While Sebastian Bauzá solidified his permanency as AUF president in late July, the fate of Oscar Tabarez, beloved master of the 4th place objectives,  is still being danced around to the point that its becoming one of the dullest stories out there since Recoba finally decided to return to Danubio.

Clearly the work of Oscar Tabarez in the 2010 World Cup and more importantly Uruguay’s 4th place finish deserves strong consideration from La AUF.

The frustrating quality of this head-scratching wait is that we all know eventually both parties will break bread and put pen to paper –– but in the meantime, a November friendly with Chile was cancelled, 2 additional friendly matches with 2 Asian countries (China & Singapore) may have also bitten the dust.

Instead of securing high profile matches, having Tabarez and his staff getting to work as soon as possible in order to pick up where Uruguay left off, what all Uruguayans are being exposed to instead is the usual dysfunctional Uruguayan football body we all know too well –– Incompetence and an incredulous inability to escape its amateurish “Hey Ma’ look at me, we don’t know what we’re doing” mentality, is how one can sum up La AUF during the last month or so. But then again… maybe La AUF can milk that 4th place finish till December.

Revelation of the round: Young Jonathan Urretavizcaya had a tremendous first game with Deportivo La Coruña. In fact, he was the best thing about the game for the Galician side who drew 0-0 at home against Real Zaragoza. Urreta, on loan from Benfica, with an option to buy at 15M, got his chance because regular Saul Fernandez pulled a muscle in pre-season. The youngster played for 90 minutes and provided some much needed creativity and link up play in the midfield. Unfortunately the Gallegos were not able to capitalize on their chances in front of goal. Definitely one to watch.

Honorable Mentions: Well, I was very impressed with several Celeste players. The first being Chori Castro and Mallorca who held Jose Mourinho’s Galaticos to a 0-0 draw at home at the recently renamed Iberostar Estadi. Chori was not able to capitalize on his chances in front of goal. That said the team played as a brilliant defensive unit and fizzled Real Madrid’s attacking threat. They broke up play, gave them little space and did not allow Los Blancos to get into any rhythm. A stellar performance by a team with little resources, went into administration this past summer, and was recently booted out of the Europa League, even though they are now under new ownership.

Young Seba Fernandez, who was transferred this year from Banfield to Málaga, had a decent debut with the Andalusian team. Even thought they lost 1-3 at home against Valencia. There were periods where the Malagueños would attack on the counter and look sharp with a lot of potential. Such was the case in the first half, when Seba was able to capitalize via a toe poke and score on Eliseu’s cross. At that point the game was even 1-1, it could have gone either way, but eventually Valencia should their class and overcame Málaga’s porous defense.

Diego Godin transitioned with ease into his new team Atlético Madrid. (He was transferred for 8M Euros!) The team’s defense was solid and kept a clean sheet while the attacking force did the business. Which leads me to the….

Player of the Round: Diego Forlan with a brace in the 4-0 home opener against Sporting Gijón. I don’t want to get into this broken record of naming the blond bomber player of the round each week, but he is just like a fine wine. Coming off a stellar World Cup and voted player of the tournament, he leads Los Colchoneros to a Super Cup Trophy by opening the score sheet in Monaco. Meanwhile he scores two brilliant goals in their La Liga opener. Rumors were abound that he would go back to England, move to Germany or even find himself in Italy. Diego refuted the rumors and basically stated that his home was in Madrid and he did not want to move. Diego still has a tiny chance of a nomination for Balon d’Or aka FIFA Player of the Year. I know it is the slightest of chances, but you never know.

Dog of the Round: Well they are several Uruguayans who didn’t get any minutes this past week, like Stuani, Ifran, Alonso, and Marcelo Silva. While El Rifle Pandiani was shooting blanks while getting players sent off. But the dog of the round was Gustavo Munua, now at Levante, who let in 4 goals against Sevilla at home. Yes he had 5 saves and his defense was atrocious. But chalk it up to a bad day at the house for Gustavo. Look at the bright side, he is going to get a lot of shot stopping practice with this newly promoted team.

Other Notables: Carlos Diogo played 94 minutes in Real Zaragoza’s 0-0 draw away to Depor. A very good result for the team. Seba Eguren played the full 90 vs Atlético. Yes his team got their a good hammering, but he was the usual hard man in defense. Glad to have him back playing in the league. Juan Albin played 38 minutes in Getafe’s 1-3 loss away to Espanyol. Coach Martin Lasarte‘s Real Sociedad won their home opener against big bad Villarreal. Quite a coup! Nacho Gonzales played 17 minutes in his debut with Levante. Martin Caceres is going on loan to Sevilla from Barçelona. With the departure of Squillaci, there is a strong possibility he will get some good playing time. Young Right Back, Pablo Pintos is going to Getafe on a free, from Lazio. Welcome aboard.

Questions or comments for Elisa? twitter: elisaU facebook: www.facebook.com/medelliae and check out the ForzaFutbol La Liga podcast: www.forzafutbol.com or itunes

"The Argentinean version of Al Gore"

“If there’s a game I don’t want to recall, it’s this one (1930 Final) against the Uruguayans –– and it keeps coming to mind! We failed. We were winning 2-1 after half-time then during the second half we fainted and lost 4-2 in front of 93,000 at the Centenario.” ––– excerpt from May 2010 issue of FourFourTwo Magazine.

Although age slowed down Varallo’s bile which I remember the Argentinean making  on numerous occasions on television, namely that the Uruguayans were dirty and that Argentina deserved to win… “Pancho” as he was called, was the last link to that most sacred of World Cup Finals for Uruguayans. Rest in Peace, my friend ––– when you get up to heaven say hello to a couple of your friends: Enrique Ballestrero, José Nasazzi, Lorenzo Mascheroni, José Leandro Andrade, Lorenzo Fernández, Alvaro Gestido, Pablo Dorado, Héctor Scarone, Héctor Castro, Pedro Cea & Santos Iriarte.

THE VERY BEST... EVER!

Marcelo Lippi said this year that Inter does not represent Italy, he’s got a point about that, they are however Italy’s best team whether they like it or not. Inter features Sneijder, Maicon, Diego Milito, Chivu, Stankovic, Julio Cesar, Eto’o, Thiago Motta, Lucio and Pandev… in other words they don’t need Italians to mess up a good thing.

What about the rest?

Bologna ––– despite a new stringent foreign player cap, designed to insure Italian players get playing time in their own homeland, Bologna has become a hotbed for Uruguayans… Miguel Angel Britos & Henry Gimenez were already there, but now they brought Diego Perez & Gaston Ramirez.

Catania ––– sent Jorge Martinez who kept them in Serie-A for the last two years, to Juventus, they brought in Maxi Lopez who should shine for them this year… curiously Lopez has yet to earn a cap for the Argentinean National Team.

Chievo ––– Pablo Granoche is there along with former under the radar Uruguayan Mariano Bogliacino.

Fiorentina ––– They lost their main asset Stevan Jovetic to injury but still have the next Andrea Pirlo, Riccardo Montolivo along with the Peruvian Juan Vargas…

Genoa ––– Considered by many to have been the best goalkeeper in the 2010 World Cup, the Portuguese Eduardo along with Luca Toni & former Boca Juniors player Rodrigo Palacio hope to keep Genoa afloat.

Juventus ––– Malaka joins Amauri, Holland bogeyman Felipe Melo, and 3 of the 2006 Azzurri —- with Brazilian Bust Diego possibly being shipped back to the Bundesliga, Juventus may team up Malaka with the lone 2010 World Cup Azzurri standout, Fabio Quagliarella.

Lazio –– the second Uruguayan hotbed… Fernando Muslera still plays there (unless he completes a supposed move to Arsenal) — Alvaro Gonzalez plays there and Gonzalo Barreto too. But the players to really watch out for are Mark Bresciano, Tommaso Rocchi and the Brazilian Matuzalem.

Leece –– the last Uruguayan hotbed, Guillermo Giacomazzi along with El Pollo Olivera and now Javier Chevanton hope to keep Leece in Serie-A, if this tri-fecta is played together, it should be very interesting.

Milan — is still struggling to adapt to the Serie-A post Calciopoli… the latest addition is Ghana annoyance Kevin Prince Boateng, another reason to hate AC Milan.

Napoli –– Edinson Cavani and Walter Gargano are the lone Uruguayans while the Argentinean Lavezzi  showed that not all Argentineans are total scumbags, by giving his shirt number to the newly arrived Cavani.

Palermo ––– it’ll be Abel Hernandez by himself, the goals may come, but so may the losing.

The Rest of the Bunch ––– Bari, Brescia, Cagliari, Cesena, Parma, Roma, Sampdoria & Udinese feature no Uruguayans on their squads… While Bari is the “Bronx” of Italy they were actually the surprise team last year, Udinese should be good since they have Alexis Sanchez, Roma though has the best squad (although heavily Brazilian) outside of Inter.

Celeste Castaway... Gonzalo "Chori" Castro

In the 2010 WC Qualifiers and World Cup, 3 of the names that would make up the final squad hailed from the least attractive European League, La Liga Sagres (Portugal ) — For Uruguayans though it’s La Liga or nothing.

To be honest though, the fact that Uruguayans are not on two of the main teams (Real Madrid or Barcelona ) is what ultimately repels me from watching the league — but that’s just me, there are a high number of Uruguayans playing in this season’s version of La Liga that may entice some people into watching it.

My new favorite left winger, Urreta, is playing in Deportivo La Coruna. Forlan and Godin at Atletico Madrid.  Martin Lasarte’s Real Sociedad added Diego Ifran, there’s Marcelo Silva at Almeira, El Rifle Panidiani at Osasuna, never been capped Uruguayan Ivan Alonso at Espanyol, Juan Albin at Getafe, Sebastian “El Ropero con patas” Eguren at Sporting de Gijon and one of my favorite right backs of all time, Carlos Diogo at Real Zaragoza.

Then there are the teams with a built in Uruguayan interest:

At Levante we have the trifecta of Uruguayans, Stuani, Munua & Nacho.

At Malaga , we have Sebastian Fernandez who will be coached by Portuguese manager and friend to Uruguayans, Jesualdo Ferreira who was the coach at Porto last season (the coach most chiefly responsible for Uruguay ’s style of play in the World Cup, since he was the one that brought in Alvaro Pereira, Jorge Fucile & Cristian Rodriguez)

At Mallorca we have a who’s who of subplots — former Nacional/Cameroon player Webo plays there as does Gonzalo “Chori” Castro and Munua’s black-eye recipient, Dudu Aouate, as well.

But is it enough to get me to watch? I don’t know… I might check out an Atletico Madrid game here and there, but it’s still Barcelona & Real Madrid who will provide me probably with my only 2011 La Liga experience —  as for the rest of the teams, I may watch them depending on my menstrual cycle but the point is, just because a Uruguayan plays there, is just not enough for me, La Liga continues to be a two-headed monster, the rest of the teams falling by the wayside, there’s just not enough there to keep me watching, but maybe there’s enough to keep all of you watching?

"You guys feel the love?"

In the WTF category ––– Juan Ramon Carrasco is being pegged by GolTV to become the next national team manager of Panama (3) ––– Come on JR, you can do better than this, say it ain’t so JR, say it aint so!

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Yes, we know, it’s the kind of news that will make some you throw up… but it looks like LCB’s favorite enganche will be joining forces with Gustavo Munua at Levante. Club Valencia has agreed to loan Ignacio Maria Gonzalez along with Asier del Horno to Levante (1).

Since we’re on the topic of transfers… Gaston Ramirez’s transfer to Bologna FC is still pending, Over in Holland, Ajax has agreed to put Luis Suarez up for sale while former Under-20 player Enzo Scorza has found a home in Serie-D side, Seregno 1913.

]]> http://www.lacelesteblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=3350 16 http://www.lacelesteblog.com/?p=3345 http://www.lacelesteblog.com/?p=3345#comments Thu, 19 Aug 2010 01:03:05 +0000 Yorugua http://www.lacelesteblog.com/?p=3345 How this story flew under the radar in Uruguay is beyond me… in fact, I check Ovación on a daily basis  but can’t recall coming across this story ––– While checking up on a Brazilian league game, I came across this story on Globo Esporte.com –– I was shocked to find out it dealt with Uruguayan Under-17 player Gonzalo Barreto who dazzled in last year’s Under-17 South American Championship.

Gonzalo Barreto

What exactly happened? It seems that Gonzalo Barreto’s mother Yanela Mastropierro was allegedly beaten to death by her partner, Ruben Pereira, who then killed himself. See the Globo Esporte story (1). The spanish version of the story can be found here (2)

Although this story occurred on July 21st ––– We here at LCB offer our full condolences to Gonzalo Barreto and his family during this terrible tragedy.

"Soy el Diego, el Diego de los Yoruguas"

If Maradona were in charge, changes would be inevitable, this is Maradona we’re talking about… the temptation to put his own stamp on the team would be too great.

Lets start with the left wing ––– I think Maradona would actually improve this position, placing Gaston Ramirez there, Maradona would prefer creativity to the winger-back players Tabarez preferred. He would also move Cavani to a lone striker position upfront. If the Copa America were a true aim he would try to convince Diego Forlan to re-play the enganche role he played for Tabarez, since Forlan is Uruguay’s best player it would make sense that Maradona would employ Forlan the same way he employed Messi during the World Cup. Suarez would be on the right wing (not too much tinkering there).

It’s at midfield where Maradona would shock most of the football pundits with… I believe he would move Caceres more to the middle (sort of as the Uruguayan Jonas Gutierrez) while burying Cristian Rodriguez as his central defensive midfielder –– yes it sounds crazy, but Maradona would try to turn Cebolla into a holding midfielder rather than a charge the field winger. At right midfielder, Maradona would look for a Veron type playmaker… discovering that there aren’t any in Uruguay he would go with Malaka buried in the right midfield to act as his very own Veron.

Maradona y sus bichos

I think Maradona’s defense would be even weaker than it was at Argentina, he would employ a flat 2 and 1/2… Fucile would still function as a fullback who presses forward but dropping back to defend… in essence Maradona would be using a 3-3-1-3 formation but would approach a 3-5-2 formation (since Forlan & Ramirez would drop back at midfield) ––– with Forlan being buried at midfield sort of where Darren Fletcher plays at Manchester United.

But wait wouldn’t Maradona cap a player like Tony Pacheco or Nacho Gonzalez? Maybe… Maradona had no use for Riquelme or Ever Banega and discarded Ariel Ortega from Argentina’s World Cup side, so I’m not convinced he would even bother calling those guys up… I am convinced he would go with more Serie-A type players (hence Malaka, Cavani and Ramirez) ––– how successful would this lineup be? I don’t know ––– its experimental at best, with the innovation of employing the most unorthodox midfield around… still Caceres could still drop back to strengthen the back-three… Cebolla who has played like a wingerback for Uruguay would be turned into a holding midfielder (think Perez or Gargano)… in theory its not as shocking as it sounds. Only Malaka looks like the weak link, but maybe Maradona could convert him into a deep-field lying playmaker? Or maybe he might be crazy enough to play Forlan there? One thing that would happen with Maradona’s Uruguay is that a lot of nations would be lining up to play them ––– even making the long arduous journey to Montevideo to do so. The question is how long would Maradona last in Uruguay employing unorthodox Un-Uruguayan lineups? If the seemingly normal Passarella wasn’t able to last a whole year in Uruguay, how long would an erratic type like Maradona last in Uruguay? ––– That’s actually the response to this fantasy scenario, he wouldn’t.

"The Uruguayan Roy Hodgson"

Markarian is the man who qualified Paraguay to the 2002 World Cup but was shit-canned for his effort before the start of that World Cup when he became the scapegoat for a suspicious 4-0 loss to Colombia at Asunción on the last day of qualification.

"The English Markarian"

Maybe Uruguay’s fourth place finish in the 2010 World Cup is the reason why Peru is looking to Uruguay now to figure out how to qualify to a tournament that they haven’t qualified to since 1982. Also working in Peru is Gustavo Ferrin, in charge of the Under-20 Squad. But even with Markarian & Ferrin onboard, is there a World Cup squad there worthy of redemption?

Chemo Del Solar, master of disaster

Peru has stunk for a while and it seems every qualification tourney, they keep getting worse. “Chemo” Del Solar, Peru’s previous Manager oversaw a 2010 World Cup campaign fraught with disaster. Player indiscipline from Peru’s star players all but sealed Peru’s worst finish in qualification in the Everybody vs Everybody CONMEBOL setup. For the record, Peru finished dead last in the 2010 Qualification, next to last in the 2006 Qualification, eighth place in 2002 and fifth place in 1998.

What does Markarian have to work with? Peru’s main offensive firepower play in the German Bundesliga: Claudio Pizarro at Werder Bremen, Jefferson Farfan at Schalke & Paolo Guerrero at Hamburger SV, then there’s defender Alberto Rodriguez at Sporting Braga (Portugal), midfielder Juan Vargas at Fiorentina (Serie-A). Those are the big names but there’s still some interesting talent Markarian can tap into that plays abroad, there’s Roberto Guizasola at Rosario Central, Hernan Rengifo who should be familiar to us since he scored Peru’s goal in last year’s shock win over Uruguay at Omonoia in Greece. Some interesting young players like the 2007 Under-17 South American Championship MVP Reimond Manco & Christian Cueva –– there’s also Carlos Zambrano who plays in the second division Bundesliga, Jose “Zlatan” Fernandez who plays in Deportivo Quito — Jean Tragodara & Joel Sanchez, two interesting midfielders from Alianza Lima.

"The Peruvian Ibrahimovic"

Pizarro, Farfan, Santiago Acaseite & Paolo Guerrero were the main names in the indiscipline scandal but as per Markarian, the slate has been wiped clean and every top player will be considered.

2011 Peruvian starting eleven? ––– Leao Butron, Alberto Junior Rodriguez, Miguel Villalta, "Tyson Galliquio, Walter Vilchez, Roberto Guizasola, Carlos Zambrano, Reimond Manco, Jefferson Farfan, Claudio Pizarro, and Juan Vargas

Can Peru though mount a serious campaign? Peru has no serious youth system in place unless you count the FIFA created “Proyecto 2020” but the hiring of somebody like Ferrin points towards positive steps being taken in the Peruvian FA to do away years of inactivity and a youth system with no direction.

Gustavo Ferrín, looking for diamonds.

Youth Systems while important are not the only thing a National Team needs, Markarian has been left in charge of an National Team that in recent years has settled for playing the role of  “spoiler” since qualification has been an elusive target for the past 28 years (see Uruguay’s loss to Peru last year). Markarian is clearly looking beyond 2014 and warned his main objective besides the Qualifiers will be to reduce the conflictive element in Peru’s squad–– meaning you can have all the players you want playing abroad but the temperament within these players has to change.

Besides doing away with the recent practice of calling up ancient relics like Roberto Palacios, Norberto Solano & Santiago Acaseite, the real challenge for Markarian will be the same challenge all CONMEBOL NT managers will face, finding a decent defense along with a creative midfield. This is Peru’s main Achilles Heel; while they have many options at Striker (Pizarro, Rengifo, Fernandez, Farfan, Vargas and Guerrero) the midfield will be a work in progress. Markarian may try to rush Reimond Manco’s development –– in that way making Manco, Peru’s very own Alexis Sanchez. There are other players who can be considered, certainly Juan Vargas and Jesus Rabanal who plays in La “U” ––– but before you can create a midfield you have to do something about your defense, Peru doesn’t have one. The only player assured of having a slot is Leao Butron, the splendid goalkeeper who denied Luis Suarez an equalizer last year with a majestic save, the rest however will probably be Vilchez, and Guizasola who plays in Rosario Central, Villalta & maybe John “Tyson” Galliquio from La “U” — but this is only guess work. It has been said that the work will actually start earlier, with Ferrin, who’ll be expected to find a diamond in the rough on the Under-20 squad.

"The Peruvian Mike Tyson"

To me though, Peru will be interesting to watch, coached by a man who should have been the coach for Uruguay but wasn’t and isn’t. It’s an alternate universe, long ago Uruguay had trouble qualifying to the World Cup, but with that being said, it should be stated in bold that Peru’s drought knows no equal. Markarian’s arrival, while it doesn’t necessarily guarantee Peru a spot, certainly complicates the scenario for every other CONMEBOL nation who will try to qualify to the 2014 World Cup, provided Markarian can survive the long qualification process.