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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.

Golazo: Juan Carlos Oblitas, PERU vs Chile, Copa América 1975: Chilena vs Chile

There is a small amount of controversy in South America over what to call the bicycle kick. Nearly everyone calls it the "Chilena" (meaning Chilean) as it was a speciality of Ramón Unzaga who used the technique in the early 20th Century. The Argentine press labelled the technique the "Chilena" when they first saw it executed by Unzaga in an early edition of the Copa América.

The only people who call it by another name are the Peruvians, who call it the "Chalaca" (meaning from Callao) as they claim it was invented by an unspecified person in the port of Callao and then copied by the Chileans. The evidence is pretty tenuous, one academic claims to have seen proof in a very old (and unspecified) book, and that is about as much as they can come up with. The Peruvians remain fiercely possessive of the move and insist in referring to it in a way that nobody else in South America understands.

When the two sides met in the group stage of the Copa América in 1975, Juan Carlos Oblitas executed one of the most famous "Chalacas" in the history of South Américan football, taking a couple of touches before firing the overhead into the Chilean goal. Despite Peruvian objections it would seem like a dreadful wasted opportunity not to claim that he scored a great "Chilena" against Chile.

Peru went on to beat Chile 3-1 to qualify for the next round in which they famously beat Brazil. They were eventually crowned 1975 Copa América champions after winning a 3rd leg tiebreaker against Colombia.

Part of the Golazo series.

What ever happened to? Carlos Marinelli

Marinelli celebrates a goal with his Middlesbrough team mates.

Carlos Marinelli was touted as the "new Maradona" to anyone stupid enough to listen to over enthusiastic Middlesbrough FC fans when he joined their club in 2000 from Argentine giants Boca Juniors for a fee of £1.5m. It is not clear who lumbered the lad with the tag, in all probability it Marinelli's agent talking him up to get a good price and the British press trying to hype up the story. It was then repeated by many Middlesbrough fans (until they actually saw him play that is).

I don't want to be hard on the man, he was a teenager in a cold and smoggy city thousands of miles away from his home in Buenos Aires and he was never going to be as good as Maradona, so the "new Maradona" tag was an unfair burden. He did have a couple of good performances for the Boro, most notably netting two goals in a 5-1 win against Derby County in November 2001.

Boro fans will know that he failed to earn himself a regular place in the first team and made the majority of his appearances as a substitute. He was eventually farmed out on loan to Italian 2nd division side Torino FC, before joining the Italian club permanently in 2003 after making 53 appearances for the Teessiders in all competitions (29 as a substitute), netting only 4 goals.

Marinelli during his time in American "soccer"
with Kansas City Wizards.

In 2004 Marinelli returned to Argentina where he made a handful of appearances for his first club Boca Juniors and then a few more for Racing Club but he didn't settle at either club. He then had a stint with SC Braga of Portugal where he barely managed to get on the pitch.

The most regular run of first team football of Marinelli's career was probably his time at Kansas City Wizards between 2007 and 2008 where he held down a first team place making 41 appearances. he eventually left the club after a bust up with manager Curt Onalfo. He is remembered by Wizards fans as an unmotivated and infuriating player who wasted his potential.

Marinelli left the US to join one of the best names in world football, fallen Colombian giants Millonarios, (who were one of the best clubs in the world in the 1950s). He never settled there and was soon offloaded, he then showed up back in Argentina playing for 2nd division side Aldosivi in 2010, but was released by the club at the end of the 2009-10 season.

In September 2010 he joined Győri ETO of the Hungarian first division but again his stay there was a short one and in 2011 he turned up at Peruvian champions Universidad San Martín where he put in a brilliant substitute performance in a 2-0 win against San Luis in the 2011 Copa Libertadores.

It doesn't matter how many lies are added to Wikipedia to make him look a better player by his agent or greatest fan, he never lived up to the promise he showed as a teenager, he never scored enough goals, he has been criticised for ineffectual performances and lack of discipline on the field and for his poor attitude off it.

To give him some credit he has kept on playing and his career as an international journeyman footballer has given him a much wider experience in life than most of his armchair critics back in England. He has lived and played professional football in Argentina, England, Italy, Portugal, United States, Colombia and Hungary after all.

Part of the What ever happened to? series.

Copa América

The Copa América trophy

The Copa América is the World's oldest tournament for international teams. It is organised by CONMEBOL and was first played in 1916 and has been played on a regular basis since then. The next Copa América is due to be played in Argentina in 2011 and will be the 43rd edition of the tournament.

The competition has traditionally been dominated by Uruguay and Argentina, with 14 titles each they are tied as the most successful teams in the history of the tournament. In recent years Brazil have begun to dominate winning 4 of the last 5 editions. Brazil now have 8 championships but still have a long time to go before they could catch up with Argentina and Uruguay now that the tournament is held only once every four years.

The only other teams to have won the championship are Peru and Paraguay with two each and Bolivia and Colombia with one win apiece. Chile can be considered the unluckiest nation in the history of Copa América having lost all four of their appearances in the final.

Since 1993 CONMEBOL have allowed guest participants from other confederations, Mexico are the most successful having reached the final on two occasions. Honduras were invited to take Argentina's place at the last minute when they withdrew from the 2001 edition because of the economic crisis. Considering the lack of preparation they can be proud of reaching the semi-final and also of the fact that they remain the only team to have eliminated Brazil from the competition since 1995.

Number of championships

Uruguay	15
Argentina	14
Brazil	8
Paraguay	2
Peru	2
Bolivia	1
Colombia	1

Historical record

#	Year	Venue	Champion	Second	Third
1	1916	Argentina	Uruguay	Argentina	Brazil
2	1917	Uruguay	Uruguay	Argentina	Brazil
3	1919	Brazil	Brazil	Uruguay	Argentina
4	1920	Chile	Uruguay	Argentina	Brazil
5	1921	Argentina	Argentina	Brazil	Uruguay
6	1922	Brazil	Brazil	Paraguay	Uruguay
7	1923	Uruguay	Uruguay	Argentina	Paraguay
8	1924	Uruguay	Uruguay	Argentina	Paraguay
9	1925	Argentina	Argentina	Brazil	Paraguay
10	1926	Chile	Uruguay	Argentina	Chile
11	1927	Peru	Argentina	Uruguay	Peru
12	1929	Argentina	Argentina	Paraguay	Uruguay
13	1935	Peru	Uruguay	Argentina	Peru
14	1937	Argentina	Argentina	Brazil	Paraguay
15	1939	Peru	Peru	Uruguay	Pataguay
16	1941	Chile	Argentina	Uruguay	Chile
17	1942	Uruguay	Uruguay	Argentina	Brazil
18	1945	Chile	Argentina	Brazil	Chile
19	1946	Argentina	Argentina	Brazil	Paraguay
20	1947	Ecuador	Argentina	Paraguay	Uruguay
21	1949	Brazil	Brazil	Paraguay	Peru
22	1953	Peru	Paraguay	Brazil	Uruguay
23	1955	Chile	Argentina	Chile	Peru
24	1956	Uruguay	Uruguay	Chile	Argentina
25	1957	Peru	Argentina	Brazil	Uruguay
26	1959	Argentina	Argentina	Brazil	Paraguay
27	1959	Ecuador	Uruguay	Argentina	Brazil
28	1963	Bolivia	Bolivia	Paraguay	Argentina
29	1967	Uruguay	Uruguay	Argentina	Chile
30	1975	no specific host	Peru	Colombia	Brazil
31	1979	no specific host	Paraguay	Chile	Brazil
32	1983	no specific host	Uruguay	Brazil	Paraguay
33	1987	Argentina	Uruguay	Chile	Colombia
34	1989	Brazil	Brazil	Uruguay	Argentina
35	1991	Chile	Argentina	Brazil	Chile
36	1993	Ecuador	Argentina	Mexico	Colombia
37	1995	Uruguay	Uruguay	Brazil	Colombia
38	1997	Bolivia	Brazil	Bolivia	Mexico
39	1999	Paraguay	Brazil	Uruguay	Mexico
40	2001	Colombia	Colombia	Mexico	Honduras
41	2004	Peru	Brazil	Argentina	Uruguay
42	2007	Venezuela	Brazil	Argentina	Mexico
43	2011	Argentina	Uruguay	Paraguay	Peru

See also

Copa América database of statistics at rsssf

Copa América overview at Wikipedia

Copa América at CONMEBOL

Golazo: Joãozinho, CRUZEIRO vs River Plate, Copa Libertadores final 1976

The 1976 Copa Libertadores final was played between River Plate of Argentina, hoping to win their first Copa Libertadores and Cruzeiro of Brazil hoping to become the first Brazilian team to win the Libertadores since Santos way back in 1963.

Cruzeiro won the first leg 4-1 and River Plate won the second leg 2-1 necessitating a playoff game in the neutral venue of Estadio Nacional in the Chilean capital Santiago.

With the score tied at 2-2 on 88 minutes and extra time looming Cruzeiro striker Joãozinho lined up a free kick and arced it over the wall into the top left corner of the River Plate goal instigating delirious celebrations from the Cruzeiro players and a mass brawl involving several of the River Plate players.

Aftermath

After failing to win in the 1966 and 1976 Copa Libertadores finals, River Plate won the title in 1986 and 1996 both times beating the Jimmy Whites of South American club football, Colombian side América de Cali (who lost all 4 of their Copa Libertadores finals to date 1985, 1986, 1987, 1996).

Cruzeiro failed to retain their title, losing the 1977 final to Boca Juniors (fierce rivals of River Plate), they won their second Libertadores in 1997 against Peruvian team Sporting Cristal and reached the final for a fourth time in 2009 where they lost to Estudiantes de La Plata of Argentina.

Part of the Golazo series.

Partidazo: Gimnasia La Plata 3-0 Atlético Rafaela, promotion/relegation playoff 2008-09 - The great escape

At the end of the Primera División 2008-09 season Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata found themselves 18th in the relegation table, with only 1.149 points per game over the previous 3 seasons. This meant that they had to play in the dreaded promotion/relegation playoff against the 3rd best team from the 2nd division.

Atlético Rafaela were their opponents and on 9 July 2009 they won their home leg 3-0 with an excellent hat-trick from journeyman striker Aldo Visconti. This meant that Gimnasia needed to win their home leg by three goals to tie the playoff, in which case the teams stay in their own divisions and Gimnasia would avoid their first relegation in 25 years.

The second leg was played on 12 July 2009 at the Estadio Juan Carmelo Zerillo. Things did not go well for the home side, both teams were reduced to 10 men and at half time the score was still 0-0. Diego Alonso eventually scored for Gimnasia on 72 minutes but then "Pampa" Sosa got himself sent off for an obvious elbow in the face.

Gimnasia were in serious trouble down to 9 players and with only 1 minute left of normal time to score 2 goals, then on loan substitute Franco Niell scored two dramatic late goals to save the game and make himself a hero to every Gimnasia fan.

Aftermath

Niell may have made himself a hero to the fans but the management had no such sentimentality, they refused to pay Argentinos Juniors asking price and he left without ever playing for Gimnasia again. The following season the two teams finished in identical league positions, requiring another playoff between the two clubs. Atlético's hearts were broken again in 2009-10, and in only slightly less dramatic circumstances (1-0 and 1-3).

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

Great goals: Darío Capogrosso CAI vs Gimnasia Jujuy, Primera B Nacional 2009-10 - 70m goalkeeper goal.

20 March 2010: Comisión de Actividades Infantiles of Comodoro Rivadavia hosted Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy, the home team were in desperate trouble at the foot of the relegation table and 0-1 down going into the last minute of injury time, the goalkeeper Darío Capogrosso fired one last long ball into the opposition penalty area from deep within his own half and scored. At the end of the season C.A.I. avoided relegation to the regionalised leagues after surviving a relegation playoff, by this time Capogrosso's goal had become an internet sensation with over 1.3 million Youtube views.

Part of the Golazo series.

Highlights: Primera División Argentina, Apertura 2010 - Fecha 9

Gata Fernández and team mates celebrate his "golazo" in the Nuevo Gasometro

Estudiantes de La Plata fans will be enjoying themselves this week, their club established a 5 point lead at the top of the Primera División after a 0-1 away win against San Lorenzo, while their nearest rivals Vélez Sársfield lost 2-0 away at Newell's Old Boys.At the other end of the table Estudiantes' fierce local rivals Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata are bottom of the table with only 5 points from 9 games and once again in danger of relegation.

Estudiantes fans will not be complacent though, they only have to think back to their last championship campaign in Apertura 2006, when they won by chasing down runaway leaders Boca Juniors, to match their points tally on the last day of the season and taking the championship to a title playoff, which they won 2-1.

Boca Juniors were beaten at home once again, this time to a last minute penalty to Lanús in a 1-2 defeat. River Plate's championship hopes suffered again after they could only get a 2-2 draw away at Banfield, meaning only 2 points from the last 3 games. It seems increasingly likely that Copa Libertadores 2011 will be the second one in a row to feature neither of the Argentine giants (Boca Juniors & River Plate).

Newly promoted Quilmes and Olimpo both lost at home and are stricken at the bottom of the relegation table, both teams averaging significantly less than a point a game, when 1.25 points a game is a reasonable benchmark for survival.

Elsewhere the two smallest Buenos Aires clubs All Boys and Tigre played out an entertaining 3-3 draw, Godoy Cruz put on another magnificent display to hammer Independiente 4-1, Racing Club convincingly thrashed Huracán 3-0 and reigning champions Argentinos Juniors seem to have dealt with their early season jitters with their second consecutive win, a 2-4 away win at Gimnasia, featuring some truly awful defending and goalkeeping from both teams.

Overall it was an enjoyable round of fixtures and with 36 goals, easily the highest scoring "fecha" of the season so far.

Video highlights

Quilmes 0-1 Arsenal de Sarandí
Newell's Old Boys 2-0 Vélez Sársfield
All Boys 3-3 Tigre
Godoy Cruz 4-1 Independiente
Gimnasia La Plata 2-4 Argentinos Juniors
Racing Club 3-0 Huracán
Olimpo 2-3 Colón
San Lorenzo 0-1 Estudiantes
Boca Juniors 1 -2 Lanús
Banfield 2-2 River Plate

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.