Ronaldinho

For several years Ronaldinho was the undisputed king of clever tricks and flicks. When Brazil played Argentina in a 2006 World Cup qualifier, Juan Pablo Sorín took the opportunity to show that Ronaldinho is not the only one who could pull off a trick. You have to laugh at the way Ronaldinho lashed out at his opponent when he realised that he'd been done.

What ever happened to? Claudio Marangoni

Marangoni was one of four Argentinians to play in England
in the early 1980s. Osvaldo Ardiles, Marangoni, Alex Sabella
& Ricardo Villa (left to right).

In 1979 Sunderland AFC signed Argentine midfielder Claudio Marangoni from San Lorenzo for £380,000.

Marangoni who was born on 11 November 1954 was a trainee at local club Rosario Central but never played for the first team. He made his professional debut for Chacarita Juniors in 1974 aged 19 and in 1976 he joined San Lorenzo where he played 135 league games before his move to England.

In the late 1970s Marangoni was courted by Ipswich Town and Chelsea before eventually signing for Sunderland. He only played one season at Roker Park, scoring 3 goals in 20 league games. Marangoni has claimed that he couldn't get along with the man management style of then manager Ken Knighton, who demanded absolute subservience from his players. He also found it hard to adapt to the foreign lifestyle and the different mentality of his team mates. In one example he claimed that he messed about with an unnamed Sunderland team mates' car for a practical joke, but the owner of the car got so angry that he had to be restrained from attacking him for it.

In 1980 he returned to Argentina where he played for San Lorenzo's fiercest rivals Húracan between 1980 and 1981 without much success.

In 1982 he joined Independiente who had not won a trophy since 1978 when their blistering run of successes in the 1970s had come to an end. He fitted straight into the first team alongside great players such as Jorge Burruchara, Enzo Trossero, Ricardo Giusti and Ricardo Bochini (who he regards as the 2nd greatest Aregntine footballer of all time).

Under manager José Pastoriza the team revived their fortunes, finishing as runners up in Metropolitano 1982 behind the Estudiantes de La Plata team containing Alejandro Sabella who also had a spell in English football with Leeds and Sheffield United. Independiente were again runners up in Nacional 1983, losing to Estudiantes in the final.

They eventually won the Metropolitano championship of 1983 by beating their fierce local rivals Racing Club 2-0 in the last game of the season to clinch the championship one point above Marangoni's former club San Lorenzo and in beating Racing Club they consigned them to relegation for the first time in their history.

In 1984 Marangoni featured in the Independiente team that won their 7th Copa Libertadores championship, a record that stands to this day. this success qualified them to play against Liverpool FC in the intercontinental Cup which was the first meeting between an English and Argentine team since the Falklands War, Independiente felt that they were playing the game on behalf of their nation in what was more than just a sports encounter.

Independiente won the game 1-0 with a goal from José Percudani and after the game the players did not celebrate in the dressing room because they felt it would be disrespectful to all of the dead and injured in the Falklands War to celebrate over a game of football.

Around that time Marangoni had been offered the chance to return to England to play for Southampton. he claims that after the Intercontinental Cup final he told Kenny Dalglish that he was coming back to England and Dalglish told him "Claudio, stay in Argentina at least you have some sunshine there".

it was during this successful period that Marangoni made his 9 appearances for the Argentina national team, he was part of the Copa América 1983 squad however he fell out with manager Carlos Bilardo in 1985 and was not selected for the 1986 World Cup squad.

Marangoni played for Independiente until 1988, making 237 league appearances and scoring 25 league goals for the club.

On 27 August 1988 Marangoni joined Argentine giants Boca Juniors where he was part of the team that won the Supercopa Sudamericana in 1989 to end an 8 year trophy drought at the club, he scored the first goal in their 2-0 win in the semi final against Brazilian side Grêmio, before they beat his former side Independiente on penalties in the final.

In 1990 he was in the Boca Juniors team that won the Recopa Sudamericana. He made 93 appearances for Boca Juniors in all competitions between 1988 and his retirement in 1990, scoring 7 goals.

Throughout his playing career Marangoni pursued other interests, he qualified as a physiotherapist, obtained his coaching qualifications, attended college to learn English and in 1984 he established the Escuela Modelo de Fútbol y Deportes, a sporting academy which he still runs today.

Marangoni did try his hand at football management with Banfield, but he fell out with the directors because they kept trying to interfere with team affairs. he has since claimed that being a football manager is easier than being the director of 40 football academies, but he doesn't do it because there is no job security in football management.

In Argetnina Marangoni is considered as a great number 5 (centre half back) what would be called a defensive or holding midfielder in modern parlance. The fact that he has played for three of the big five teams in Argentina (San Lorenzo, Independiente & Boca Juniors), represented the Argentina national team and owns a reasonably large medal collection could be used as supporting evidence.

When asked Marangoni said that the best number 5s he has ever seen were Gérson, Franz Beckenbaur, Fernando Redondo and Roberto Telch. When asked about modern football he avoided the urge to get nostalgic about the past as many other ex-pros would be unable to, saying that modern football is better and that if all the Aregntinians currently playing abroad were to return to Argentina, they would have the best league in the world.

Marangoni is fondly remembered by Argentine football fans, however in England he was selected in 39th position by the Times in their list of the 50 Worst players ever to play in the English top flight. On closer inspection their argument for inclusion is somewhat diminished by their claim that he was a striker with a poor strike rate of 3 goals in 20 games, when he was actually a number 5. A modern equivalent would be trying to argue that Javier Mascherano was Liverpool's worst ever player because 1 goal in 94 league games is a dreadful goalscoring record for a striker.

It is clear from the fact that he only stayed one season, that Marangoni did not settle in English football, however ever since leaving Sunderland in 1980 he has enjoyed success. These successes show that he was a quality player that just didn't adapt to the English game and lifestyle rather than an absolute flop of the Nicolás Medina calibre.

Part of the What ever happened to? series.

What ever happened to? Nelson Vivas

In August 1998 Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger signed Argentine defender Nelson Vivas from Boca Juniors in a £1.6 million deal. Vivas had played for the Argentina national team in Copa América 1997 and again in World Cup 1998 where he was part of the team that eliminated England in the 2nd round.

Vivas who was born in the small town of Granadero Baigorria on 18 October 1969 began his career with Quilmes in 1990 before joining Argentine giants Boca Juniors in 1994. After a loan spell with Swiss side Lugano in 1997-98 he got his chance to play for the champions of one of the biggest leagues in Europe.

Vivas never really established himself as a regular player in the Arsenal team, but he did make 69 appearances for the club in all competitions during his three years in north London. 40 of his appearances were as a substitute, he was often used to replace more attacking players once Arsenal had established a lead or to cover injuries in the defensive line. His only goal came in a League Cup game against Derby County in a team almost completely made up of fringe players, his was the decisive goal in a 1-2 win.

In early 2000 he was loaned out to Spanish side Celta Vigo, who at the time were one of the top sides in La Liga. After only a handful of appearance in Spain he returned to Arsenal, but he only made sporadic appearances for the club until the end of his contract in 2001.

After leaving Arsenal, Vivas joined Italian giants Inter Milan where he fulfilled the same kind of bit part role that he had at Arsenal. Despite only making occasional appearances for his European clubs between 1998 and 2003 he made the majority of his appearances for the Argentina national team during this period, including appearances at the Copa América 1999 while an Arsenal player. His 39th and last cap came in a 3-0 away win against Venezuela in a World Cup qualifier in 2003.

In 2003 he returned to Argentina to play for River Plate making him one of a select band of players to have worn the shirts of both sides of the famous Superclásico rivalry. He only made a few appearances for River Plate before returning to his first club Quilmes in 2004.

The 2004-05 season turned out to be Vivas' last on the football field, he played for the club in the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana and at the end of the season retired from the game at the age of 35.

Following his retirement he obtained his coaching licences and in 2006 he became former Argentina team mate Diego Simeone's assistant at Estudiantes de la Plata. Under the leadership of this rookie coaching team and their onfield leader Juan Sebastían Verón Estudiantes won the Apertura 2007 championship, their first trophy in 23 years.

This success attracted the attention of other major clubs and in 2007 when Simeone was given the job as River Plate manager he brought Vivas back to his former club as his assistant. In their first season they led the club to the Clausura 2008 championship but Simeone resigned the following season after River were knocked out of the Copa Libertadores and had gone 11 games without a win in the Primera División. Vivas was also sacked and River went on to finish bottom of the league for the first time in their 107 year history.

He worked with Simeone once again at San Lorenzo beginning in April 2009, but after less than a year into the job Simeone resigned and Vivas was out of work again. Vivas has stated his desire to work as a football manager in his own right, but as of October 2010 he has not found the opportunity.

Vivas was a fairly decent player despite his lack of regular first team football. One Arsenal fan even selected Vivas in an all-time Arsenal worst XI (obviously a pretty young one judging by the lack of pre-Premier League Arsenal flops in his team).

It would be fair to say that Vivas never really fitted in at Arsenal and his penalty miss against Middlesbrough in the 1999-00 League Cup and his penchant for wearing gloves on the pitch did him no favours, but to call him one of the worst Arsenal players ever is something I believe most Arsenal fans who had actually seen him play would disagree with.

Part of the What ever happened to? series.

Partidazo: Argentina 4-0 Peru, Copa América 2007

On 8 July 2007 Argentina and Peru met in the quarter final of Copa América 2007. Argentina had won all three of their games in the group stage but Peru kept them at bay in the first half.

The second half was a different story with Messi, Riquelme and Tévez combining to devastating effect, even the normally goalshy Javier Mascherano bagged himself one in the 4-0 win.

Argentina progressed to the final having won every game in convincing style with 16 goals over their 5 games. The Brazilians on the other hand were beaten by Mexico in the group stage and only just scraped past Uruguay in the semi finals with a win on penalties. However Argentina imploded in the final losing 3-0.

For more great games involving South American teams, check out the rest of the Partidazo series.

Golazo: Ramón Diaz vs Switzerland.

On 16th December 1980 Argentina faced Switzerland in an international friendly. Argentina won the game 5-0 but the highlight of the game was this goal from Ramón Diaz which was set up by a rabona cross from Diego Maradona.

Part of the Golazo series.

Biography: Martín Palermo

"Loco" Palermo during his last season with Estudiantes in 19

Martín "loco" Palermo was one of the most contentious figures in Argentine football. Opinion was divided on the player throughout his career. fans of Boca Juniors understandably view him as one of the greatest strikers in the history of Argentine club football, his critics however call him a donkey and protested vehemently when he was recalled to the Argentina national team in 2010.

Palermo was born in the city of La Plata on 7 November 1973, he joined his local team Estudiantes de La Plata as a teenager and on 5 July 1992 he made his debut for the club in a 0-0 draw against San Lorenzo at the age of 18.

Palermo scored 34 goals in 90 league games for Estudiantes before moving on to join Argentine giants Boca Juniors in 1997. Palermo upped his scoring rate and in Apertura 1998 he became the top scorer in Primera División for the first time with an impressive tally of 20 goals in 19 games, making him the first player to break the 1 goal per game average since Héctor Scotta in 1975. As a result of his phenomenal goalscoring exploits he was selected as South American player of the year for 1998.

During Copa América 1999 he famously missed three penalties in 3-0 defeat against Colombia, earning himself a place in the Guinness Book of Records and a 10 year exile from the Argentina national team. Later that year he scored his 100th Primera División goal in a game against Colón after brilliant work from Juan Román Riquelme to set up the chance.

In 2000 he was part of the Boca Juniors team that won the Copa Libertadores for the first time since 1978 and then scored both goals to beat Real Madrid 2-1 in the Intercontinental Cup. Shortly after this he won his 3rd league title with Boca Juniors in Apertura 2000. This success did not go unnoticed in Europe and Palermo was eventually signed by Spanish side Villarreal in January 2001 for a fee of €7,600,000.

Palermo's time in Spain was not a success, he struggled for form at Villarreal and on 29 November 2001 while celebrating a goal the wall he was standing on collapsed and broke the tibia and fibula of his right leg. Palemo recovered from the injury but continued to struggle for form, he eventually left Villarreal in August 2003 to join Real Betis. Palermo spent less than a year with Betis before he was offloaded to 2nd division side CD Alavés in March 2004.

During the summer of 2004 Palermo decided that his time in European football had come to an end, so he returned to Boca Juniors who were still on a roll having continued the in the rich vein of form that had started off with their Copa Libertadores win in 2000.

Palermo slipped quickly back into his goalscoring routine, scoring his 100th goal for Boca Juniors in a 2-0 win against Bolivian side Club Bolívar in the final of Copa Sudamericana 2004. Boca also won Copa Sudamericana 2005, Recopa Sudamericana 2006 and both league championships in the 2005-06 season.

Palermo became the top scorer in the Argentine league once again in the Clausura 2007 tournament with 11 goals in 16 games including a spectacular strike against Independiente from the halfway line, he also scored a hat-trick against his former club Estudiantes, but refused to celebrate any of the goals, as if to make amends to the Estudiantes fans he scored 4 goals against Estudiantes' bitter local rivals Gimnasia y Esgrima in the following game.

2007 was another good year for Boca Juniors, they won their fourth Copa Libertadores in the space of 8 seasons after annihilating Brazilian side Gremio 5-0 in the final, which was still the biggest margin of victory in a Libertadores final despite Palermo missing a penalty in the last few minutes of the 2nd leg.

Boca's astonishing run of success finally ended with the Apertura 2008 championship, since then the club have been in decline, failing to even qualify for Copa Libertadores 2010 or 2011. This decline did not stop Palermo from scoring goals.

In 2009 Palermo surpassed Pancho Varallo's tally of 184 goals in the professional era of Argentine football, unfortunately the charismatic 99 year old survivor from the 1930 World Cup final renaged on his promise to take to the field once again if Palermo broke his goalscoring record. Varallo died in August 2010 and Martín Palermo was amongst the attendees at his funeral.

In 2009 Palermo scored his 200th goal for Boca Juniors in spectacular fashion, netting an overhead kick against Venezuelan side Deportivo Tachira in the Copa Libertadores. In October 2009 he scored an unbelievable header from around 45m out in an entertaining 3-2 win against Vélez Sársfield.

In 2010 Palermo was recalled to the Argentina national team by manager Diego Maradona after a 10 year exile, he scored a vital last minute winner against Peru in a World Cup qualifier and was then selected for Argentina's 2010 World Cup squad despite vehement protests from many normally calm and reasonable commentators. Palermo's job in the World Cup was to come on as a super-sub if Argentina needed a goal. He only played in one game coming on with 10 minutes to go in a Game against Greece in which he did his job by scoring after the keeper spilled Messi's shot. This goal made him the oldest player ever to score for Argentina in the World Cup and also gives him an insane goal average of around 9 goals per game in World Cup finals based on a per minute strike rate.

On 4 September 2010 he overtook Roberto Cherro's all time goalscoring record for Boca Juniors with his 222nd goal for the club in a 1-2 win against San Lorenzo and on 5 June 2011 he scored the final goal of his career with a spectacular strike in a game against Quilmes to join Jose Sanfileppo as the joint 4th highest goalscorer in the professional Argentine Primera División with 227 goals. The following week he was given a huge ovation at the end of his final game at the Bombonera and he finished off his career with a last minute headed assist for team mate Christian Cellay in his final game against Gimnasia.

One of the main reasons that Palermo divided opinion in Argentina is the fact that he was a natural finisher, he was strong, athletic and one of the finest headers of the ball ever seen in Argentine football, not the speedy, technically gifted and exhilarating player of the Maradona mold that Argentinians are naturally inclined to favour. He was unfairly derided as lacking skills and technique and criticised for his robust style of play, in much the same way that another great header of the ball and relentless goalscorer Alan Shearer was unfairly criticised in England.

Palermo gave his critics plenty of ammunition over the years, with his habit of missing penalties and wasting great opportunities like this one. In his defence he scored 297 career goals, he is the joint 4th highest scorer in the history of the Argentine Primera Division and all time top scorer for Boca Juniors with 236 goals in 404 games (an astonishingly good strike rate). He scored numerous brilliant, spectacular and vital goals during his career and will be remembered by Boca Juniors fans as a well loved and loyal servant to the club.

What ever happened to? Luciano Figueroa

A rare sight; Figueroa in Birmingham colours.

In July 2003 Birmingham City signed 22 year old Argentine striker Luciano Figueroa from Rosario Central for a fee of £2.5 million. Figueroa had just finished as the top scorer in the Clausura 2003 tournament back in Argentina with 17 goals in 19 games and was being described by some as the next Gabriel Batistuta. He had scored a total of 35 goals in 57 league games for his home town club and Birmingham manager Steve Bruce said that "we believe that for the money we've spent we have got a very very good player".

After FIFA overturned a challenge to the deal by Spanish side Osasuna who claimed that they had signed the player first, Figueroa was free to play for Birmingham from October. However he was never really given a chance, he never started a game, only ever making 2 substitute appearances for the club, which came in a 2-0 defeat to Portsmouth in the league and in a 1-0 defeat to Blackpool in the League Cup. The reason Bruce gave for this lack of opportunity was that "he was always going to have problems in the Premiership, because of his physique." A statement that raises the question of why Figueroa was signed by Bruce in the first place if he had poor physique.

Figueroa rediscovered his form
at Mexican side Cruz Azul.

Eventually Birmingham let him leave to join Mexican side Cruz Azul, where he worked hard to regain his match fitness and scoring touch. He knocked in 19 goals in 27 league games helping the club to reach the semi finals of the Clausura 2004 championship.

In the summer of 2004 he was selected for the Argentina squad for the Copa América 2004 in Peru alongside Sunderland flop Nicolás Medina. He played in several of the games and scored 2 vital goals against Uruguay to secure Argentina's progress to the 2nd round. Later that summer he won an Olympic gold medal as part of the Argentina squad that won the Olympic football tournament in Athens.

Figueroa secured a return to European football in November 2004, signing a five and a half year deal with Spanish side Villarreal. He was part of the team that secured Villarreal's highest ever league position of 3rd, and qualification to the 2005-06 Champions League.

After leaving Birmingham, Figueroa enjoyed
a successful stint in the Argentina national team.

In 2005 he played for Argentina in the Confederations Cup, where he finished as the 2nd highest scorer in the tournament behind Brazilian striker Adriano. He has not played international football for Argentina since 2005 but his short international career must be considered a success, having scored 9 goals in his 15 full international appearances.

Figueroa had dropped off the radar for most English football fans since he was released by Birmingham, but reacquainted himself with them in 2005 when he was part of the Villarreal side that eliminated Everton from the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League, he scored the opening goal in the first leg which was Villarreal's first ever goal in the competition. He helped Villarreal finish top of group D, in which Manchester United surprisingly finished last. Villarreal went on to reach the semi-finals of the tournament, but by then Figueroa had lost his place in the first team.

In 2006 he returned to Argentina for a brief loan spell with River Plate, in which he scored 3 goals in 7 games, before suffering a serious cruciate knee ligament injury that ended his loan spell and kept him out of the game for over 18 months.

While he was still injured he was signed by big spending Italian 2nd division side Genoa, but his recovery was delayed when his knee operation had to be redone. He eventually made his debut for the club on 28 October 2007, nearly 15 months after he joined them, by which time the club had been promoted to Serie A. He never really settled in Genoa, only scoring 3 goals in 23 league games for the club. Of all the clubs he has played for, Genoa is the only one in which he had a comparably bad time to his few months at Birmingham in 2003.

When Figueroa signed for Boca Juniors
in 2008 he joined a select band of players
to have played for Boca & River.

In 2008 he returned to Argentina to play for Boca Juniors, putting himself on the exclusive list of players to have worn the shirt of Boca and River, which includes Abel Balbo, Gabriel Batistuta, Claudio Cannigia, J.J. López, Panco Sá and Nelson Vivas.

Figueroa returned to form at Boca, scoring 7 goals in 17 league games for the club, including the goal of the week in the last fixture of the Apertura 2008 championship, helping Boca Juniors to secure their 23rd professional league championship after a 3 way playoff with Tigre and San Lorenzo.

Figueroa returned to Genoa after Boca Juniors rejected the chance to buy him out of his contract with the Italian club. He only made a handful of further appearances for them before he was released from his contract in January 2010.

He returned to his boyhood club Rosario Central, but despite an improvement in form they were relegated at the end of the 2009-10 season after losing their promotion/relegation playoff against Buenos Aires minnows All Boys. He is currently plying his trade in the Argentine 2nd division, hoping to secure Central a quick return to the Primera División.

It cannot be denied that Figueroa had a disastrous time in the Midlands, but given his impressive scoring record for the Argentina national team, Rosario Central, Cruz Azul, River Plate and Boca Juniors, it seems that Birmingham may have missed out on a few goals when Steve Bruce decided to freeze his new signing out of the first team.

What ever happened to? Nicolás Medina

A rare sight, Medina in Sunderland colours.

In 2000 Sunderland signed a 19 year old player for £3.5 million from Argentinos Juniors, a club renowned for producing quality players like Diego Maradona, Sergio Batista, Claudio Borghi, Fernando Redondo and Juan Román Riquelme.

The player soon worked his way into the Sunderland first team, eventually making 177 appearances for the club and scoring 23 goals. This player was of course Julio Arca and his signing was such a success that Peter Reid could not resist splashing out another £3.5 million on another Argentinos Juniors player the following summer describing the latest signing as "the complete midfield player".

The second player was Nicolás Medina, who had starred alongside Arca in the Argentina U-21 team that had just won the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship. Medina did not find himself thrown into the first team like Arca had been, in fact he hadn't even made his debut for the black cats by December 2002 when he received a surprise call up to a Argentina national team training camp.

Peter Reid had never given any satisfactory reason for why such an expensive signing was not getting the slightest chance to play for the club, and his successor, Howard Wilkinson was no better, giving the bizarre explanation that "The evidence suggests that Nicolas hasn't got it because the previous manager didn't pick him".

Medina had made only a single appearance for the club, in a FA Cup tie against Bolton Wanderers. By the summer of 2003, the management had lost faith with the player and he was farmed out on loan to Spanish 2nd division side CD Leganés for the 2003-04 season at the end of which Leganés were relegated to the regionalised 3rd division.

Medina was then called up by Argentina manager Marcelo Bielsa for the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he played in 3 of Argentina's games alongside players such as Javier Mascherano, Carlos Tevez, Javier Saviola, and Andrés D'Allesandro. Argentina beat Paraguay 1-0 in the final and Medina collected his Olympic Gold medal to go in his collection alongside his World U-21 medal.

Later that summer he was included in the Argentina squad for the Copa América 2004 along with recent Birmingham City reject Luciano Figueroa. Medina didn't play for the team during the tournament, but he didn't have long to wait until his full international debut.

On 4 September 2004 Medina was called up to the Argentina national team where he played in a 3-1 win over Peru in Lima. Highlighting an absurd situation where a player could supposedly be good enough to play for the Argentina national team, yet so bad that he failed to get a single league game for Sunderland in 3 seasons, despite the fact that they had spent the majority of that time embroiled in relegation dogfights. This single appearance for the Argentina national team was undoubtedly the high water mark of his career.

Medina did actually play
for other teams, yet I couldn't
find a single picture of him actually playing,
not least because there is another player
called Nicolás Medina from Chile
who is familiar with the concept
of actually playing club football.

Sunderland finally got him off their books, releasing him on a free transfer to Real Murcia of the Spanish 2nd division, and in so doing made him the most expensive signing not to have played a single league game for the club.

After one season with Murcia he returned to Argentina, where joined Primera División side Rosario Central in 2005. He only made 3 first team appearances for Central before joining Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata in 2006. Gimnasia loaned him out to a succession of clubs including Nueva Chicago where he only made a single appearance, and Talleres de Córdoba of the Argentine 2nd division. In 2007 he rejoined Gimnasia where he only played in 7 of their games during the entire 2007-08 season.

In 2009 he joined Chilean side O'Higgins, but failed to settle there, returning to Argentina in 2010 to play for 2nd division side Tiro Federal. In the summer of 2010 he was released by Tiro Federal and is now a 28 year old free agent.

Medina will not be remembered for his playing abilities by Sunderland fans, except those die hard supporters that saw him play in that FA Cup game or turned out to watch the reserves between 2001 and 2003. He is remembered as a remarkable waste of money and a player who utterly failed to live up to expectations.

Looking back through the Argentina squad lists for the 2001 U-21 World Cup and the Olympic squad of 2004 there are understandably several players who's careers never reached the heights achieved by Tevez, Mascherano and Saviola, yet none have experienced a career nosedive as spectacular as that of Nicolás Medina.

Part of the What ever happened to? series.

Benjamin Massing vs Claudio Caniggia

In the opening game of the 1990 World Cup Cameroon shocked the world by beating reigning champions Argentina 1-0 thanks to a dreadful fumble by Argentine keeper Nery Pumpido. One of the highlights of the game was Claudio Cannigia's amazing run which was ended by Benjamin Canning's crazy boot flying tackle which earned him a red card and made Cameroon see out the game with only 9 players on the pitch.

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.

Martín Palermo, 3 penalties

Martín Palermo holds all kinds of goalscoring records for Boca Juniors, however he is probably most famous outside Argentina for getting himself in the Guinness book of records for being the only player to have missed 3 penalties in the same game at international level. He managed this feat in a 3-0 defeat to Colombia in the Copa América 1999.

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.

What ever happened to: Juan Sebastián Verón

Verón leaps over the challange of Robbie Savage.

When Juan Sebastián Verón signed for Manchester United in 2001 for £28.1 million, 80% of English football fans took an immediate dislike to him, all sane fans having a loathing for everything to do with Manchester United.

Verón arrived with a massive reputation, earned mainly in Italian football. After making a handful of appearances for boyhood club Estudiantes de La Plata and Argentine giants Boca Juniors he made his reputation with Sampdoria, Parma and Lazio in Serie A.

The general impression is that Verón was a flop for Manchester United, and that Alex Ferguson never really managed to fit him into the team, but 81 appearances and 8 goals in all competitions (including 27 appearances in the Premier League championship winning team of 2002-03) tell a different story.

Verón came under intense criticism from the press and Manchester United fans, which provoked one of Ferguson's most famous outbursts when he ranted that "he is a fucking great player, and you're all fucking idiots" to assembled journalists at a press conference before chucking them out of the training ground. This rant can be seen in two ways, a passionate manager defending his player against unfair criticism or a bitter red nosed old git exploding with rage when people kept reminding him that he'd spent nearly £30 million on a duffer.

Verón was the captain of Argentina during the 2002 World Cup.

It was during his time at Manchester United that Verón captained Argentina in the 2002 World Cup where "la albiceleste" were beaten by England and knocked out in the first round, Argentina's worst World Cup performance since they failed to qualify in 1970. England fans took double delight in this failure, the delight at England's triumph in one of the nations greatest sporting rivalries and the delight at seeing a Manchester United player fail so spectacularly on the world stage.

In 2003 he was offloaded to Chelsea FC, who had just been given Roman Abramovich's billions to play with. His transfer fee of £15 million represented a £13 million pound loss for Manchester United. This transfer raised his cumulative transfer value to an eye watering £77 million, making him the highest value footballer in the world at the time, only surpassed by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.

The 2003-04 season was a disaster for Verón, he suffered from a number of injuries and as a consequence only made 14 appearances in all competitions for Chelsea, 8 as a substitute. The most notorious of his substitute appearances was the Champions League semi-final 1st leg against Monaco. The game was tied at 1-1 with Chelsea looking the stronger team, then Chelsea manager Claudio "tinkerman" Ranieri decided that this hugely important moment would be the ideal opportunity to try and finally lever Verón into the team, bringing him on as a halftime substitute. The 2nd half started well for Chelsea and things got even better for Chelsea when Claude Makalele threw himself to the ground feigning injury to get Andreas Zikos sent off, which was especially unfair given than Chelsea defender Marcel Desailly had put in a performance truly worthy of a red card.

Verón was an expensive flop for Chelsea.

Things started to fall apart for Chelsea in the 77th minute when 10 man Monaco scored to establish a 2-1 lead with a strike from Fernando Morientes. Then in the 83rd minute Shabani Nonda scored with his first touch to make it 3-1 to the 10 man side. Monaco held on for an unbelievable win and Verón came under intense criticism for his lack of effort and poor distribution, but the bulk of the blame fell on Ranieri. Chelsea could only draw the 2nd leg and experienced the bitter taste of defeat in a Champions League semi-final, something they would get used to over the following few seasons.

Ranieri was sacked at the end of the season and Verón was farmed out on loan to Inter Milan for a couple of seasons and then to Estudiantes de La Plata in Argentina, where he stayed after his Chelsea contract eventually expired. In 2007 Verón was labeled as one of the 50 worst transfers in the history of English football by the Times newspaper.

Verón disappeared off the radar for most English football fans, with coverage of the Argentine Primera División and South American club football in general virtually non-existent in the mainstream British press.


Juan Sebastián Verón playing for Estudiantes de La Plata in the Club World Championship in 2009.

What Verón has achieved at Estudiantes is remarkable. He chose to return to the club that that his father Juan Ramón Verón played for during the club's glory years in the late 60s and early 70s, that Verón supported as a boy and played for as a teenager. He could have gone for a huge payday playing in the MLS or playing for some obscure middle eastern club like other great players reaching the end of their prime years (Beckham, Henry, Batistuta). Instead he decided to return to Estudiantes for the love of the club. In 2006 he led the club to their first league championship in 23 years and in 2009 he lifted the Copa Libertadores trophy that his father had lifted 3 consecutive times in the club's glory days back in the late 1960s and early 70s.

Verón's renaissance in South America is highlighted by the fact that he has captained his team to domestic and international glory, won the South American player of the year award in 2008 and 2009, the Argentine footballer of the year in 2006 and 2009 and won a recall to the Argentina squad under Diego Maradona after years of international exile.

Verón's time in England was not a success, he never came close to living up to the £28.1 million price tag and it can be argued that his style of play was never suited to the English game. What cannot be argued is that this failure makes him a bad player. His medal collection says otherwise (2 Italian league, 1 Premier league, 1 Argentine league, 1 Copa Libertadores, 1 UEFA Cup, 1 European Super Cup, 4 Italian cups, 2 Italian super cups).

When Verón joined Manchester United in 2001, as a non-Manchester United fan I was duty bound to take a dislike to the man, but the fact that he has forfeited millions in wages in order to return to the club of his roots and led them back to the glory days of his father's generation make him my favourite ex-Manchester United player without a doubt.

Biography: Ariel Ortega

Ariel Ortega was born on 4 March 1974 in Jujuy, Argentina, he made his debut for River Plate in 1991. He won 3 league titles, played alongside the great Leonardo Astrada, Hernán Crespo and Enzo Francescoli with the club and was part of the squad that won River's second Copa Libertadores in 1996.

Following this success he moved to European football where he played for Valencia, Sampdoria and Parma.

He was often described as the "new Maradona" as he filled the talented creative midfielder role and the famous number 10 shirt for Argentina in the 1998 World Cup. The team were eliminated in the Quarter Finals with Ortega sent off in the 87th minute and Denis Bergkamp scoring his memorable last minute winner. Ortega took much of the blame for Argentina's poor performance.

In 2000 he returned to River Plate where he won another league title. In 2002 he joined Turkish side Fenerbahçe, but he didn't settle, breaking his contract with the club to return to Argentina. He was heavily fined and banned from playing football until the end of 2003 for breach of contract.

When Ortega did return to the football field it was for Newell's Old Boys, he played an instrumental role in helping the club win the Apertura 2004 tournament, their first title in 12 years.

Following his success at Newell's he returned to River Plate for a 3rd stint with the club, winning yet another league title in 2008. Shortly after this he had a bust up with manager Diego Simeone and was sent out on loan to 2nd division side Independiente Rivadavia, while he was away River endured their worst season ever finishing in 20th position, bottom of the table for the first time in 107 years of history. Simeone resigned and Ortega returned to River where he still plays aged 36.

Ortega never lived up to the "new Maradona" tag, but his haul of 5 Argentina league championships, 1 Copa Libertadores medal and 88 caps and 17 goals for Argentina, show that he was still a great player and his ability to chip goalkeepers is a joy to behold.

Hernán Crepso vs Colombia, Pan American games 1995 - Dos sombreros!

This is one of my all time favourite goals. The set up is magnificent from Javier Zanetti with 2 sombreros over the Colombian defenders and then Hernán Crepo's finish is fantastic, he has to take 5 steps backwards to meet the cross, which he does perfectly.

The goal is magnificent in it's execution and it is no surprise that these two players went on to make over 200 appearances for Argentina over the next 15 years.

Part of the Golazo series.

New Maradona

Teenager Carlos Marinelli was touted as the new Maradona when he joined Middlesbrough FC in 2000

Ever since Diego Maradona retired from the game, football fans from Argentina and across the world have been hoping that Argentina will produce another iconic player like el 10. Consequently whenever a young Argentine who plays in an attacking role begins to show a lot of talent he is soon labeled as the "new Maradona". It must be flattering for the youngster to be compared to a generation defining player like Maradona, but it seems the burden of expectation has crushed a few "new Maradonas" and a few more new Maradonas must have only been labeled as such by their agents hoping for a lucrative transfer to a gullible European club.

The first player to be dubbed the new Maradona was Diego Latorre, who never came close to emulating Maradona's achievements, making only 6 appearances for the Argentina national team, the closest he ever came to Maradona was playing alongside the great man during Maradona's final few seasons at Boca Juniors between 1996 and 1997.

The first time I heard the new Maradona tag used was during the 1998 World Cup when Ariel Ortega took the role of Argentina's most creative attacking player. Argentina underperformed and it seemed that Ortega took the brunt of the criticism simply for not being as good as Maradona. He has however had a successful career and notably captained Newell's Old Boys to a league championship, something Maradona failed to do during his stint with the Rosario club.

Some of the comparisons with Maradona are utterly laughable with hindsight, or even just with sight in the case of Carlos Marinelli, who was touted as the new Maradona when he joined Premier League side Middlesbrough FC for £1.5m in 2000. He was an utter flop and since being offloaded by the Boro he has plied his trade for Torino FC in the Italian 2nd division, Kansas City Wizards of the MLS and Argentine 2nd division side Aldosivi.

In recent years Lionel Messi has become the most obvious "new Maradona", this time the comparisons are a little less insanely optimistic, since Messi is widely acknowledged as the best player in the world and scored a remarkably similar goal to Maradona's famous "goal of the Century" against England in 1986.

More recently promising young players like Matías De Federico have been ludicrously described as the new Messi, even though Messi at 23 years old is only 2 years older than De Federico. Messi seems to have the bulk of his greatest footballing achievements still ahead of him so comparisons at this stage seem more than premature. If De Federico turns out to be the "new new Maradona", then we can only wait and wonder at who the "new new new Maradona" will be.

List of "new Maradonas"