Showing posts with label Boca Juniors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boca Juniors. Show all posts
Martín Palermo golazo contra Quilmes, Clausura 2011
On 5 June 2011 Argentine giants Boca Juniors found themselves two goals down to relegation favourites Quilmes in the 17th round of the Clausura 2011 tournament. Their iconic all time top scorer Martín Palermo bagged his 6th goal in 7 games with this stunning strike to pull one back and Cristian Chávez equalised four minutes later to earn the 2-2 draw. Palermo's goal made him the joint 4th highest goalscorers in the Argentine Primera División since the professionalisation of the game back in 1931 with 227 league goals.
Juan Pablo Carrizo own goal vs Boca Juniors, Clausura 2011
On 15 May 2011 Boca Juniors hosted River Plate in the famous Superclásico derby. The visitors were under an enormous amount of pressure lying only one place above the relegation zone, their goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo couldn't have found a worse moment to make one of the biggest errors of his career by knocking a harmless looking cross into is own net. Boca Juniors legendary all time top scorer Martín Palermo scored a second goal to secure the 2-0 win.
For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.
Juan Román Riquelme vs Colón, Clausura 2011
On 27 March Argentine giants Boca Juniors faced a tough trip to Santa Fe to play Colón in the 7th round of the Clausura 2011 tournament. Boca had suffered a run of three consecutive defeats and lay down in 17th position in the table. Juan Román Riquelme secured a vital 0-1 win with this intelligent free kick to beat Colón goalkeeper Diego Pozo at his near post. I was particularly pleased with this goal as I predicted a 0-1 away win for Boca Juniors in my Clausura weekly preview article.
Boca Juniors 0-2 Olimpo, Clausura 2011
Game of the week - 22 March 2011
Sunday 20 March 2011 will be a day that lives long in the memories of the fans of Olimpo de Bahía Blanca. Their game against Boca Juniors was monumentally important for the small club from the Atlantic coast of Buenos Aires Province for several reasons. Not only was their 0-2 win at the once intimidating Bombonera stadium their first away win against Boca Juniors, the world's joint most successful team in international club football.
Olimpo played the better football for the majority of the match and had a perfectly good goal from Ezequiel Maggiolo disallowed before Martín Rolle put them ahead controlling the ball and striking the shot on the run. In the second half the visitors even began showboating and attempting to play Olé football. In the last few minutes of the game Juan Furch came on as a substitute and scored the "Aurinegro" a deserved second goal within a minute.
The result meant that at the end of the sixth round of games Olimpo were sitting alone at the very top of the Clausura 2011 table and also outside of the promedios relegation zone for the first time since they lost to Boca in the reverse fixture back in September.
For more great games involving South American teams, check out the rest of the Partidazo series.
Ezequiel Maggiolo not offside vs Boca Juniors, Clausura 2011
On 20 March 2011 Olimpo de Bahía Blanca recoreded their first ever away win against Boca Juniors with a 0-2 victory at the once intimidating Bombonera. The result saw Olimpo jump to the top of the Clausura 2011 table after Fecha 6 and escape from the relegation places for the first time since the sides met in the corresponding fixture of the Apertura back in September 2010. Had the goal not been incorrectly chalked off Maggiolo would have become the leading goalscorer of the tournament with six goals in six games.
More controversies from fecha 6
Aureliano Torres golazo vs Boca Juniors, Clausura 2011
On 12 March 2011 San Lorenzo hosted Boca Juniors in a game of huge importance to both sides in the fifth round of the Clausura 2011 tournament. San Lorenzo coached by Ramón Díaz needed the win in order to avoid falling too far behind the league leaders and Falcioni's Boca Juniors needed to take something from the game in order to climb away from their embarrasing league position of 16th.
The game was too nerve riddled to be considered great but the only goal of the game was certainly a classic, Aureliano Torres was given far too much space to run into by the Boca Juniors midfield and when nobody bothered to close him down he unleashed a powerful curling shot. At first viewing, the Boca Juniors goalkeeper García seems to be badly out of position but in a later replay it becomes clear how much the ball swerved back inside the post meaning that even a well positioned goalkeeper would have had real trouble trying to save it.
San Lorenzo held on for the 1-0 win despite some characteristic penalty box hurly burly from Boca's Martín Palermo. San Lorenzo took temporary leadership of the division while Boca Juniors slipped one position to 17th place.
The remarkable decline of Boca Juniors
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| Martín Palermo holding the 2007 Copa Libertadores |
Few would have predicted then that within four years a team shorn of all but the last two names would find themselves way down in 17th place in the early stages of the Clausura 2011 tornament having finished in 11th 16th and 11th in their last three campaigns or that they would be so far away from even achieving qualification to play in the international tournaments they utterly dominated for the best part of a decade.
The decline was not instantaneous, they won the Apertura and the Recopa Sudamericana in 2008 but the downwards trajectory since then has been unmissable. People can point to many factors to explain what has happened and everyone in Argentina has an opinion.
It is clear that the current team has suffered from the facts that Riquelme has barely played in two years after developing legs of glass and talismanic goalscorer Martín Palermo has struggled to find his goalscoring touch and lost all of the little pace that he had back in 2007. It is also clear that the club has suffered from unprecedented managerial turmoil, with eight managerial changes since Russo's departure in 2007. the rate of managerial changes has increased to such a rate that the position has changed hands five times since the beginning of 2010.
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| Julio César Falcioni is the latest manager to try to turn things around at Boca. |
To me Falcioni was an odd choice of manager for a club like Boca Juniors, but he does seem to have the pragmatic attitude necessary to begin to rebuild confidence at the Bombonera but the board and the fans would have to dramatically lower their expectations in order to give him the time to succeed, something they refused to do for the previous "permanent" manager Claudio Borghi who was shown the door after only fourteen games of the Apertura last year.
It is obviously impossible to attribute such a decline to one factor but for me the biggest contributor to the situation the club find themselves in is the lack of squad stability. Their grandstand enganche Riquelme has been injured or out of form for the past couple of seasons but for me the really big issue is that the majority of the players from 2007 have departed and the academy and transfer policy have not bought in adequate replacements. As the club's achievements have slipped further and further away from expectations the turnover of players has become even more frantic than the turnover of coaching staff. In their game against Vélez Sársfield at the beginning of March this year only two players remained from the team that played Vélez a little over a year ago.
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| 18 year old Ever Banega was one of the revelations of Copa Libertadores 2007. |
As it is the decision to take the cash has not been great for either party, Banega didn't really establish himself at Valencia, spent a season on loan at Atlético Madrid and then began to make a positive impression in a struggling team after his recall to Valencia in 2009. Playing well in underachieving sides was not enough for him to find his way into Diego Maradona's 2010 World Cup squad, an omission criticised as one of Maradona's worst by myself and other respected South American football commentators.
Had Banega stayed in Argentina for another couple of years and continued to improve on the form he showed as an 18 year old back in 2007 in the blue and gold of Boca Juniors he would probably have benefited from much more big game experience than as a bit part player for two underachieving sides overseas.
How could Maradona have left him out of the World Cup squad had he been the most obvious star of the one team that Diego could never have ignored? Had Banega played in that notorious game against Germany, Mascherano would not have been the only engine in the middle of the park and the team could possibly have avoided their most humiliating World Cup exit since they failed to qualify for World Cup 1970.
Returning to the plight of Boca Juniors, they have not even qualified to play in the last two Copa Libertadores and given their poor start to the Clausura they seem very unlikely to even qualify for this year's much derided Copa Sudamericana that they won back-to-back in 2004 and 2005. As I have said, Banega's sale was one factor amongst many in this decline, however it is illustrative of how the voracious appetites for young Argentine talent in Europe and Mexico is now so powerful that it can even bring giants to their knees.
Golazo: Jhon Viáfara vs Boca Juniors, Copa Libertadores final 2004.
In 2004 Colombian minnows Once Caldas reached the Copa Libertadores final where they faced Boca Juniors, who at the time were undoubtedy the strongest team in South America, having won three of the last four Libertadores finals.
After a goalless draw in the first leg Jhon Viáfara hit this blistering shot to give the Colombian minnows the lead after only 8 minutes of the return fixture. Boca Juniors equalised through Nicolás Burdisso and the game went to extra time and then penalties. Once Caldas won the shootout 2-0 in what must have been one of the worst penalty shootouts in a major international final (only 2 of the 8 penalties went in), not that the Once Caldas players or fans were bothered, they were too busy celebrating only the third major title in their entire history.
Golazo: Ernesto Farías against Boca Juniors, Clausura 2006
On 26 March 2006 Ernesto "tecla" Farías scored one of the most memorable goals of his career when he scored for River Plate in the superclásico against their fiercest rivals Boca Juniors in a 1-1 draw in Clausura 2006.
Golazo: Martín Palermo vs Banfield
Martín Palermo recently scored his 300th career goal, 230 of them were for Boca Juniors where he is now the all time top scorer. In Apertura 2004 he scored this chilena against Banfield to end Boca Juniors run of six games without scoring a goal.
He has scored a number of other brilliant goals for the club including this chilena for his 200th Boca Juniors goal, this record breaking header and this spectacular long range strike against Independiente.
Golazo: J.J. López vs Boca Juniors, Superclásico 1981
J.J. López was officially appointed as the River Plate manager in December 2010 after he secured 13 out of 18 points as caretaker manager after the departure of Angel Cappa in November. He is a former player for the club, a thoroughbred River Plate legend and a popular choice amongst the fans. One of his finest moments in a River Plate shirt came in the Superclásico in 1981 when he scored this long range goal in a 2-2 draw against Boca Juniors.
Golazo: Sergio Aruajo, Boca Juniors 2-1 Arsenal, Apertura 2010
After the resignation of Claudio Borghi as Boca Juniors manager after defeat to River Plate in the Superclásico and the instillation of youth team manager Roberto Pompei as interim manager, it was a curiosity that his first opponents were Arsenal de Sarandí. The same side that he faced in his first game in his first stint as Boca's interim manager back in April 2010.
Boca had gone over a month without scoring a goal before Sergio Aruajo scored his first for the club to end their 322 minute goal drought. Arsenal equalised but Boca Juniors club legend Martín Palermo netted the winner to lift Boca to the lofty heights of 10th in the table.
Borghi resigns after Superclásico defeat
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| Borghi's reign as Boca Juniors manager only lasted 14 games. |
A press conference was arranged at Boca Juniors Bombonera stadium for the following day, where the official announcement was made. It is claimed that Borghi was told not to officially resign in the stadium of Boca's arch rivals River Plate and to wait until it could be done in a less humiliating location.
The general perception was that Borghi would not be able to survive defeat in the Superclásico derby and after former Boca Juniors defender Jonathan Maidana headed the only goal of the game to give River Plate their first league win in Argentina's biggest derby game since 2007 Borghi felt that he had no option but to resign.
Borghi is the 8th Primera División manager to leave his position in the first 14 games of the Apertura 2010 tournament. His departure was preceded by that of Luis Zubeldía of Lanús and Angel Cappa of River Plate.
Borghi may now be regretting his decision to allow Boca Juniors to poach him from Argentinos Juniors after he led them to the Clausura 2010 championship. Had he stayed with Argentinos he would certainly have had the capital to survive a poor run of form and the club are already qualified for the Copa Libertadores 2011 which is due to kick off in February.
it is inconceivable that Borghi will be out of work for long with his track record. He four league titles in Chile with Colo-Colo and led Argentinos Juniors to their first league championship in since 1985 when he was in the team.
Borghi leaves Boca Juniors in a dismal position, they are 15th in the league table and unable to qualify for the Copa Libertadores for the 2nd season in a row which is unacceptable for a club that have utterly dominated South America's top international club tournament over the last decade.
Rumours are already circulating about potential replacements, however the job may be a poisoned chalice with the level of expectation and a team that seem incapable of regaining the form that saw them win 18 major trophies between 1998 and 2008.
Apertura 2010: Managerial departures
- Daniel Garnero (Independiente) Fecha 7
- Héctor Rivoira (Huracán) Fecha 7
- Antonio Mohamed (Colón) Fecha 7
- Diego Cocco (Gimnasia y Esgrima) Fecha 8
- Hugo Tocalli (Quilmes) Fecha 11
- Angel Cappa (River Plate) Fecha 13
- Luis Zubeldía (Lanús) Fecha 14
- Claudio Borghi (Boca Juniors) Fecha 14
Golazo: José Luis Calderón vs Boca Juniors, Clausura 1999
In the 17th round of the Clausura 1999 tournament Independiente hosted Boca Juniors who were unbeaten in 40 league games. José Luis Calderón put in the performance of his lifetime for the home team, scoring a hat-trick which included this magnificent goal. Independiente won 4-0, Boca Juniors lost their unbeaten record but won the league title anyway because River Plate lost at home against Racing Club 2-3.
What ever happened to? Walter del Rio
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| Walter del Rio playing for Dundee in the Scottish Premier League. |
In August 1998 three Argentine players turned up at Crystal Palace in a deal which was rumoured to have cost at least £448,769 in agents' fees alone. The first player to leave was Pablo Rodríguez of Argentinos Juniors who returned to his club after failing his medical. A few days later Cristian Raúl Ledesma (not the more famous Cristian Daniel Ledesma of Lazio) returned to Argentinos as he was unsatisfied with the terms of the contract on offer, he eventually signed for Argentine giants River Plate in 1999.
The only player left was 22 year old defender Walter del Rio who was signed from Boca Juniors for a fee of £187,500. Walter, nicknamed "Wally" and "Wicha" in Argentina had played only 3 first team games for Boca Juniors before being sent out on loan to Argentine 2nd division club Huracán de Corrientes between 1997 and 1998.
Palace found Del Rio a flat in Croydon and bought him a car with deductions to be taken from his wages for both. He only ever started one game for the club in a 0-4 defeat against Barnsley. He also made two appearances as a substitute under manager Terry Venables, but once Steve Coppell took over he was frozen out of the first team altogether.
In March 1999, after Crystal Palace had gone into administration Del Rio received a two-sentence letter signed by the club secretary, Michael Hurst stating "This is to confirm that Crystal Palace Football Club have given you a free transfer. You have the club's authority to seek future employment with any other club," At this point Palace stopped paying his wages despite the fact that he was under contract until June. This was a severe blow as he was sending most of his wages home to help support his mother and younger siblings cope after the death of his father in the late 1980s.
Despite not being paid Del Rio was attending training every day in order to ensure that the club could not withhold his wages for breach of contract but he was not allowed to practice with the other players so he trained on his own. His PFA agent at the time Neil Fewings said "He has a great attitude. He's not one of these players who've come over here thinking he's owed a living. He's a lovely bloke, just looking to get on, play football, and prove himself somewhere."
It is not entirely clear what he did for the year after leaving Palace, but it is safe to assume that he remained in the UK seeking an alternative club as he had an unsuccessful trial with Norwich City in 1999 and another trial with Scottish side Dundee in July 2000 which earned him a 2 year contract with the club. A few months later he was joined by one of the most remarkable signings in the history of the club; fellow Argentine Claudio Caniggia.
Although he didn't play many games in his first season with the club it must have been a wonderful experience for the lad, who up until this point had barely played top flight football finding himself in a small Scottish town playing alongside one of the icons of Argentine football in the 1990s.
Caniggia left the club at the end of the season to join Rangers but Del Rio was kept on for another season, he earned himself a place as a regular first team player and was well liked by the Dundee fans for his hard working attitude and commitment. By the time he left in 2002 he had played 49 times for the club.
Del Rio made good use of the Italian passport that had allowed him the opportunity to play football in Europe by joining Italian lower league side Carrarense in 2002 where he played for one season. His next club were Cosenza who like Crystal Palace a few years before ended up in severe financial difficulties, they went out of existence in 2004.
Del Rio then found his way to the Swiss 2nd division where he played for FC Wohlen (2004-05) and Young Fellows Juventus (2005-06).
In 2006 his nomadic career as an international journeyman footballer took him to his sixth different country, he joined Extremadura, who in their glory days in the 1990s had boasted famous Argentine players like Fabián Basualdo and Carlos Navarro Montoya but by the time Del Rio had joined them they had fallen back into the 3rd tier of Spanish football. For the third time in his career he found himself at a club experiencing severe difficulties, they were relegated from the division at the end of the season and then dropped down another division for financial irregularities.
Del Rio stayed in Spain joining San Fernando in the 4th tier of Spanish football in 2007. He helped the club to achieve promotion to the 3rd tier as champions in 2007-08 but in 2009 the club got into financial difficulties and went out of business in August 2009.
Having experienced 2 relegations, two clubs going into administration and another two going out of business altogether Del Rio cut his losses in European football and returned to Argentina. he eventually found a club in January 2010 when he joined semi-professional side Boca de Río Gallegos in the regionalised 4th division of Argentine football.
In January 2010 former club Crystal Palace entered administration for the second time and in November 2010 another former club Dundee went into administration for the second time since he had left the club, as a result they were docked 25 points leaving them bottom of the table 20 points from safety.
It would be absurd to suggest that Walter del Rio is carrying some kind of curse, but the sheer scale of the troubles experienced by his former clubs is remarkable. It is a shame for the lad, since he seems to have worked hard in his football career without much glory or success, been well liked by the fans and done his best to support his family back in Argentina.
Part of the What ever happened to? series.
Lujos: Diego Placente caño against Juan Román Riquelme
Juan Román Riquelme is well known as one of the most talented Argentine players with the ball at his feet, back in 2008 former Bayer Leverkusen defender Diego Placente took the opportunity to show Riqulme that he is not the only one that can pull off a nifty trick.
Cosas Locas: Ron the dog vs Carlos Navarro Montoya, 1991
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| Navarro Montoya inspecting his wound. |
The most famous incident of the night happened during a pitch invasion. Remarkably the Chilean police appeared to be too busy intimidating the Boca Juniors players with dogs to bother about all of the fans on the pitch. Eventually a police dog named Ron bit the Boca Juniors goalkeeper Carlos Fernando Navarro Montoya on the right calf.
Aftermath
Colo-Colo won the final of the 1991 Copa Libertadores beating Paraguayan side Olimpia 3-0 on aggregate in the final to become the first, and to date only Chilean side to win the premier club competition in South America.
Carlos "el mono" Navarro Montoya recovered from the bite to have a long and successful career, playing until his retirement in 2009 at the age of 43.
The police dog Ron became instantly famous in Chile as "el perro que mordió un mono" (the dog that bit a monkey) his picture appeared on the covers of several newspapers and magazines and he spent much of the rest of his life touring the country. His life ended on 10 November 1997 but his fame continues, the fans of Colo-Colo erected a statue of him and he even has a Facebook page in his honour.
For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.
Golazo: Claudio Marangoni, Boca Juniors vs Grêmio, Supercopa 1989
Between 1981 and 1989 Argentine giants Boca Juniors endured one of the longest stints in their history without a major trophy. This came to an end when they won the Supercopa Sudamericana, the final was a goalless affair over two legs, which Boca Juniors won on penalties against fellow Argentine side Independiente.
The real highlight of Boca Juniors' Supercopa campaign was probably this goal from Claudio Maringoni in a 2-0 win against Brazilian side Grêmio in the semi final.
What ever happened to? Claudio Marangoni
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| Marangoni was one of four Argentinians to play in England in the early 1980s. Osvaldo Ardiles, Marangoni, Alex Sabella & Ricardo Villa (left to right). |
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
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.
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