Unfashionable Banfield achieved their first ever Argentinian championship
113 years after being founded by English immigrants.
The team from Buenos Aires province achieved their success in a
most unlikely fashion, in spite of losing to Boca Juniors away from
home. Banfield, leaders after 18 matches, received help from San
Lorenzo, who defeated second-placed Newell's Old Boys in Rosario.
In the end, Banfield finished top, two points ahead of Newell's,
with just two losses in 19 games.
Newell's, six-time champions, believed the title would be theirs
if Boca stayed unbeaten at La Bombonera, confident of a home win against San Lorenzo, who had nothing but honour to play for. In
fact, the crowd in Rosario cheered as the news of Martin Palermo's
goal for Boca came in. However, just three minutes later Newell's
themselves were 0-1 down as Bordagaray scored for the Saints.
The story repeated itself in the second half as Palermo made it
2-0 for Boca, and Bordagaray 0-2 for San Lorenzo in a space of five
minutes. While the fans in Rosario walked away from the stadium
in dismay, some 5,000 Banfield followers celebrated the lucky outcome,
joined in mind by thousands more on the streets of Banfield in the
south of Buenos Aires.
It was a triumph for the coach Julio Falcioni, the League's top-scorer
Santiago Silva, the 18-year old Colombian James Rodriguez, the creative
midfielder Walter Erviti and the goalkeeper Cristian Luchetti, who
conceded the fewest goals, just 11.
INSIGHT:
The spoilt Argentinians have no patience to endure a normal 10-month
league season, so they split the championship into two tournaments,
Apertura (Opening) and Clausura (Closing). The one just finished
was the Apertura. Each tournament winner is considered a rightful
Argentinian champion.
After two thirds of the Brazilian season it seemed as though Flamengo
were in for another mid-table finish, while Fluminense, bottom of the table, looked doomed to the drop.
A little over two months later, Flamengo celebrated their sixth
national title, while Fluminense were saved at the last moment after
a sensational eleven game unbeaten streak.
Palmeiras, leaders for most of the season, fell to fifth and failed to even reach the Copa Libertadores, the Latin American version
of the Champions League.
Flamengo had to win their last game at home against Gremio to make
sure of the title, which they duly did 2-1, making Internacional's
and Sao Paulo's wins irrelevant.
Another satisfaction for "Fla" was the triumph of their
star striker Adriano Leite,
who shared the top-scoring title with Atletico MG's Diego Tardelli
with 19 goals.
Fluminense on the other hand drew 1-1 at Coritiba, their direct
rivals to avoid relegation. It was a bizarre season for "Flu",
who reached the Copa Sudamericana finals (losing to LDU Quito 4-5
on aggregate) but spent most of the season nailed to the bottom.
INSIGHT:
Qualified for the Copa Libertadores: Flamengo, Internacional, Sao
Paulo, Cruzeiro and Corinthians
Relegated: Coritiba, Santo Andre, Nautico and Sport Recife
Aime Jacquet, the coach who took France to their first world title
in 1998, believes that the current coach Raymond Domenech has been
around for a bit too long.
"When you work as a national team coach, four years are enough,"
said Jacquet, who famously retired after winning the cup.
"Everything gets harder after that point. There are too many
things that keep you from working better. For this (Domenech's longer
tenure) I blame the French FA, as they do not understand the key
tenets of a coach's job. One can work on the same spot for no more
than four years because of the exposure that goes with the job.
Domenech was appointed in 2004 and is on the way of becoming one
of the longest-serving French coaches. And one of the least liked,
too.
Real Madrid's magnificent win over Valencia at Mestalla (2-3)
was overshadowed by their central defender Pepe's severe ligament
injury, which will keep him away from the pitch for nearly six months.
"Pepe is soon to be operated on. He is irreplaceable, but we
may still take a look at the market during the winter transfer window,"
said director Jorge Valdano, pointing out that another central defender,
Metzelder, is also out of action because of an injury sustained
last month in a King's Cup game.
Pepe ruptured his cruciate ligaments as he landed badly with his
right foot late in the first half of the Valencia match. Not only
is the current League season over for the Brazilian; the inevitable
surgery and the postoperative process may prevent him from appearing
for his adopted nation, Portugal, at next year's World Cup in South
Africa.
UEFA's president Michel Platini rejected the idea of using video
recordings during games in order to eradicate refereeing errors
like failing to see Thierry Henry's handball against Ireland.
Although one may remark that he spoke as a true Frenchman, Platini
tried to justify his position with financial factors.
"A solution would be to introduce additional referees behind
the goals. An extra ref would have seen Henry's handball. Video
recordings? Now we are talking of big games, but would we be able
to afford 20 cameras in a Andorra vs Faeroes game?"
