bluedan

Yeh i'm not a fan, it's one of them bowl type stadiums and affects the atmosphere a fair bit as the fans are so far away from the action.

River 1 up after 6 mins. Just before they scored Belgrano had a goal chopped off for an apparent handball. Game on now.

River game is just starting. http://www.argentinesoccer.com/live.cfm Links to the game for anyone interested.

Great news. Really excited by Ness, hopefully he can stay clear of his injuries and nail a spot in the side.

Agree with your points there Danny. On the point of Cuellar i don't think there was any point what so ever in coming out and saying we won't go to 3mill. It's a dangerous game to play. He's working on the assumption that because the player has publicly stated he wants to return, that it's a quick problem solver of Villa to get an unwanted player off the book (if he is indeed unwanted). Also i'm pretty sure we could pay the 3mill but it's just a bit of jostling, the fee won't make it to that. However Mccoist saying that for me implies that we are skint and doesn't look good. The Whittaker situation for me is more worrying. Already it seems Whittaker and his scumbag agent have our manager by the balls and calling the shots. So Ally has already lost control of the situation. As soon as Whittaker knocked back the last offer we should have fucked him off. He's been made a more than fair offer/s and can't be seen to hold us to randsome. My other slight concern is Mccoist jumping the gun on players joining. We've alread had egg on our faces with that Tomer and now the same seems to be happening with Danns. Just need to be a little more elusive when asked stuff like that by the gutter rags. Rest of what he's done i'm happy with although i'm super suprised that he went to Argentina, saw X amount of games and isn't pursuing anyone. Seems very strange to me that.

Disgusting, mud sticks with this sort of thing. He'll soon fade away and no more than he deserves.

Yep i think River are down, can see it in their players eyes they don't have the stomach for the fight.

Fair point, in footballing terms i don't really think the competition itself is held in that high a regard.But has there ever been a GB team competing in a competition? Don't think so, but i think it would generate a bit of interest if done properly.

I don't see an issue with there being a team GB in the Olympics. The Olympics is a totally different government body and has nothing to do with FIFA/UEFA, SPL or EPL. However there should be some fair ground rules. To me the only problems i would have is there not being an equal amount of players from each nation in the squad, i.e 12 English 5 Scots 3 Welsh etc. There must be an equal amount in the squad. Even put Beckham in there as captain or something, i think all the players could respect a guy like that. Also read about Stuart Pierce being named as a candidate for coach. No chance, the guy is English through and through and knowing the majority of them think the SPL and players from it are worthless in comparison to the mighty English it couldn't work for a GB team. So why not appoint someone like say, Terry Butcher, who's English but is more or less an adopted Scotsman. Surely that could work?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNX2tjhboiY&feature=player_embedded Goals and a small part of some of the River fans confronting the players.

2 zip final score. Will get a vid up of it 2moro. Perfectly set up now for the return leg on Sunday.

After a 20 minute delay the game has restarted but if Belgrano score again River fans will lose it.

Amazing, Belgrano are now 2-0 up, a few mins after the goal some River fans have invaded the pitch getting in the face of their own players and the match could now be suspended. River fans trying to kick down the fencing.

As i predicted, Gimnasia beat Huracan 2-0. Huracan had 2 men send off early doors, here's the highlights. So they are down and Gimnasia are into the 2 legged play off. River are playing right now, they've just gone 1-0 down.

Big time, i really think things could kick off. To be fair to River fans they've gotten right behind the team. I saw the news this morning and they brought a huge following to Cordoba for the game tomorrow. Cordoba is 13 hours by bus. But River's given name by other teams is looking apparent. They get called 'Las Gallinas' (the Chickens) because they've been known to crack under pressure. They're form is poor (drawn 4 and lost 3 from their last 7) and Belgrano are on a roll. Plus Cordoba is the 2nd biggest city in Argentina so there's a Glasgow/Edinburgh type rivalry there to add more spice.

Actually the joint top scorer in the league is from Huracan,guy called Javier Campora. But he's the wrong side of 30 and has had more clubs or burds (your choice) than Tiger Woods.

Can't believe the season is almost upon us already. Don't get much time to recover do we and by that i mean the fans

Really interesting week for football in Argentina. Last weekend saw the final round of games. Velez had already won the title the week before after Lanus lost at home to Argentinos Juniors, so the final week was all about the relegation dogfight. River plate have been piss poor for the last 3 years. In Argentina the top divisions relegation is worked out on a points average over 3 years (of 6 championships) designed to help the big clubs avoid the drop. However River's slump over this period meant that they went into the last game needing to avoid defeat at home to Lanus who had nothing to play for. River lost 2-1, the winning goal coming in the 93rd minute and now have to play a play off with Belgrano from Cordoba first game on Wednesday and the return leg in Buenos Aires on sunday. This is MASSIVE, it's like Rangers or Celtic getting relegated and personally from what i've seen could very well happen because River seem to scared to actually attack. I'm sure something will kick off if they do go down and might head to El Monumental on Sunday to possibly see a bit of Argentine footballing history. River have never been relegated from the primera division. Olimpo Bahia blanca avoided the drop at the expense of Quilmes who they played on the final day. Quilmes HAD to win and hope River lost but Olimpo won 1-0. It didn't stop there. Huracan who are rank rotten lost 5-1 to Indipendiente and were being automatically relegated but in the other game Gimnasia had to beat Boca. They were 2-0 but Boca pulled a goal back and then in the 93rd min Martin Palermo with his last touch as a professional nodded down to set up the equaliser. Very ironic as Palermo used to play for Gimnasia's rivals Estudiantes. So Gimnasia and Huracan go into a sudden death match, the loser goes down and then the other team goes into a 2 legged play off with the team that finished 3rd in National B. Bit mental but really exciting. Will keep you posted but my tip is Huracan WILL go down, they've shipped so many goals in the last 5 games, that'll mean Gimnasia will go into the play off which i think they will win against San juan. River is a difficult one, there's many rumours that the the main footballing men in Argentina WON'T let River be relegated. So that remains to be seen.

Was playing football the other night and met a guy, Juan who was very interested to hear I was Scottish. He loved Scotland and remembers the 78 WC well. He complemented Scotland very much saying how they played really nice attacking football and told me all Argentines are fond of Scotland because of this and 'We remember' which made me feel proud. I wasn't even born at this time so any of the older lads ables to have some input on what the Scotland team was like back then?

Great post and I fully agree.

Smith could be a good move for us. 'm not sure exactly what the role will be but when he worked for the SFA i think he hinted that he had some exciting fresh ideas. Of course the dinosors at the SFA wouldn't have it. Time will tell.

Weir is an extremely experienced player and there for perhaps doesn't have to be seen to shout etc. Anyway, players are either leaders or they aren't. I don't think Davis is but i could be wrong?? Yes, a captain should be vocal and be seen to do so because some players need that extra push on the pitch. The captain is the boss of the team on the field and there always has to be a boss. What i'm saying about Davis is that he's struggled for any real large amount of consistsancy over a period of time. So the added responsibility of being captain would only distract him more from something he's yet to achieve.

For me i'm not sure if Davis is a good choice. Not vocal enough and still needs to concentrate on his own consistancy rather than anything else. Jig's leadership quality's is about all he really brings. I think Mcgregor has the right attributes but i'm also not so keen on a Keeper being a captain. So doesn't really leave us with a great deal. Ally needs to address this it seems.

Lets assume Weir moves on, who takes over. Jig would seem to be the front runner but we should be aiming to have him as more of a squad player rather than a starter so who else?? I can only really think Mcgregor. I hope Ally is thinking the same, be nice to see us have another few experienced leaders in the side.