Sit back and enjoy LCB’s Top 5 Highlights of the Week.
#5. Gonzalo Castro scores 2 goals against Barcelona
Probably the biggest shock in world football occurred last weekend as Gonzalo Castro (who was recently called up by El Maestro Tabarez vs. Poland) scored 2 goals for Real Sociedad (9th) in their victory over 3-2 Barcelona (1st). Outside his goals, his performance was excellent and one can’t help but feel that there “el Chori” Castro might have some key part to play in Uruguay’s upcoming 2013-2014 calendar.
#4. Cavani scores his 100th goal
Napoli are in 2nd place and only 5pts from 1st thanks to “El Matador” who scored a fantastic header goal in their 1-1 draw vs. 5th place Fiorentina.
#3. South America: Rodrigo Mora lights up Argentinian football again with a fantastic performance vs. Boca Juniors.
Mora had another memorable afternoon vs. the Xeneises. This time in the first derby of the year in the summer tournament in Mar de Plata. He scored 2 fantastic goals, and was by far the man of the match, always pestering defenders with his creative flair and never say die combative attitude.
#2. Luis Suarez scores his 17th Premier League goal and Liverpool are playing full of confidence.
Another great performance for Luis Suarez, who netted his 17th Premier League goal (only 1 behind Robin Van Persie). Liverpool destroyed Norwich 5-0 on Saturday, and jumped to 7th place in the Premier League. They are only 7 pts back from Tottenham Hotspur who hold the final Champions League spot. While Liverpool’s form has been very impressive, this young team needs that big win vs. a major team in order to get to the next level. They’ll get that chance before the end of the month as they take on Arsenal (away) and Manchester City (away)
#1. U20 Football: They never do it the easy way: Uruguay 3- Peru 1
At the end of a hectic game that saw sending offs on both sides, Uruguay somehow managed to defeat Peru after being dominated for most of the game. Much like during the last U20 campaign, Verzeri’s team seems to be getting the results even when it goes against all logic. They play Colombia on Wednesday. A win there, and Uruguay would certainly be a contender to win the U20 title; something that has not happened since 1981.
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UPDATE
26 PLAYERS NAMED FOR SPAIN FRIENDLY
MUSLERA, Fernando (Galatasaray – Turquía)
SILVA, Martín (Olimpia – Paraguay)
MUÑOZ, Rodrigo (Libertad- Paraguay)
CASTILLO, Juan (Querétaro – México)
Defensas
SILVA, Alejandro (Olimpia – Paraguay)
PEREIRA, Maximiliano (Benfica – Portugal)
LUGANO, Diego (Málaga – España)
GODIN, Diego (Atlético de Madrid – España)
COATES, Sebastián (Liverpool – Inglaterra)
CÁCERES, Martín (Juventus – Italia)
Mediocampistas
GONZÁLEZ, Álvaro (Lazio – Italia)
PEREIRA, Álvaro (Internazionale – Italia)
ARÉVALO RÍOS, Egidio (Palermo – Italia)
PÉREZ, Diego (Bologna – Italia)
GARGANO, Walter (Internazionale – Italia)
EGUREN, Sebastián (Libertad – Paraguay)
RODRÍGUEZ, Cristian (Atlético de Madrid – España)
RAMÍREZ, Gastón (Southampton – Inglaterra)
LODEIRO, Nicolás (Botafogo – Brasil)
Delanteros
SUÁREZ, Luis (Liverpool – Inglaterra)
CAVANI, Edinson (Nápoli – Italia)
FERNÁNDEZ, Sebastián (Málaga – España)
FORLÁN, Diego (Internacional – Brasil)
ALFARO, Emiliano (Al-Wasl – Emiratos Árabes Unidos)
STUANI, Christian (Espanyol – España)
CASTRO, Gonzalo (Real Sociedad – España)
STILL CANT FIGURE OUT WHY EGUREN,CASTILLO,PEREZ,ALFARO ARE CALLED UP.
WHAT SHOCKS ME IS NO ABEL HERANDEZ AND Matías Aguirregaray
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Biggest question regardless of what we think of the call-ups, why does he need 4 goalkeepers? I know it’s a preliminary call-up list, but isn’t it excessive naming 4 goalkeepers? lol
BTW thank you for putting the list up.
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NO problem,
del bosque said that spain will put the best they have
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The shockers just don’t stop no Carlos Sanchez, no Goicochea, no Britos from Napoli all 3 are and have been playing extremely well, I can understand one my favorites La Joya de to being injured still apparently out till April thanks to T causing the injury but the afore mentioned 3 should be automatic selection especially considering form, comparison and in Sanchez’ case no right midfielder at all in the squad
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Where is Mora…. ???…..I agree with comments above…this is a joke……though atleast no abreu
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On the one hand, Tabarez won’t call-up from the Uruguayan league due to the quality, but since when is the Paraguayan league any better. 4 players from Olimpia and Libertad?
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I’m sorry to say but I think this selection is an absolute disaster.
Why pick 4 goalkeepers? Not just that but why pick Castillo who isn’t the first choice at his club in Mexico and is well past his prime? And why pick Munoz who is nowhere near the standard in terms of playing ability and club level ability like Sebastian Sosa at Velez and especially Goicochea at Roma? Why not pick 2 great young keepers who will be great players for the future instead of picking those 2 hacks? Seeing as it’s a friendly taking those 2 or at least 1 of them along with Muslera and Silva to a friendly wouldn’t hurt would it?
Secondly, Carlos Sanchez has been deserving a call up since his playing days with Godoy Cruz. He is playing well and doing so in a good team and that goes with Rodrigo Mora too. Mora is getting better and better with River and has been deserving a look in with la seleccion which is more than you can say for Alfaro. The Sanchez-Mora partnership at River would work great in the national team, but thats just wishful thinking.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, why is Alfaro in the team? He is barely scoring goals for his club in the UAE, so does that mean he deserves a call up ahead of other forwards like Tanque Silva, JM Olivera or Mora? And why isn’t Matias “Curly Sue” Aguirregaray not selected?
And whats the deal with the Paraguayan league players? There’s about 4 of them there! Is the Paraguayan league really that good? Is playing for a mid level team in Paraguay better than playing for Boca or River?
I don’t get Tabarez sometimes, he just might fluke his way to another victory. Seeing as the Eliminatorias are coming don’t be surprised if the Tabster uses the EXACT same players give or take one for those matches coming up.
I’m sure you guys can think of other players more deserving a go with la seleccion but the one that Tabarez picked I’m not too enthused.
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boring call-up list. damn. i agree with the comments. no mora, nacho gonzalez, carlos sanchez, goicochea, zalayeta. at least there is chori castro who scored 2 vs barcelona.
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You know Clarence Seedorf? The one who won four times the Champions League with three different clubs and plays now, at 36, at Botafogo. He didn’t play much for our NT, his last minutes there were in 2008.
There can be many reasons for that. But people who know conclude that Seedorf was just TOO GOOD for our NT. He could dominate in the field, organize the team in his way. Which manager can handle this? The Dutch ones didn’t dare.
When I see this call-up list, I get the same feeling. Of course there are stars even T can’t go by, Suarez, Cavani and some more. But on the whole it seems safer for T to select moderate ones than the best players Uruguay can offer.
This is just a friendly, so it does’t really matter and loosing to Spain is no disgrace. But I’m pretty sure the call-up list for the qualifications will be more or less the same. Would T select Uruguay’s best players, Uruguay could easily qualify. With this deliberately mediocre selection, qualification will be questionable.
For me, it’s really incomprehensible why the Uruguayan people, renowned for its footballpassion, simply puts up with all this.
Since we got rid of the Spanish King in an eighty-years war (1568-1648), we Dutch don’t accept authority unless it’s got quality. Since we had eighty years of struggling and suffering, this formed our character. I can’t imagine the Dutch would accept such an inferior call-up list as you have. (The Seedorf case was more an exception, and even that got a committee to include Seedorf.) Why should Uruguay accept it??
So why only writing complaints on a blog barely ten people in Uruguay itself are reading regularly?
Some time ago someone here had the excellent idea to start a petition. If you do that in Spanish, use every suitable medium and keep it general (just ask for younger and better players, don’t mention names, than you can’t agree on that), you have nothing to loose and can at least create some turmoil on the subject. I would say: give that a chance.
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dutchfan –––
Ahhh but dutch football also has many eccentricities, some stranger than the ones that plague Uruguay’s football, one being that strikers like Huntelaar & Van Nistlerooy are not as appreciated as the fantasist players (Sneijder for example)… which leads me to wonder where someone like Van Persie falls under? He’s a little bit of both in my opinion but I’m sure he’s seen more as a striker and therefore not as popular on the Dutch NT. You tell me? I happen to like Van Persie, regardless of the fact that he plays for Manchester United and used Arsenal as his personal tampon.
On the subject, I remember also reading “Brilliant Orange” by David Winner and he talked about the problems the Dutch NT had with regards to black players, can’t for the life of me remember which Euro or WC Campaign the book delves into, I think Patrick Kluivert (don’t hold me to it though) was the one that made claims that the NT black players were treated differently by the NT coaching staff which was then coached by Van Gaal ( I know he’s the coach again but this may have been in the 90′s) — which would explain why Seedorf was not regarded highly on the NT (by those doing the selecting) — you might know more about this than I do.
Tabarez ain’t going anywhere, regardless of whether Mujica himself spearheads the campaign!
Even on this Blog, opinion is divided, while I and a few others might think his time is over, a majority of people think he’s doing a good job.
Uruguayans for the most part are laid back, so I think that has something to do it with it. Our friend down there TBF is writing a book on Uruguay’s football and might be able to shed some light as to why things are the way they are?
BTW ––– Our aim is to get more people in Uruguay to read this Blog, but in order for that to happen we need to get some Spanish articles… give us time, I’m sure we can turn 10 people into 11 people by the end of the year
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Yes, I would like a more bilingual blog: English & Spanish. Then there could be more interaction between Uruguayans living at home and abroad and connected non-Uruguayans. Both languages have much in common. Some people can easily switch, others can practise one or the other.
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Dutchfan…. my bad, according to this blog article:
http://eurasian-sensation.blogspot.com/2009/10/surinamese-footballing-diaspora.html
It may have been Edgar Davids who made the claim and it was Guus Hiddink who was the man in charge (?) at the time.
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“So why only writing complaints on a blog barely ten people in Uruguay itself are reading regularly?”
Dutchfun!
Its not correct! You can go on Montevideo portal,and find numerous sceptic and sarcastic comments on Maestro’s choices,not just:”Vamos La Celeste”.Uruguayans are not a herd of sheep.
Well,I am getting more and more sure that Maestro is not comfortable with talented and skillfull players,but prefers obediant,non-improvising mediocrities.
Eguren will be called,even when in a wheelchair,and Guillermo Rodriguez,who is in starting team of Torino since 11 matches so far,is simply ignored.Britos,Sanchez,Mora as well.
Maybe Maestro as a socialist feels remorse to fire a worker.
But it is a football,and Eguren has its job and good salary in his club.
Also what about Maestro’s proclamation that he would use young players ?Was it only for a short use,to silence critics who wanted Sanchez,Silva and Oliveira?
Lopez,Rolan,Laxalt are in a top form,and isnt it good to use their condition after Sudamericano to give them a taste of A team?The sooner they are called the sooner they would adopt to play in a senior company.
Why to insist on La Joya,who is even not on the bench in its own club?Which is threatened by relegation.Why not to start with Rabbit immediately?
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Sorry to interject here but remember the reason la Joya is not on the team roster/bench is due to injury not form, I agree with blooding young players but not at the expense of other young players.
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M55, I’m very happy to read I’m wrong on the point of the supposed passivity of Uruguayans. I could have known, they are way too intelligent to be “a herd of sheep”. Where is this Montevideo portal, I’m fond of scepticism and sarcasm, to a certain degree.
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Lets see if England now turns on Hazard after his cowardly act of kicking the ball boy reaches the hysteria that surrounds Suarez
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Dutch Fan —
Yes I agree completely, although I’m pretty much alone in that opinion. Our Spanish articles have been submitted on a voluntary basis. I’ve had this discussion before with the other two owners of this website, and many arguments were laid out that because the majority of the readers speak English, essentially the argument boils down to “what’s the point?” — I don’t know? I like a little diversity and seeing other points of views and I can read Spanish as I’m sure 99% of our readers can too but I’ll also admit we’ve had a hard time procuring a Spanish writer, and one willing to do it for free. Uruguayans aren’t any different in this regard than most people, they believe they should get paid for their work… damnit to hell! lol — hopefully a Spanish writer will one day be willing to contribute on a regular basis.
I believe a Spanish writer would eventually bring in more Uruguayans from Montevideo to the site, if not overnight then eventually…
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dutchfun!
Here it is;
http://www.futbol.com.uy/catdeporte_976_1_1.html
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Aguirregaray not being called up really surprises me. He was brilliant vs. Poland. Like an actual stand out performance for a right back. Abel Hernandez, from what I understand, is either still injured.
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