Juan Carlos Muñoz

Juan Carlos Muñoz, Jose Manuel Moreno, Adolfo Pedernera, Angel Labruna and Felix Loustau

Juan Carlos Muñoz, the only living member of the most legendary team in Argentine football history, the River Plate team of the 1940’s, has passed away at the age of 90.

Muñoz was one of the five famous forwards, along with Loustau and Argentine football legends Moreno, Pedernera, and Labruna that played in “The Machine”, the name given to those River Plate teams.

Muñoz was known for his speed and dribbling skills and helped River win the Argentine league championship in 1941, 1942, 1945 and 1947.

The Machine was so loaded in talent that Alfredo Di Stefano, who was on several of those teams, struggled to make it into the starting lineup.

Di Stefano has repeatedly said that The Machine was the best team he’s ever seen.

Di Stéfano named Argentina Sports Ambassador

The great Alfredo Di Stéfano was honored by the Argentine government with the title of Argentina Sports Ambassador.

The ceremony took place in Madrid. Julio Grondona spoke and presented Di Stéfano with an Argentina shirt autographed by all the current national team players.

Messi wins Best Player in Spain award

What a trio!!!!!!

Di Stéfano, Messi and Maradona.

Lionel Messi won the “Di Stéfano trophy” given to the Best Player in Spain.

Messi won the award for his fantastic performance in La Liga last season.

Also, during the ceremony, in honor of their legendary playing careers, Maradona and Di Stéfano were given large front page covers from the Madrid newspaper MARCA.

Maradona Birthday

Maradona is 49 years old today.

And what a life he’s lived. Actually, he’s lived more than one life in those 49 years.

The only Argentine player to ever win European Golden Boot

A great piece of Argentine football history was published by Clarin today.

Even though there have been countless numbers of Argentine players that have been goal scorers in Europe, only one Argentine player has actually won the European Golden Boot.

So, who is the only Argentine player to win the European Golden Boot as top goal scorer in all of Europe?

A few hints.

He played for the national team.

He grew up in a poor Buenos Aires neighborhood called Villa Fiorito.

He played for a small European club.

Who is it?

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Diego Maradona?

Nope, it is not Maradona.

The only Argentine player to ever win the European Golden Boot is:

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Hector Yazalde – Sporting Lisboa

Top Goal Scorer in Europe – 1973/74 Season

46 Goals

Yazalde’s record of 46 goals in one season remains unbroken to this day.

Aimar’s Argentina Goals

A compilation of Pablo Aimar’s goals with the Argentina shirt.

Here’s wishing him a successful return to the national team.

Argentina vs Brasil – 10 Great Moments

From the pages of Clarin

1959 Copa America – Argentina defeats Brasil 3-0 and wins the Copa America. The great Enrique Sivori celebrates with several Peruvian kids.

1964 Nation’s Cup – Argentina defeats Brasil 3-0 and wins the Nation’s Cup which was held in Brasil. Ermindo Onega celebrates his goal.

1983 Copa America – Argentina defeats Brasil 1-0. Ricardo Gareca celebrates his goal.

1990 World Cup – Argentina defeats Brasil 1-0 and eliminates Brasil from the World Cup. Claudio Caniggia with the goal.

1991 Copa America – Argentina defeats Brasil 3-2 and goes on to win the Copa America. Gabriel Batistuta scores the game winning goal.

1993 Copa America – Jorge Borelli scores the game winning penalty kick eliminating Brasil. Argentina went on to win the Copa America.

1998 Friendly – Argentina defeats Brasil 1-0 in El Maracana. Claudio Lopez scores the goal.

2002 WC Qualifier – Argentina defeats Brasil 2-1.

2006 WC Qualifier – Argentina defeats Brasil 3-1. Juan Roman Riquelme with one of the goals.

2008 Olympics – Argentina defeats Brasil 3-0. Sergio Aguero with one of the goals.

Sorin retires

Reuters

Former Argentina skipper Sorin to retire

Former Argentina captain Juan Pablo Sorin announced his retirement from soccer at the age of 33 on Tuesday.

The left back, who led Argentina to the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, had been plagued by injuries during his third spell with Brazilian side Cruzeiro, playing only six matches in the last seven months.

“I’m going to stop playing football,” Sorin told reporters. “It’s been 15 years … a very enjoyable career.”

Sorin played for Argentinos Juniors and River Plate in his home country, Juventus, Lazio, Barcelona, Paris St Germain, Villarreal and Hamburg SV in Europe.

A South American Libertadores Cup winner with River Plate in 1996, Sorin missed this year’s final, which Cruzeiro lost against Estudiantes of Argentina earlier this month.

Sorin, who belonged to the Argentine generation of Juan Sebastian Veron, Hernan Crespo and Ariel Ortega, also played at the 2002 World Cup. He made 76 international appearances, scoring 12 goals.

Zanetti reaches first place in all time caps

In last night’s WC Qualifier victory over Venezuela Javier Zanetti played in his 115th game with the Argentina shirt reaching first place alongside Roberto Ayala for most all time appearances with the national team.

Zanetti’s first game with Argentina was on November 16, 1994 in a friendly against Chile.

No doubt Zanetti will soon surpass Ayala and become the all time caps leader for Argentina.

13 years and counting with the Argentina shirt. A real testament to his endurance, perseverance and great talent. It is an awesome achievement.

GRANDE PUPI !!!!!!!!!!!

Argentina’s U-20 World Cup Wins

Argentina has now won 6 U-20 World Cups and it has won 5 out of the last 7 editions of the U-20 World Cup.

All 6 World Cup winning teams:

Japón 1979: Sergio García, Juan Meza, Daniel Sperandio, Abelardo Carabelli, Rubén Rossi, Rafael Seria, Jorge Piaggio, Juan Simón, Osvaldo Rinaldi, Alfredo Torres, Marcelo Bachino, Hugo Alves, Juan Barbas, Osvaldo Escudero, José Lanao, Ramón Díaz, Diego Maradona y Gabriel Calderón. Director técnico: César Luis Menotti.

Qatar 1995: Joaquín Irigoytía, Gastón Pezzuti, Federico Domínguez, Juan Pablo Sorin, Sebastián Pena, Mariano Juan, Guillermo Larrosa, Wálter Coyette, Ariel Ibagaza, Gustavo Lombardi, Leonardo Biagini, Francisco Guerrero, Julio César Bayon, Andrés Garrone, Cristian Díaz, Germán Arangio, Diego Crosa y Cristian Chaparro. Director técnico: José Néstor Pekerman.

Malasia 1997: Leonardo Franco, Leandro Cufré, Walter Samuel, Juan José Serrizuela, Esteban Cambiasso, Diego Markic, Diego Quintana, Juan Román Riquelme, Bernardo Romeo, Pablo Aimar, Pablo Rodríguez, Cristian Muñóz, Fabián Cubero, Diego Placente, Martín Perezlindo, Nicolás Diez, Sebastián Romero y Lionel Scaloni. Director técnico: José Néstor Pekerman.

Argentina 2001: Germán Lux, Nicolás Burdisso, Julio Arca, Mauro Cetto, Nicolás Medina, Fabricio Coloccini, Javier Saviola, Oscar Ahumada, Esteban Herrera, Leandro Romagnoli, Maximiliano Rodríguez, Gerardo Seltzer, Diego Colotto, Leonardo Ponzio, Andrés D’Alessandro, Mauro Rosales, Alejandro Domínguez, Wilfredo Caballero y Sebastián Bueno. Director técnico: José Néstor Pekerman.

Holanda 2005: Oscar Ustari, Gustavo Cabral, Lautaro Formica, Julio Barroso, Juan Manuel Torres, Gabriel Paletta, Lucas Biglia, Pablo Zabaleta, Pablo Vitti, Patricio Pérez, Emiliano Armenteros, Nereo Champagne, Ezequiel Garay, David Abraham, Rodrigo Archubi, Neri Cardozo, Fernando Gago, Lionel Messi, Sergio Agüero, Gustavo Oberman y Nicolás Navarro. Director técnico: Francisco Ferraro.

Canadá 2007: Sergio Romero, Federico Fazio, Emiliano Insúa, Gabriel Mercado, Ever Banega, Matías Cahais, Claudio Yacob, Matías Sánchez, Mauro Zárate, Sergio Agüero, Damián Escudero, Javier García, Germán Voboril, Leonardo Sigali, Alejandro Cabral, Alejandro Gómez, Maximiliano Moralez, Angel Di María, Pablo Piatti, Lautaro Acosta y Bruno Centeno. Director técnico: Hugo Tocalli.