martes, diciembre 28, 2010

Digital Shift


There's only one thing Will Power can do for an encore in 2011. What else is up across racing? Here's your comprehensive look at all things motorsports.



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lunes, diciembre 27, 2010

"Volver a Nacional es un regalo de navidad": 'Sachi' Escobar

Tomado de: http://www.futbolred.com/liga-postobon/noticias/finalvuelta10ii/volver-a-nacional-es-un-regalo-de-navidad-sachi-escobar/8673900
Autor: Juan Diego Ortiz Jiménez

Santiago Escobar se mostró muy contento por su regreso a Atlético Nacional.

El timonel verde no ocultó su alegría por regresar al club con el que fue campeón en 2005.

Luego de la sorpresiva contratación de Santiago Escobar como técnico de Atlético Nacional por parte de la directiva del club, el timonel habló acerca de su regreso a la institución donde ya brilló y donde su hermano, el fallecido Andrés, es uno de los grandes ídolos históricos de la afición.

'Sachi' se mostró bastante contento por regresar al banquillo técnico verdolaga y aseguró que en los próximos días iniciará su labor al frente del equipo profesional, primero definiendo, al lado de la junta directiva, la plantilla del primer equipo que enfrentará el 2011 y luego iniciará el diseño de la pretemporada que el equipo arrancará en los primer días del próximo año.

Este fue el dialogo que mantuvo Futbolred.com poco después de la confirmación de Escobar como técnico de Atlético Nacional:

Futbolred: ¿Cómo recibió la noticia de su nombramiento como nuevo técnico de Atlético Nacional?
Santiago Escobar: "La verdad es que estoy muy contento. Para mí era un anhelo volver a Nacional, así que esto para mí es un regalo de navidad".

Futbolred: ¿Cómo se dio su llegada a Atlético Nacional?
S.E.: "Hace algunos meses yo supe del interés del club y luego recibí la llamada de un miembro del Comité Ejecutivo y le dije que estaba dispuesto a volver a Atlético Nacional, que es una gran institución. En la mañana del 24 de diciembre tuve una conferencia con todos los miembros del Comité y ellos me ratificaron el interés, me dijeron que querían contar conmigo y yo me puse muy contento y rápidamente llegamos a un acuerdo".

Futbolred: ¿Qué planes tiene para el futuro cercano con el equipo?
S.E.: "La otra semana tendré una reunión con el presidente y empezaremos a discutir el tema de la pretemporada y de la plantilla. Hasta el momento la directiva ha tomado unas decisiones. Yo ahora quiero hacer algunas sugerencias para ir depurando la nómina y contratando algunos refuerzos. Luego empezaré a diseñar la pretemporada del equipo que seguramente desarrollaremos en la sede que tiene el club en Guarne".

Futbolred: Usted había expresado su deseo de sacar provecho de las divisiones inferiores porque los jugadores extranjeros y de renombre son muy caros, sin embargo se necesitan algunos, ¿en qué posiciones cree que necesita contratar jugadores de gran cartel?
S.E.: "Eso es un tema que debo discutir con la directiva. Debemos conocer la plantilla y ahí sabremos en qué posiciones deberán llegar los refuerzos a Nacional. Sin embargo yo daré mi opinión y luego se hará el conducto regular de contratación a través del presidente. Sin embargo intentaremos ser muy herméticos con este tema y solo anunciar a los jugadores cuando se firmen los contratos, para no entrar en este juego que normalmente se da. Sin embargo va a ser prioridad darles la oportunidad a los jugadores jóvenes acompañados de algunos hombres de experiencia. Nacional tiene muy buenos jugadores en las inferiores, hay una muy buena base que debe ser complementada con hombres de experiencia y peso".

Juan Diego Ortiz Jiménez
Corresponsal Futbolred.com
Medellín

COPYRIGHT © 2010 CEET

me alegra la contratación del Sachi, y lo digo porque tengo la imagen grabada en la mente cuando el verde le gano a Santa Fe en Medellin y el Sachi celebró esos dos goles con tanta emoción y tanto sentimiento, y todos los hinchas estuvimos felices porque el técnico campeón fuera el hermano del Caballero Andrés Escobar... fue un momento muy emotivo... se vió que el Sachi siente la camiseta... y no nos olvidemos que fue Chicho en coordinación con Aristi, Mendoza y Ringo los que sacaron a Sachi... nunca estuve de acuerdo con la salida de Sachi... ahora me preocupa, como va a manejar el Sachi a Mendoza? como trabaja uno con alguien que sabe que le hizo el cajón?
por aca en mis recortes de prensa tengo lo que escribió el Sachi como balance del año 2005, a ver, a ver, si, por aquí está....


jueves, diciembre 23, 2010

All Hail Barcelona

Autor: Brian Phillips
The beauty and majesty of the world's greatest soccer team.

There's a special feeling of euphoria, a kind of Olympian giddiness, that soccer fans experience while watching F.C. Barcelona. Soccer takes great athletes and makes them artificially clumsy—forces them to show what they can do, in effect, with both arms tied behind their backs. It's a game of tricks, one that turns the simplest action, just keeping possession of the ball, into a perilous high-wire act. But Barcelona pass the ball, and pass the ball, and pass the ball—938 times in their recent 5-0 win over Real Sociedad—and invert defenses as casually as if they were rotating a kaleidoscope. It's not just that they make it look easy. It's that three years into their reign as the world's best soccer team, they still haven't realized they're playing 50 feet above the ground.

Barcelona doesn't just play the loveliest soccer of any team in the world. They also win, and win, and win. Under Pep Guardiola, the beloved former team captain who took over as manager in 2008, Barcelona has won: 108 games (and lost 13), one Champions League title, two Spanish league titles, one FIFA Club World Cup, one UEFA Super Cup, one Copa del Rey, and two Supercopa de España trophies. (Again, that's since 2008.) Barcelona has the best player in the world, Lionel Messi, a tiny Argentine dynamo who moved to Spain as a child after the club volunteered to pay the medical bills to treat his growth-hormone disorder, and whose talent has since expanded along such a mytho-surrealist axis that I once heard a commentator react to one of his moments of brilliance by roaring, "He's like a little, short-legged bull, covered with eyes!" An unusually large number of Barcelona stars have been with the club since childhood: La Masia, the club's training academy, is so good that all three current finalists for the Ballon d'Or, the prestigious European Footballer of the Year award, are graduates. (And all three, of course, play for Barcelona.) Six of the 11 players who started in the World Cup final for Spain were Barcelona players, including Andrés Iniesta, who scored the tournament-winning goal. Barcelona has won its last five league matches by a combined score of 26-1.

There is an aura of innocent success, Galahad-like and dazzling, around everything Barcelona does. It's enough to drive anyone crazy, and if you're Inter, Barcelona's only serious rival for the title of Club of the Moment (five straight Italian championships, a win over Barcelona in the Champions League last year, vastly less media attention), it could push you toward bitterness and drink. But while the club's narrative machine has succeeded in injecting its program—healing the sick, hoisting the Grail, etc.—into just about every conduit of hype in global sports media, the team attracts shockingly little cognoscenti snark. That may be because, in contrast with their geographic and political and social and cosmic rivals at Real Madrid, Barcelona's stars are curiously blank. Cristiano Ronaldo, Madrid's fashion action-figure, is a photo shoot waiting to happen, his collar eternally popped. Does anyone, by contrast, know what Leo Messi thinks? Earlier this year, an English tabloid ran a fake story that claimed Messi had formed an Oasis cover band and was touring in secret, and a lot of people believed it, because, well, why not? Barcelona has, if anything, encouraged this semi-anonymity by building its long-term plans around training-academy stalwarts and selling the global superstars—Ronaldinho, Henry, Eto'o, Ibrahimivoc—with more memorable egos.
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To understand how beloved Barcelona is among soccer aficionados, it's necessary to know something about the tension between idealism and pragmatism that runs through the modern history of the game. There is a deep-seated suspicion among soccer folk that the style of play that people like to watch—fluent, attacking; "positive," as commentators say—is actually not very well-suited to winning matches in the modern era. To win, the thinking goes, you have to be defensively organized, cautious, cagey. You must tackle hard and pick moments to attack out of the natural chaos of the game rather than trying to shape or control it. This line of reasoning runs roughly in parallel with American sports clichés about sound fundamentals and defense winning championships. The history of international soccer, too, is littered with stricken bohemians (Holland '74, Brazil '82, Arsenal 2005-10 inclusive) who played stylishly, seduced the world, and failed. Great teams of recent vintage—particularly Jose Mourinho's Chelsea and Inter sides—have built from the back and won, first and foremost, by not giving anything up.

The crash-and-boot style is effective, but it's not a lot of fun. Or, to put it another way, it takes the game a long way from its (high) potential for grace, or poetry, or wonder. Barcelona, gracefully and wonderfully, has circumvented this entire bloc of conventional wisdom. They win, and they win by playing as fluent, attacking, and positive a game as you will ever see in soccer. Guardiola's tiki-taka tactics call for huge amounts of ball possession—it's not uncommon for their possession-percentage stat in a match to reach the upper 70s—lacework passing, and relentless build-up culminating in quick, precise attacks. Barcelona's slow, sliding, endlessly reconfiguring patterns overturn another sports cliché as well. We're used to thinking of individual brilliance as flamboyant and exciting and of team play as disciplined and methodical, but Barcelona's personally affectless stars (who are, obviously, not lacking in individual brilliance) move the ball so clairvoyantly around the pitch that the team itself becomes an instrument of flair.

You could see the Barcelona style in full force last month against Madrid, in a match that Barcelona, of course, won 5-0. It was a mesmerizing display of off-handedly beautiful ruthlessness, produced against one of the most expensive and star-laden teams in the world. Soccer games tend to look half-accidental; here, the ball seemed to slide along the tines of a spiderweb in perfect submission to Barcelona's will. The hallmark of Barcelona's game is intricate midfield play, and the 4-3-3 wheeled around Xavi, the team's subtle, ingenious playmaker, while the advanced players spread calamity throughout Madrid's back line. Whenever an opening appeared, half the team poured through it. Usually, somebody scored.

There's a weird sort of terrestrial magic that descends on matches in which one team has perfect control of the ball. You're not just watching a trick; you're watching an unbelievable trick, a trick that makes you doubt your own eyes. In the 10th minute against Madrid, Iniesta took the ball and dribbled forward, fast, down the left center of the pitch. Four Madrid defenders converged toward him, and he sort of bounced back and cut inside, about 20 yards out from the goal, nudging the ball toward the middle of the pitch while the cluster of defenders lurched slightly, trying to follow the change of momentum and deciding whether to stay with Iniesta or follow David Villa, Barcelona's striker, who was starting to drift ahead of them. Their moment of indecision opened up a gap just as Xavi went surging into the area, and Iniesta slid a through ball between the four defenders in front of him and just out of reach of the two defenders between that group and Xavi. But the ball, maybe by accident, clipped Xavi in the back of the heel, and he somehow, again maybe by accident, used the back of his foot to flip the ball into the air and over his head, and then, while simultaneously running forward, maybe two feet from the goalkeeper now, caught the overhead-looping ball as it fell, with the front of the same foot he'd just back-heeled it with, the ball still not having touched the ground, and flipped it up into the air again, this time over the goalkeeper and neatly into the net. It was a giddy thing to see, and after the match, Madrid coach Jose Mourinho confessed that Barcelona's swarming attack made Madrid feel "impotent."

Of course, there's some financial clockwork grinding behind the magic. Easily the strangest thing about Barcelona is the way its marketing-behemoth subdivision cannibalizes the team's achievements while simultaneously enabling them. Barcelona is més que un club, more than a club, as its motto goes, because it holds itself to a high standard, both aesthetically and in its self-conceived role within Catalan culture. (During the early Franco years, when Catalonia's regional identity was suppressed, its stadium was one of the few places where Catalan could be spoken in public.) But Barcelona is able to meet this high standard largely because its més que un club identity is a lucrative brand—the club earned almost $600 million last season on the back of schoolboy-hero narratives and carefully packaged virtues—that in turn allows it to keep pace with its more clay-footed rivals. The club frequently comes under minor fire for perceived hypocrisies that would barely register at, say, Manchester United—selling a shirt sponsorship, as it did for the first time this year, or shilling for Qatar's World Cup bid. The paradox being, of course, that if you're going to use Messi to dazzle the world as part of a program of sports-transcending cultural enrichment, you have to be able to afford Messi, which means occasionally steering your white stallion down the avenues of plain old enrichment.

Well, the world is the world, and the give-and-take between commercialism and joy, between sentimentalism and rapture, between authentic awe and Bridgestone Awesome Moments™, is a defining feature of modern sports. At the very least, Barcelona manages the juggling act with as much aplomb as anyone. It's one more trick they pull off while they're hanging in the air below the big top, keeping their balance, putting on their unforgettable show.

© Copyright 2010 Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC


martes, diciembre 07, 2010

Santín, Maggiolo, Mondaini y Córdoba, primeros licenciados en Nacional

Tomado de: http://www.futbolred.com/liga-postobon/noticias/cuadrangulares410ii/santin-maggiolo-mondaini-y-cordoba-primeros-licenciados-en-nacional-/8541720
Autor: Juan Diego Ortiz Jiménez

 

Además saldrá Carlos Pérez, aunque la lista que abandona el verde será más larga según el directivo Francisco Piña. "Siento frustración por no haber conseguido el título", dijo Santa.

Y la podadora siguió en Atlético Nacional. En la noche del lunes se conoció que José Fernando Santa no continuaría siendo el técnico del cuadro paisa luego del desastre en el cuadrangular semifinal. Las determinaciones siguieron con cinco jugadores que terminabán contrato el próximo 31 de diciembre. 

El zaguero colombo uruguayo Sergio Damián Santín, los delanteros argentinos Marcos Mondaini y Ezequiel Maggiolo, el arquero Carlos El Enfermero Pérez y el volante David Córdoba, son los primeros elementos en salir del cuadro paisa.

"Me duele porque estaba contento acá y muy cómodo en la ciudad, pero no me gustó la manera como tomaron la decisión porque hacen parecer que solo nosotros somos los culpables", indicó Ezequiel Maggiolo que aceptó un interés de Atlético Junior por ficharlo para afrontar la Copa Libertadores 2011.

Otro que manifestó su dolor por la culminación de la campaña fue el técnico Santa que será notificado de su destitución luego de la reunión del Comité Ejecutivo en la tarde de este martes.

"Lamento no haberle colaborado más a la institución y vergüenza por no conseguir los resultados. Siento culpa cuando pierdo algún objetivo pero esto es parte del fútbol y lamentablemente no pudimos salir campeones", afirmó el timonel pereirano.

"Se trató de armar un equipo competitivo pero no pudimos llevar a cabo los objetivos que nos trazamos por un montón de situaciones que ocurrieron durante el torneo. Cuando los resultados no se dan, hay que revisar los errores que todos cometimos", añadió el estratega que tuvo un rendimiento del 51,5 por ciento en el Finalización.

Santa, vestido de civil, dirigió la práctica de este martes en el municipio de Sabaneta e hizo un boceto de la posible alineación que afrontará el penúltimo partido de la semifinal frente a Cúcuta este miércoles a las 5:30 p.m.. Aún no sabe si dirigirá los últimos dos juegos que faltan de los cuadrangulares.

La nómina sería con Gastón Pezzuti, Víctor Giraldo, Jossimar Mosquera, Humberto Mendoza, Marlon Piedrahita, Cristian Correa, Jair Iglesias, Daniel Santa, Dorlan Pabón, Edwin Cardona y Víctor Ibarbo. En todo caso, el interés en el 'verde' está en las oficinas y no en la cancha.

Juan Diego Ortiz Jiménez
Corresponsal Futbolred.com
Medellín


COPYRIGHT © 2010 CEET


viernes, diciembre 03, 2010

América de Cali, pasión de un pueblo

Tomado de: http://es.fifa.com/classicfootball/clubs/club=1884002/index.html

Ciudad: Cali
Fundación: 13 de febrero de 1927
Sitio web oficial: www.america.com.co

La Pasión de un Pueblo... Ese es el apodo que sintetiza al América de Cali, el cuarto club más antiguo la primera división colombiana y el segundo más laureado. Por sus filas han pasado futbolistas exquisitos pero, para salir campeones por primera vez, debió ser exorcizado... FIFA.com presenta una historia tan particular como rica.

Nacimiento del club
Si bien la fecha oficial de la fundación de la Corporación América de Cali, como se lo conoce hoy en día, es el 13 de febrero de 1927, distintos historiadores del fútbol colombiano reconocen dos antecedentes relacionados con el nacimiento del club.

El primero data de 1918. El 21 de diciembre de ese año, ve la luz por primera vez, en un humilde barrio de la ciudad de Cali, el América Football Club. Su existencia fue efímera, lo que remite al segundo antecedente, que se remonta a 1923: un grupo de ex jugadores del América fundan Racing Club, llamado así por adoptar la camiseta blanca y celeste a rayas verticales de su homónimo argentino.

Entre estos últimos estaba Álvaro Cruz, quien junto a Hernán Zamorano Isaacs, serán los principales impulsores de readoptar el nombre de América cuatro años más tarde. De hecho, fue Isaacs, quien aquel 13 de febrero de 1927, se transformó en el primer presidente del América de Cali.

Mitos y realidades de una pasión
¿Cómo pasó el celeste y blanco al rojo que hoy lo identifica? Durante una gira por el interior del país en 1931, el plantel del América fue invitado en Barranquilla a ver un partido de basquetbol entre Unión Colombia y los Diablos Rojos. Impresionados por color de la camiseta de éstos últimos, los jugadores decidieron allí mismo adoptarlo como propio.

El diablo, incluso, se colaría en el escudo del club a principios de la década del '40. Sin embargo, fue durante el período de Gabriel Ochoa Uribe como técnico del club que, por cuestiones místicas, empezó a perder protagonismo, hasta desaparecer totalmente del emblema de la institución en 1992. Recién en 1997 el diablo volvió a formar parte de los símbolos y la ropa deportiva del club.

Pero la metafísica siempre ha estado ligada a la historia escarlata. La leyenda cuenta en 1948, aprobada la profesionalización del equipo, el asociado Benjamín Urrea, indignado, lanzo una maldición: "Que lo vuelvan profesional, que hagan del América lo que quieran, pero juro por mi Dios que nunca serán campeones...". Las risas socarronas de ese día no imaginaban la sequía que se avecinaba. Entonces, en 1978 un grupo de socios y el mismo Urrea decidieron exorcizar al club, buscando poner fin a la Maldición del Garabato. Y, creer o reventar, un año más tarde América ganó su primer título....

Este lauro abrió paso al período más glorioso del club. Dirigidos por Ochoa Uribe, con jugadores de la talla de Willington Ortíz, Anthony de Ávila, los paraguayos Juan Manuel Battaglia y Roberto Cabañas, y los argentinos Julio Falcioni y Ricardo Gareca, los Diablos Rojos monopolizaron el fútbol colombiano en los 80', logrando un inédito pentacampeonato entre 1982 y 1986, el último a costa de su clásico rival, el Deportivo Cali.

A este gran equipo sólo le faltó ganar la Copa Libertadores. Oportunidades no le faltó: alcanzó tres finales consecutivas, pero las perdió todas. En 1985, cayó por penales con Argentinos Juniors. En 1986, su verdugo fue el también argentino River Plate. Pero nunca estuvo tan cerca como en 1987, cuando un gol de Diego Aguirre a diez segundos del final del tercer partido le dio el trofeo al uruguayo Peñarol.

La década del 90' también fue exitosa. Gracias a talentos como Freddy Rincón, Jairo Castillo, Albeiro Usuriaga, Oscar Córdoba, Jorge Bermúdez y Jerson González, el club alcanzó otros tres títulos y a su cuarta final de la Libertadores, aunque River Plate volvió a frustrar el sueño americano. Ese 1996, sin embargo, ocupó el segundo lugar en el ranking mundial de clubes, algo que ningún otro equipo colombiano ha podido igualar. En 1999 logró su primer lauro internacional, la Copa Merconorte.

El tricampeonato obtenido a comienzos de la década de 2000 lo hace, hasta ahora, el club más ganador del Siglo XXI en Colombia. Sin embargo, no ha podido festejar desde aquella vuelta olímpica en 2003 y, con 12 títulos, sigue segundo en el rubro, a uno de Millonarios.

El presente
América acaba de clasificarse para los cuadrangulares finales del Torneo Clausura, y espera acabar con seis años sin festejos. Los Diablos Rojos son candidatos a la corona, a punto tal que perdieron la final del Apertura 2008 con el Boyacá Chicó. Su otro gran objetivo es volver a la Libertadores, certamen que no juega desde 2005 y desvive tanto a dirigentes como simpatizantes.

El estadio
El estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero se inauguró 20 de julio de 1937, y lleva hoy el nombre del poeta que donó las tierras para su construcción, más allá de que su denominación inicial fuera Estadio Departamental. Tiene una capacidad de más de 45,000 espectadores y allí hacen de local tanto el América como el Deportivo Cali.

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Millonarios, El primer Embajador del fútbol colombiano

Tomado de: http://es.fifa.com/classicfootball/clubs/club=44210/index.html

Ciudad:
Bogotá
Fundación: 18 de junio de 1946
Sitio Web Oficial: http://www.millonarios.com.co/

Reconocido unánimemente como el primer embajador del fútbol de su país, el Club Deportivo Los Millonarios necesitó apenas 64 años de vida para transformarse en una de las instituciones más ganadores y tradicionales de Colombia. FIFA.com resume su historia.

Nacimiento del club
El antecedente directo de Millonarios se llamó Club Deportivo Municipal, un equipo fundado en 1937 por un grupo de estudiantes del Colegio San Bartolomé La Merced de Bogotá. Los éxitos llegaron rápidamente y, un año después, representó a selección colombiana en los Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe realizados en Ciudad de Panamá, donde se colgó la medalla de bronce.

Como los resultados siguieron acompañando hasta entrada la década del 40’, un grupo de personas encabezados por el Sr. Alfonso Senior pensaron en formalizar la creación del club. Con algo de ironía e inspirados en lo que ya por ese entonces era una tendencia, la incorporación de futbolistas extranjeros, se optó con llamar a la nueva institución Club Deportivo Los Millonarios, con fecha oficial de fundación el 18 de junio de 1946.

Mitos y realidades de una pasión
Acostumbrados ganar, los Albiazules encararon confiados la primera temporada profesional del fútbol colombiano en 1948, pero el campeón fue Santa Fe de Bogotá, que ya a esta altura era su clásico rival. Senior, ahora presidente, redobló la apuesta y, aprovechando una huelga de futbolistas en Argentina, contrató a Adolfo Pedernera, integrante de la famosa Máquina de River Plate.

“Me tildaron de loco, que cómo íbamos a pagar 5,000 dólares de prima y 500 de sueldo, que si quería seguir adelante lo hiciera bajo mi responsabilidad... El día que lo presenté, de saco y corbata, recaudamos 35,000 pesos, siete veces más que lo normal. Eran casi 18,000 dólares, así que resultó un negocio redondo”, recordaba Senior hace unos años.

Pedernera colaboró para llevar también a Alfredo Di Stéfano y Néstor Rossi, entre otros varios internacionales de renombre como el escocés Robert Flawell y el inglés Billy Higgins. El equipo, bajo la dirección técnica de Carlos Aldabe, practicó un fútbol excelso, ganando el título en 1949 así como también en 1951, 1952 y 1953, aunque éstos con Pedernera en la doble función de jugador y entrenador.

Ese Millonarios, apodado Ballet Azul, marcó el inicio del Dorado, como se lo conoció al momento más brillante del fútbol colombiano por nivel del juego y asistencia a los estadios. Su fama se extendió rápidamente, recibiendo invitaciones de todo el mundo. Pero fue su participación en la Campeonato de las Bodas de Oro del Real Madrid, en 1952, el que convirtió a aquel equipo en leyenda: tras vencer al campeón sueco IFK Norrköping 2-1, obtuvo el título al derrotar 4-2 los poderosos anfitriones con dos goles de Di Stéfano.

"Ese equipo era una máquina jugando a la pelota. Nadie le ponía la tapa a los europeos en ese entonces", recordaba tiempo atrás Di Stéfano, posteriormente comprado por el Real. En los próximos años, enfrentaría cincos veces más a los Merengues, con otras dos victorias y tres empates. De allí el sobrenombre de El Embajador... "Así les demostramos que realmente éramos mejores que ellos", afirmaba tiempo atrás Julio Cozzi, arquero del equipo.

La segunda era exitosa de Millonarios llegó de la mano de Gabriel Ochoa Uribe. Comenzó en 1959 y se extendió en la década del ’60, durante la cual Millonarios participó de la primera edición de la Copa Libertadores (terminó 4º) y sumó cuatro conquistas más, coronadas con el tetracampeonato de 1964, éste último con Efraín Sánchez como entrenador.

Con el regreso de Uribe en la banca y un inspirado Willington Ortiz sobre el campo de juego, Millonarios alcanzó las semifinales de la Libertadores en 1971 y 1972, y agregó este mismo año su décima estrella. Sin embargo, y más allá de sumar la décimo primera en 1978, los éxitos comenzaron a ser menos frecuentes.

De hecho, debió esperar hasta 1987 para dar otra vuelta olímpica, aunque lo hizo a lo grande, ganando todas y cada una de las etapas del torneo de ese ese año, así como también un par de Copas amistosas internacionales a las que fue invitado. Con más dificultades, alcanzó en 1988 su décimo tercer campeonato nacional, lo que aún hoy le permite ser, junto al América de Cali, el equipo más ganador de Colombia.

“Millonarios es grande por la gente... Yo fui parte del último título y todavía recuerdo, como si fuera ayer, el regreso desde Barranquilla y el viaje en colectivo hasta la concentración. Era un mundo de personas. Muchos jugadores jamás se dan cuenta de lo que hay detrás de esa institución”, afirmaba el argentino Mario Vanemerak, autor del gol de aquel campeonato.

El presente
Desde ese entonces, Millonarios ha transitado un camino con profundas crisis financieras y deportivas, apenas mitigadas por los subcampeonatos locales de 1994 y 1995 y la obtención de la Copa Merconorte en 2001, un año después de perder la final de ese mismo certamen. Tras no clasificar para las instancias finales por séptima vez consecutiva, el club acumula 22 años sin refrendar su hegemonía a nivel nacional. Indudablemente, parece demasiado poco para unos aficionados que, a pesar de esto, todavía esgrimen con orgullo que son el club que más puntos y triunfos ha logrado en la historia del fútbol colombiano.

El estadio
Millonarios juega de local desde siempre en el Estadio Nemesio Camacho “El Campín”, que fue fundado el 10 de agosto de 1938, en ocasión de los Juegos Bolivarianos, con un aforo inicial de 10,000 espectadores. Aunque sucesivas modificaciones elevaron su capacidad a 63,000, en la actualidad está habilitado para 46,000. Desde 1951, los Albiazules lo comparten con su clásico rival Santa Fe, aunque también ha sido usado por otros clubes para encuentros de Copa Libertadores. Además de sede de la Copa América en 2001, “El Campín” también ha sido usado en numerosas oportunidades por la selección absoluta para partidos de las eliminatorias mundialistas.

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martes, noviembre 30, 2010

Para Santa, a Nacional le faltó personalidad y criterio en la semifinal

Tomado de: http://www.futbolred.com/liga-postobon/noticias/cuadrangulares310ii/para-santa-a-nacional-le-falto-personalidad-y-criterio-en-la-semifinal/8470600
Autor: Juan Diego Ortiz Jiménez

El verde se colgó la lápida con la derrota frente a Once Caldas. Jugadores desalojaron el camerino por el efecto de gases lacrimógenos tras protestas de los hinchas. El DT habló con Futbolred.

Las protestas de algunos hinchas de Nacional al término del 1-3 con Once Caldas, que rayaron con el vandalismo, fueron el acápite final de una noche lúgubre para el verde: caos y desesperación.

Los gases lacrimógenos que utilizó la Fuerza Pública a las afueras de la tribuna sur para disolver la masa, ingresaron por acción del aire al Atanasio que en un dos por tres quedó como un alma en pena. Hasta los propios jugadores de Nacional tuvieron que desalojar el camerino para refugiarse en el palco del equipo.

Nadie habló. El silencio y amargura acompañaron la caravana verdolaga desde el camerino sur hasta el segundo piso de la tribuna de occidental. Nadie dijo nada excepto José Fernando Santa que aceptó la invitación de este portal y esto dijo:

Futbolred: ¿Por qué se dificultó tanto jugar en el Atanasio?

J.F.S.: Realmente nos costó proponer, controlar los partidos por más entrega que existió por parte de los jugadores que se pueden ir tranquilos por lo que dejaron dentro de la cancha. Dimos todo en estos partidos pero no nos alcanzó.

Futbolred: Usted dijo luego de la caída frente a Quindío que a Nacional le había pesado la responsabilidad, ¿piensa lo mismo luego de la derrota frente a Caldas?

J.F.S.: No. Con Quindío nos equivocamos demasiado y cuando uno se equivoca teniendo la obligación de hacer mucho mejor las cosas, sí pienso que nos pesó la responsabilidad. Hoy (domingo) nos enfrentamos a un buen rival mano a mano. Ellos fueron más precisos y oportunos en determinados momentos del partido y por eso el marcador adverso.

Futbolred: ¿Por qué el buen juego mostrado en Cúcuta fue flor de un día?


J.F.S.: Esto del fútbol es presentando exámenes cada tres, cuatro días. Hay que mantener una propuesta cada partido y nos ha costado demasiado proponer, pensar y tomar mejores decisiones dentro del terreno de juego. Creo que Nacional tiene buenos jugadores pero le falta afinar en ese toque de personalidad y de criterio para aspirar a mejores resultados y a un mejor fútbol que es por lo que la gente está indignada.

Futbolred: Ahora que la clasificación es casi un imposible, ¿sólo lucharán por el cupo a Copa Suramericana?

J.F.S.: Todo ha sido complicado de principio a fin y más en esta instancia donde nos habíamos ilusionado con conseguir mejores resultados. Antes, durante y después de llegar a esta instancia y como siempre le digo a los muchachos, hay que vivir el día a día y lo único que tenemos fijo es el partido en Manizales. Ya más adelante miraremos y haremos un balance de todo lo bueno y todo lo malo que hicimos.

Futbolred: ¿Cómo se sintió con el trato de la tribuna?


J.F.S.: Es normal. Totalmente normal. Todo lo que se diga uno lo toma depende de quien venga. Con eso no tengo ningún problema. Cuando uno pierde, como perdimos hoy, lo más seguro es que la gente se comporte así. Para mí es normal y más en un equipo como Nacional.

Juan Diego Ortiz Jiménez
Corresponsal Futbolred.com
Medellín 

COPYRIGHT © 2010 CEET


No contest in clasico

Tomado de: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=847482
Autor: Phil Ball

No contest. Those are the only two words that can sum up the clasico, a disappointing occasion if you'd been expecting an evenly-fought slug-out, a euphoric one if you'd been hoping that Barcelona could re-stamp their authority on the Spanish scene, after their rivals' previously unbeaten start to the season. Whatever, the least one expected was a manita (little hand), the phrase reserved for games that end in a 5-0 scoreline. In some ways, they're worse than a 6-0 result, because the latter has no nickname, no bruising synonym created to humiliate.

In many ways, I cannot recall a more hyped clasico than this one. The main message, and it was an accurate one, was that the game was unusual in featuring both sides at the height of their powers. The bipolar relationship that frames these two teams, whereby one dances in the light whilst the other, almost by default, lurks wounded in the shadows, was wholly absent this time around.

Real Madrid had recovered their self-esteem to such an extent that they fancied their chances in the Camp Nou, and the media battle that ensued - each camp attempting to win some small psychological advantage, was fascinating throughout the week. However, Mourinho maybe overdid the 'If we lose, tomorrow is still Tuesday' line, and in so doing revealed a secret fear, a get-out clause that would relieve him from pressure in the event of a defeat. What he didn't expect was a thrashing.

The game had just about everything, apart from tension as to the result. At 2-0 Madrid played some decent stuff for a 15-minute spell, but failed to pull back the psychological goal before the interval. The alleged foul by Victor Valdes on Ronaldo looked innocent enough to me, but the Madrid-based media are already rolling out their murmured complaints. Madrid would have been back in the game, blah blah. I don't think so. In general terms, Barcelona murdered them with an imperious display of electric one-touch football, where the player receiving the ball always had at least two options - the basic lore of tiki-taka. Madrid lost their shape for much of the game, because they were reduced to chasing shadows and because their own passing was relatively poor. Xabi Alonso was never in the game, Ronaldo was back to his unilateral self - the poorer player who often turns up in adverse circumstances, and who then tries to do it all alone, and Karim Benzema simply disappeared after a reasonably bright start.

Sergio Ramos had a nightmare, and finished off the evening's work by racking up a tetchy and testosterone-filled hacking of Messi, plus a shove on his Spain team-mate Carles Puyol that wouldn't have disgraced wrestling in Pressing Catch. Like a good cricketer who knows he's on his way to the pavilion, Ramos was walking before referee Iturralde Gonzales even brought out the red card. You got the impression that Ramos just wanted to get off the pitch.

And there was even a shove by Ronaldo on Pep Guardiola, in an amusing incident where Barcelona's manager appeared not to give the Portuguese pouter the ball back. Cue strutting and semi-fisticuffs, as Pep's soldiers came to the aid of their General, perhaps forgetting that he had spent several years looking after himself perfectly well on the football pitch. Nevertheless, it's a picture that will be in all the papers.

Xavi's early goal, brilliantly executed, caused Madrid an unexpected problem. Given that Mourinho would have wanted to get to the interval at 0-0, to then try to go for the game in the second half, the 'Inter' tactic that Guardiola had referred to in the press conference before the game was already in ruins. Madrid came out of their shell and tried to redress the balance immediately, only to fall to a sloppy goal eight minutes later, at the hands of Pedro. Both Ramos and Casillas will prefer not to watch the replays.

In the second half, some of the hosts' football was astonishing. Madrid simply couldn't cope. Pepe was all over the place, Ramos was leaving huge spaces on the right flank - although to be fair to him, Di Maria was not helping - and Khedira seemed to undergo some sort of paralysis, like a startled rabbit in the headlights of a speeding car. After 56 minutes it was all over bar the home fans' shouting, some of which included the chant Mourinho dimisión! (Mourinho resign!) which was quite witty in the circumstances. The Special One sat motionless on the bench, his poker face revealing no emotion. He was probably beginning to plot the revenge at the Bernabeu. This was, in fact, the heaviest defeat of his managerial career.

The game will deal a temporary psychological blow to Madrid, but the consequences of the game are far from clear. They may motivate Madrid even more. They were played off the park, but they have not become a poor side overnight. They lost their shape and their discipline, unusual for a Mourinho side, and everything went wrong for them.

At times in the second half Barcelona were playing football from some other space-time continuum. Brutal in its apparent simplicity but based on infallible technique, they hardly played a long ball all match. Madrid had not expected to be playing a five-a-side game, and simply fell into the trap of ball-watching. Both of David Villa's goals came from Madrid's tendency to watch the man with the ball (Messi) and not the diagonal runs into space.

Barcelona also decided on a higher line than usual, and pushed Xavi up to almost man-mark Xabi Alonso. It was a curious sight, but every time Alonso received the ball, he found himself surrounded by a hostile bunch of Blaugranas, each one snapping at his heels and clouding his horizon. The home side's pressure, when off the ball, was such that Madrid's players seemed isolated from one another, their rhythms broken by the absence of the normally metronomic Alonso. There was no connection between the midfield and the forward line. Ozil seemed fragile and stranded, and Di Maria seemed unsure of what to do. Without the speed of Higuain to threaten Barcelona's high-line policy (Benzema prefers the ball into feet), the home midfield was spared the problem of shielding its own defence, and occupied itself by suffocating Alonso's crucial influence.

Even Iker Casillas looked human. The last few games against Barcelona have left him looking desperate, as if his life were almost perfect (beautiful girlfriend, international acclaim, World Cup win, etc) but for the two occasions on which he has to be humiliated per season. But it would be wrong to get carried away with this result. There is a long way to go yet, and Madrid are a more resilient outfit this time around. Barcelona were astonishingly good - even young Jeffren joined the party late on, and scored - but the win was too easy. It's not a real reflection of the difference between the two sides. Don't expect La Liga to suddenly become a one-horse race.

At the top of the 'other league', Villarreal destroyed poor Zaragoza 3-0 at the latter's home, and condemned them to another week at the bottom. Valencia ruined Jose Luis Oltra's first game as manager of Almeria (2-1) and kept the Mestalla side in the Europa spots, a point behind the surprising Espanyol, whose bad-tempered 3-2 win at Atletico Madrid lifts them into fourth place, nine points behind their illustrious Catalan neighbours. Sevilla, once again, flattered to deceive, and went down at home to an inspired Getafe, 1-3.

Madrid will be looking to pick up the pieces with a tricky-looking game at home to Valencia on Saturday night, and Barcelona travel up to Osasuna, as yet undefeated at home. All to play for still, despite appearances to the contrary.

Copyright ©2010 ESPN Internet Ventures


lunes, noviembre 22, 2010

Quindío dio una lección de humildad y fútbol tras derrotar 1-2 a Nacional

Autor: Juan Diego Ortiz

Los de 'Pecoso' dieron un batacazo en el inicio de la semifinal luego de vencer con suficiencia a Nacional con goles de Hilton Murillo (29') y Preciado (83'). Descontó David Córdoba (90+2').

Deportes Quindío dicto cátedra en el Atanasio. Murillo, Rodas y Preciado, con un centenario encima, amasaron el balón y pusieron en aprietos en más de una ocasión a un Nacional que padeció el primer juego de la semifinal y terminó perdiendo con justicia.

Fiel al estilo 'Pecoso' Castro, el cuadro cafetero fue ordenado y práctico. Con tres toques pasó de polo a polo e hirió la resistencia local. Así fue como promediando la primera parte, se juntaron los veteranos y llegó el gol. Preciado la filtró Murillo que en posición viciada, tiró el esférico al centro del área donde apareció Hilton Murillo que la mandó a guardar de cabeza (29').

Nacional volvió a naufragar en el desespero por no llegar con claridad al arco de Otero. De nuevo fue errático a la hora de pasar de defensa a ataque y las sociedades brillaron pero por su ausencia.

El equipo de Santa increpó el pórtico de Otero pero más empujado por el aliento de los 25.964 fieles que nunca desfallecieron a pesar del rigor de la lluvia, que por su fútbol. Iglesias intentó de media distancia (10'), Torijano se la sacó de la raya a Ibarbo (16') y después llegaron dos remates al palo, primero de Ibarbo (64') y luego de Maggiolo (82'). Fue eso y solo lamentos de los cuatro costados del Atanasio.

Pero el equipo de Armenia, que se divirtió tocando el esférico y viendo a su oponente correr detrás del balón, tenía preparada otra sorpresa. Con un Nacional jugado y con un hombre menos -Palomino vio la roja (70')-, llegó la sentencia de muerte para el local. Rodas y Vela la tejieron y Preciado, gordo y pesado, se llevó la marca de Mosquera y como en sus mejores tiempos, soltó una bomba que solo pudo frenar las redes del arco de Pezzuti.

Solo por decorar, Buitrago sancionó una falta en el área sobre Mondaini que David Córdoba cambió por gol en el segundo minuto de reposición. Pero la derrota fue justa para el cuadro antioqueño que volvió a ser una sombra y su fútbol un témpano de hielo. Quindío lo superó con creces y le dio una lección de fútbol y de humildad.

Ficha técnica

Atlético Nacional 1
Gastón Pezzuti
Víctor Giraldo
Juan Carlos Mosquera
Humberto Mosquera
Jair Iglesias
Daniel Arango
Jairo Palomino
Víctor Ibarbo
Dorlan Pabón
Marcos Mondaini
Ezequiel Maggiolo
DT: José Fernando Santa.

Deportes Quindío 2
Alejandro Otero
Fabio Castillo
Fáiner Torijano
Óscar Murillo
Fabio Rodríguez
Elkin Murillo
Alex Mejía
Luis Paz
Hilton Murillo
Carlos Rodas
Léider Preciado
DT: Fernando Castro

Partido: Bueno

Cambios en Nacional: David Córdoba por Daniel Arango (57') y Marlon Piedrahita por Jair Iglesias (67').

Cambios en Quindío: Juan Vela por Hilton Murillo (75'), John Valoy por Carlos Rodas (86') y William Tesillo por Luis Paz (90').

Goles: Hilton Murillo (29') y Léider Preciado (83'); David Córdoba (90+2').

Expulsados: Jairo Palomino (70').

Amarillas en Nacional: Jairo Palomino (32').

Amarillas en Quindìo: Luis Paz (26'), Elkin Murillo (45+2'), Fabio Rodríguez (52'), Óscar Murillo (78'), Léider Preciado (83') y John Valoy (90').

Figura: Elkin Murillo.

Estadio: Atanasio Girardot

Asistencia: 25.964 espectadores.

Taquilla: $ 364.218.000

Árbitro: Hernando Buitrago 6

COPYRIGHT © 2010 CEET Prohibida su reproducción parcial, así como su traducción a cualquier idioma sin autorización escrita de su titular.


Historic Spurs win a sign of the future?

Autor: Kevin Palmer

It would be easy for Tottenham fans to get carried away by their side's first triumph at Arsenal in 17 long years, but this stunning victory may go down in history as a defining moment in the short term future of both clubs.

While Manchester City have been handed the somewhat patronising tag of being the "noisy neighbours" of their local rivals United, the tightening of the gap between Manchester's big two is still wide enough to ensure Sir Alex Ferguson's men do not need to quake in their boots just yet.

However, Tottenham's claims to have draw level with their neighbours Arsenal after many years in their shadow had more credence, with their elevation to Champions League status and the success they have enjoyed in Europe's elite competition this season suggesting Harry Redknapp's men were priming themselves to claim the high ground in North London football at long last.

A victory in their most recent clash with Arsenal added further weight to that growing belief that the old foes of London football were now playing on a more even playing field, but seismic events of the magnitude that took place at the Emirates Stadium on this Saturday afternoon may well leave a lasting imprint.

Arsenal fans will rightly point out that one victory counts for little in the grand scheme of things and yet with each and every brick that Tottenham place in their increasingly complete wall, they are starting to look like the team with real momentum in North London football.

Their thrilling victory against Inter Milan last month could have been dismissed as a one-off glory night if Spurs had followed it up with their familiar mix of inconsistent failures, but their first victory at a "top four" club in 69 attempts was significant in so many ways.

Falling 2-0 behind inside the first half an hour and lacking in belief as they faced up to the latest big test of their credentials, Spurs fell into all their old traps as their misplaced optimism appeared set to be undermined for the umpteenth time.

However, this Tottenham are different from their less confident predecessors and after a thrilling second half fight back say them draw level thanks to the input of their main men Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart, the stage was set for them to secure the victory that could have transformed their image for good.

A sign that Redknapp and his team believed victory could be theirs was confirmed as they refused to settle for a point as they drew level with Van der Vaart's 67th minute penalty and you could sense the mood around this sold out Emirates Stadium turn decisively in Tottenham's favour.

With Arsenal boss Arsenal Wenger looking increasingly animated on the touchline and his team wasting a couple of late chances to snatch a lead themselves, Tottenham's moment of destiny arrived five minutes from time as they were awarded a free-kick some 35 yards from goal.

Wenger's arm-waving fury at the decision to give Spurs a set-play confirmed that he was fearing the worst as Van der Vaart stepped up to deliver the sort of set-play Arsenal have failed to defend with any certainty for years and as Younes Kaboul glanced a header towards goal, the Tottenham celebrations began in earnest.

You could hardly blame the visiting fans for celebrating as if their team had who so much more than three points because this match will always means more than any other in a season and Spurs boss Redknapp returned to his pre-season script as he reflected on his side's heroics.

"I've said we can achieve anything with this team and we are aiming for the very top, which means the title is a possibility for us," stated the Spurs boss. "Tottenham have a team now that should challenge for the championship within two years, that is my honest belief.

"I gave my lads a rollicking at half-time because they didn't believe in themselves in the first half, but to come from 2-0 down and beat Arsenal at this stadium is a fantastic achievement. The fans won't forget this win for a long time."

A third home defeat of the season was impossible for Wenger to accept and he could barely contain his annoyance as he met a media pack ready to bombard him with difficult questions.

"I'm speechless that we lost this match because if you look at the statistics, it is hard to see how Spurs finish on top," said the crestfallen Arsenal boss. "They shouldn't have been given the free-kick that they scored the winning goal from and luck was against us in other occasions in this game. Tottenham did not create too much over 90 minutes, but clearly we have a problem with concentration at key moments.

"This is a difficult result to accept, but we lost focus and that was crucial in the second half. Why we allowed them to catch us on the counter attack when we were 2-0 ahead is something we have to look at."

Arsenal's inability to deal with set-plays and their failure to finish off opponents they have at their mercy are not being addressed by Wenger and for that reason, it is hard to see how the Gunners can possibly end this season as champions.

Whether Tottenham are the genuine title contenders Redknapp believes them to be remains to be seen, but in a season when no team seems capable of grasping the nettle and take hold of the title race, an improbable contender may just have announced themselves.

MAN OF THE MATCH: William Gallas

The former Arsenal captain was handed the Tottenham armband as he returned to the Emirates Stadium and he turned in an impressive display to repel his former team mates. "He was immense from start to finished," was Redknapp's verdict of his Frenchman.

NASRI MAKES HIS POINT: Arsenal midfielder Nasri refused to shake the hand of Tottenham skipper Gallas before kick off as the long running feud between the two was made public. Nasri has Gallas have been at loggerheads since the later criticised the former in a recent book.

FACE IN THE CROWD: Thierry Henry was back at Arsenal, bedecked in his red and white scarf. He will not have enjoyed a horror story of a second half for his old team.

ARSENAL VERDICT: It seems somewhat repetitive to suggest Arsenal's weakness defending set-plays and their mental fragility will cost them again as their critics have been saying suggesting as much time and again over the last five trophyless years. In a season when the title is up for grabs, Wenger's men appear to be capable of taking advantage.

TOTTENHAM VERDICT: One win does not make a season, but this particular victory suggested Spurs are finally ready to step up to the plate and challenge the big guns consistently. It would be refreshing for the league if they live up to their manager's boasts and push for top spot in the months ahead.

Copyright ©2010 ESPN Internet Ventures.


viernes, octubre 29, 2010

Renteria rediscovers World Series magic

Tomado de: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101029&content_id=15894284&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb
Autor: Alden Gonzalez

Think about how much has changed for Edgar Renteria since 1997, and it will allow you to appreciate what is still so strikingly similar.

Thirteen years ago, when Renteria was the World Series hero for the Marlins, his feet were quick, his mind was young and his projections were high. Now, his production has declined, his injuries have mounted and his range has diminished.

But apparently the World Series is still his stage.


On this Thursday night -- Game 2 of the 2010 World Series and nearly the 13-year anniversary of his Game 7 walk-off single with the Marlins -- Renteria got the Giants on the board with a rare home run when it looked like the outcome would be close, and he essentially put the Rangers away with a bases-loaded two-run single when things were getting out of hand in an eventual 9-0 victory.

This was a trying year for Renteria, but even while making three separate trips to the disabled list and admittedly not being himself on the field, the 35-year-old kept believing he would be needed on this club.

Nights like Game 2 were the ones he was thinking about.

"He knows that he's almost at the end of his career, and he wanted to be in the playoffs to begin with, and once we got here, he wanted to be in the Big Dance one more time," hitting coach Hensley Meulens said after the Giants put themselves two wins away from their first World Series championship since 1954. "He doesn't know how long he's going to play, but he's the ultimate professional. He worked hard every day that he wasn't playing."

Thirteen years and two days ago, Renteria -- then a 22-year-old shortstop nicknamed "The Barranquilla Baby" in reference to where he grew up in Colombia -- had what is still considered the moment of his life: A two-out bases-loaded single in the 11th inning against the Indians' Charles Nagy to win the World Series.

"That was a long time ago," Renteria said with a grin, minutes after yet another memorable Fall Classic game.

With the nearly unhittable Matt Cain on the mound for the Giants and C.J. Wilson rolling early for the Rangers, Renteria -- whose World Series experience is a big reason why he's even in the lineup -- got a letter-high 0-1 fastball and drilled it over the left-field fence for just his second career postseason homer, and first since Game 3 of the 2001 National League Division Series, to give San Francisco a 1-0 lead.

"I've kept myself ready for anything that can happen in this game," Renteria said, "and I was ready for that pitch."

Then, with the bases loaded, two outs and the Giants holding a 4-0 lead, Renteria came through with a two-run single to stretch the advantage to six. Since being reinserted into the lineup in Game 2 of the NL Championship Series, Renteria was 2-for-19 (.105) heading into Thursday.

None of that mattered on this night.

"I couldn't be happier for Edgar," manager Bruce Bochy said. "It's been a tough year for him."

The toughest, perhaps.

In the final year of a two-year, $18.5 million contract and perhaps his final season, Renteria was limited to just 68 starts at shortstop, the least since he started 106 as a rookie in 1996.

But even while missing 14 games with a groin injury in May, 20 games with a hamstring injury in June, 19 games with a biceps injury in August and 10 games with an elbow injury in September, then losing his starting job down the stretch, Renteria kept believing he would eventually be needed.

"I was just trying to work and trying to get ready for my teammates," he said. "They deserve it. They've been playing good all year. I was getting ready for them.

"I was always ready. I was always ready for a moment like right now."

Renteria, chasing his second ring and in his third World Series, is the most playoff-seasoned member of this Giants team, so his presence goes a long way this time of year.

"He's a leader in that clubhouse," Bochy said. "Everybody looks up to him. He's been through this, and he's excited about how he feels right now. He's excited about being back in the World Series. He's a guy you look up to, and I know the players do, too. It's nice to have him out there at shortstop with the experience that he's had. I'll say this: I think the rest probably has benefited him. He's playing like he did 10 years ago."

Or, 13 years ago.

© 2001-2010 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.


jueves, octubre 28, 2010

Colombiano celebró antes y perdió al final en Mundial de Patinaje


"Fue un error de principiante y ya estoy pasando la página", contó con evidente desazón el barranquillero de 16 años de edad que levantó los brazos y redujo su velocidad en el remate de los 20 mil metros juvenil en el Mundial de Patinaje en Guarne.

Su emoción era evidente: una medalla dorada en su debut en un evento de esta magnitud, en la que su país, como local, obtenía un oro más que engrosaba el título mundial que había asegurado horas antes.

Cujavante estaba a punto de colgarse la medalla dorada, por lo que en la última curva levantó los brazos y comenzó a golpearse el pecho.

"No sé, de pronto me desconcentré porque iba a hacer historia, pues era mi primera competencia en el Mundial y me creí campeón del mundo", confesó un poco más sereno el juvenil patinador.

El colombiano se descuidó en medio de su emotiva celebración, ante la petición del narrador de la transmisión porque asegurara su triunfo que, como premonición, le pedía "apretar al final" para asegurar su victoria.

Y fue el coreano Sang Cheol Lee quien sorprendió y en el último metro apenas tuvo que estirar su pierna derecha para llevarse la medalla dorada. "Me desconecté de todo lo que estaba pasando en la prueba y el coreano me pasó en la línea", recordó.

No obstante a la anecdótica situación de carrera, Cujavante ya había sido descalificado por una falta en la curva previa al final contra el estadounidense Mario Valencia.

"Mis compañeros me dijeron que levantara la cabeza, que siguiera para adelante porque esos son errores que se cometen una vez y que no se iba a repetir. El técnico Elías (Del Valle) me dijo lo mismo", contó el juvenil, que ahora se da golpes de pecho, pero no por orgullo sino como un nuevo aprendizaje.

"Me sentí campeón del mundo. Ya no voy a volver a caer en el mismo error", advirtió el patinador colombiano, cuyo debut le deja una gran enseñanza. "A pesar de todo, la experiencia de ayer (miércoles) fue muy buena. Fue muy fuerte y soy un juvenil, así que me va a servir para el próximo Mundial"

Ahora, y luego de derramar lágrimas como desaforado ante la tristeza de perder la gloria por el exceso de confianza, quiere tomar revancha, demostrar que tiene talento y que es capaz de darle una victoria a Colombia. "Viene la competencia de maratón y allí me quiero sacar el clavo. Espero que me vaya bien".

COPYRIGHT © 2010 CEET.


lunes, octubre 25, 2010

Man City's millionaires undone by prudent Gunners

Autor: Richard Jolly

It doesn't require the master's degree in economics that Arsene Wenger possesses to know that money usually talks. Nor, indeed, does it need much insight to see that size often matters. But sometimes it is not about feet and inches, nor pounds and petrodollars.

It is about character and quality, which Arsenal possessed, about mistakes and misjudgements, which Manchester City committed. It is about moments that live long in the memory because they are utterly unexpected, such as Andrei Arshavin materialising in the left-back position to successfully tackle Carlos Tevez.

It is about the most maligned delivering on a stage where many expect them to fail and Lukasz Fabianski was pivotal with vital saves from David Silva at 0-0 and 1-0. It is about talented players crossing the great divide from entertainment to excellence, something Samir Nasri appears to have done in a seven-game spell that has brought seven goals.

"He is becoming more efficient," said Wenger, the aesthete showing a statistical streak. "You can judge a player by what he does with the numbers. Today he had a goal and an assist."

It brought a forceful affirmation of Arsenal's credentials. City, the ruthless destroyers of Chelsea, were subjected to a humbling afternoon. Depleted for 85 minutes, defeated after 65 and demoted from second place by both their conquerors and their local rivals; the world's richest club and one of the league's physically biggest teams were ultimately outmanoeuvred by their smaller, poorer opponents.

The finest management always seems to have an element of alchemy and a hint of stubbornness. Both are detectable in Wenger. Vindication for the Frenchman is invariably emphatic, simply because Arsenal rarely win ugly. Given a recent inability to overcome City, Chelsea or Manchester United, it felt a seismic step forwards. "We look like we have matured in terms of negotiating in an intelligent way the difficulties of the game," said Wenger. "It means not getting a red card, it means keeping the ball well." It also means keeping a clean sheet, not Arsenal's usual forte against top-rate opponents. A defensive axis of Fabianski, Sebastien Squillaci and Johan Djourou may not be deemed the most reassuring, but they kept Silva, Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor at bay, albeit with a few nervy moments.

But, as Roberto Mancini said: "Against Arsenal, it is difficult to play 11 against 11. Ten against 11 is the worst thing." It was uneven from the fifth minute after Dedryck Boyata was given his marching orders for bringing down Marouane Chamakh. Mancini railed implausibly against the dismissal but the young Belgian, an unexpected choice on just his third league start, was the last man.

It was an unusually speculative selection from the conservative City manager. As significant, though, was that Cesc Fabregas found a hole in the three-man blanket Mancini has flung in front of his back four to thread the pass through for Chamakh. That the Moroccan has added another dimension to the Arsenal attack with his aerial ability is becoming clear; breaching an offside trap displayed another element to his game.

Control, Mancini's mantra, could not be exerted after going first a man and then a goal down. Nasri played a deft one-two with Arshavin, reacting quicker than Gareth Barry to the return pass before providing the finish. Fabregas, who was subjected to some physical challenges, both won and missed a penalty, though that description is unfair on Joe Hart, who produced an outstanding save. He was helpless, however, when Alex Song's shot headed for the top corner. It was symbolic of the fortunes of the two clubs that, while City are renowned for fielding three defensive midfielders, the sole specialist in that role among Wenger's men delivered a goal.

Song was aided, however, by a dreadful touch by the embarrassingly one-footed Wayne Bridge to supply him. His arrival was a strange substitution by Mancini, removing a midfielder (Yaya Toure) - albeit one who had spent some of the first half deputising for Boyata at the back - for a defender at a time when his side needed to score. When Tevez limped off, their prospects were further diminished, even if Adebayor proved a highly-motivated replacement.

By the time Nicklas Bendtner latched on to Nasri's neat pass to score a third goal, there was a frayed looked to a City team that had become noted for their sense of organisation and positional discipline. They had three left-backs, three partners for Vincent Kompany in the heart of defence and three roles for James Milner in the space of 90 minutes. But Arsenal had the three goals, scored by men with a combined cost of £12 million. It is loose change for the losers - indeed Wayne Rooney's annual earnings at Eastlands could have exceeded that - but then this was a day when neither big bucks nor big men flourished.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Samir Nasri - Since scoring a match-winning brace against Manchester United two years ago, he has been a marginal presence in many major matches. Not this one. There is a new-found penetration and purpose to his game.

MANCHESTER CITY VERDICT: The contentious choice of Boyata was a vote of no confidence in Joleon Lescott. Mancini's rationale - that the Englishman had played on Thursday - made little sense, given that the Belgian also completed 90 minutes then. With Silva a lively presence, City played with spirit with 10 men but there were too many failings in their final third.

ARSENAL VERDICT: Results such as this illustrate why, despite five years without a trophy, Wenger's ways should not be questioned. But, in a perverse way, it also makes the recent defeat to West Brom still more costly; had they secured the expected win then, they would only be two points behind Chelsea.

Copyright ©2010 ESPN Internet Ventures


viernes, octubre 15, 2010

Bernie Ecclestone's never-ending Formula One season

Autor: Martin Williamson. He's managing editor of digital media ESPN EMEA

Bernie Ecclestone's never-ending season

Something's got to give

It seems barely a week goes by without Bernie Ecclestone announcing, or at the least dropping lead-weighted hints about, another new grand prix venue. On the eve of his 80th birthday he seems hell bent on leaving a legacy of a race in almost every major country. Less is more is not a term bandied round the Ecclestone household.

His actions are completely at odds with his own well-documented statement that the F1 season cannot contain more than 20 grands prix. This year we have had 19 and it's been an unrelenting eight months. Next season, thanks to the addition of an Indian GP, we have hit Bernie's magic 20.

But with the enthusiasm of Imelda Marcos in a shoe shop, Bernie just can't help himself. He has agreed to a US Grand Prix in 2012 and now a Russian Grand Prix in 2014. He's also been gushing about a Rome Grand Prix as soon as 2012. Something has to give.

A US race makes common as well as financial sense. There is a massive untapped market in America. But the same cannot be said for many of the newer venues. Few expect massive crowds at the remote, new and finished-by-the-seat-of-their-pants Korean Grand Prix next weekend. And why on earth do we need a street race in Rome when we already have a long-standing GP at Monza?

Nothing will get in the way of Bernie and money, so he just keeps on dealing

While TV companies would love a race pretty much every weekend, the logistics of hauling huge amounts of equipment round the world, as well as the train on teams, drivers, and dare we say it, the media, rule that out. But nothing will get in the way of Bernie and money, so he just keeps on dealing.

In the last three years the season has become a month longer. Next year it is extended by almost a fortnight and runs to the last weekend of November. Given the need for all connected with the sport to remind their families they exist, as well as pre-season testing, it's at saturation point. The only window left for another race is the four-week August break.

And while the last few seasons have been exciting, you only have to go back to the first few years of the decade to remember quite how tedious the Schumacher-Ferrari domination was. Those seasons often felt as if they would never end. Just imagine a similar scenario in a bloated calendar.

In addition, the new tracks are all designed by Hermann Tilke and as a result have a rather uniform look and feel. That's not Tilke's fault, but using the same designer will inevitably lead to a homogenised product. At least in Austin he's gone for a wild deviation from the norm. It will be anticlockwise. Or perhaps the plans were just printed the wrong way round.

If the promised races go ahead, then the real losers are likely to be the established venues, mainly in Europe. Bernie deals on the back of massive financial guarantees from the tracks. The new venues he has unveiled - some good, some appalling - have almost all had the benefit of huge funding from local or central government. The older circuits simply cannot match the money being thrown at Ecclestone.

When Bernie faced with sentimentality, or even public opinion, against cash, there will only be one winner.

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.