'Bolillo' Gomez was confirmed Colombia's new coach

Hernan Dario ‘Bolillo’ Gomez was appointed the new coach of the Colombian national team again after twelve years, when the country participated in the World Cup for the last time, when the tournament was staged in France in 1998. Gomez’s mission will now be to lead Colombia to the 2014 World Cup of Brazil.

‘Bolillo’ Gomez, 54, was officially named the coach of Colombia by the Executive Committee of the Colombian Football Federation and his assistant will be Leonel Alvarez, the actual coach of Independiente Medellin.

Former national team coach Francisco Maturana will overlook all of the happenings of Colombia’s different football categories. With this distribution of roles, the Maturana-Gomez partnership has returned. They were in charge of Colombia for the 1990 and 1994 World Cups.

Gomez’s first two matches as the coach of Colombia will be against South Africa and Nigeria in late May. It will be a good opportunity for Gomez to test players, looking ahead to the 2011 Copa America.

“The responsibility is very big and I will assume it without being frightened, and I expect unity, not the contrary, and the objective of everybody is Brazil 2014,” Gomez declared to the press.

“I’m not afraid. On the contrary I’m very happy, very proud, and yes, with a very big responsibility, not to leave anybody with their mouth shut,” he added.

Gomez sent Colombia to the 1998 World Cup and did the same with Ecuador in 2002.

At the conclusion of the 2010 World Cup Gomez will prepare Colombia for a mini-tournament which will include Mexico, Chile and Argentina, in Guadalajara in September. For Gomez it will be seen as ideal preparation for the 2011 Copa America.

Gregory Sica

Southamericanfutbol.com

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Sergio Markarian could coach the Peru national team

Uruguayan coach Sergio Markarian affirmed that Peruvian football “has grown” in recent times and because of this he opened the possibility of accepting to become the coach of Peru’s national team looking ahead to the 2011 Copa America and the 2014 South American World Cup qualifiers.

In declarations published today by Lima newspaper El Comercio, Markarian overturned his decision to only accept to take over the Uruguayan national team, saying that “nothing has been discarded” if he were to be presented with an offer from the Peruvian national team.

“Nothing has been discarded in relation to coaching Peru,” signalled the coach, who is very familiar with Peruvian fans for the titles he obtained with Universitario de Deportes and the Copa Libertadores runners-up medal he claimed with Sporting Cristal in 1997.

Markarian, who coaches Uruguayan club Danubio, has been offered the Peruvian coaching position on numerous occasions, but up until now, each time he has rejected the possibility.

For the coach, the qualification of Universitario de Deportes and Alianza Lima to the round of 16 stage of the current edition of the Copa Libertadores confirms the improvement of football in Peru.

“The Peruvian league has improved heaps and from the matches I have watched on television I can approve this. Today we have teams like Juan Aurich, San Martin, Cesar Vallejo, Cristal, this shows that things have stepped forward.”

Peru finished rock-bottom of the 2010 South American World Cup qualifiers, and because of this the Peruvian football federation are determined to appoint an experienced coach. As well as Markarian, Argentines Jose Pekerman and Gustavo Costas, Anibal Ruiz of Uruguay, Luis Fernando Suarez of Colombia and local coach Juan Reynoso are candidates to occupy the position.

Gregory Sica

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The future of exciting Peruvian striker Wilmer Aguirre could be in Argentina, after Guillermo Alarcon, the president of the club, affirmed that Buenos Aires heavyweights River Plate have expressed formal interest in purchasing the player next season. According to the local press, River have already made an offer for the player, but Alianza Lima are studying the proposal as they have also received offers from another two Argentine clubs — Lanus and San Lorenzo.

Aguirre, 26, rose to continental fame after scoring a superb hat-trick as Alianza Lima trounced defending Copa Libertadores champions Estudiantes de La Plata 4-1 in February. The performance was so eye-catching for the individual brilliance of his goals that he received ongoing comparisons with universal superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The striker has only made four appearances for the Peruvian national team, however, is expected to be an integral part of the squad looking ahead to the 2011 Copa America and the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

After two years in Metz of France, Aguirre decided to return to Alianza, but now it seems that he is ready to make the jump to one of Argentina’s biggest clubs.

Aguirre is hoping to follow the footsteps of a number of his fellow Peruvians — Nolberto Solano, Paolo Guerrero, Claudio Pizarro, Juan Vargas and Jefferson Farfan — who made a name for themselves in South America before finding vast success in the elite leagues of European football.

Gregory Sica

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During the inauguration of his own futsal sporting complex in Bogota, Colombian striker Juan Pablo Angel of the New York Red Bulls declared that it would be a dream come true to return to Argentine giants River Plate in the future. Angel has been linked with a return to Los Millonarios and the fact that River are searching for an experienced striker means it could become reality.

Angel, 34, has fond memories of his time at River, which he describes as being the happiest of his entire career. During four years at River, where he made 132 appearances, Angel converted 62 goals and helped the club to two national championships.

“Don’t retire me yet, please,” joked Angel. “A return to Nacional de Medellin [his first club] or River is something that one always thinks about. I’m always going to be grateful for everything those clubs and Aston Villa gave me.”

Angel, who scored twice on the weekend as the Red Bulls beat Dallas FC 2-1, believes he is still the player he was in England and that he is hoping to be provided with a greater challenge than MLS can offer before announcing his retirement.

In recent months several clubs throughout Latin America have shown an interest in Angel, with the majority of them coming from Argentina, Colombia and Mexico. Angel has already stated that he is open to listening to offers.

Angel is confident that a move away from MLS will also improve his chances of returning to the Colombian national team, looking ahead to the 2011 Copa America and the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

Gregory Sica

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Thirteen-time Colombian champions America de Cali are experiencing a major economical crisis as the club can’t afford to provide their players with the demands associated with a professional football club. America’s squad members have not been paid their wages for five months, and find it difficult to attend regular training sessions because of this.

For years America were controlled by brothers Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez, but both of them are locked up in jails in the United States because of drug trafficking. Due to this they haven’t been able to pay their players.

It has come to the point that the club are contemplating the possibility of opening up an account to receive donations and funds from fans, or by organising raffles.

“Now is the right time to talk. They don’t pay us and now we don’t have food to eat,” claimed Uruguayan goalkeeper Alexis Viera, who recently made the headlines for saving two penalties and scoring the winner from the spot as his side beat Millonarios.

According to reports much of America’s struggles are due to the fact that many of the people who run the club are involved in drug trafficking and have been accused of obtaining large sums of cash received by the club for selling the rights of key players.

One of the supposed culprits, Miguel Rodriguez, was accused of keeping the equivalent of $4.5 million which came from player transfers. However, Rodriguez denied all claims.

America, four-time finalists of the Copa Libertadores, find themselves in 16th position of the 18-team Colombian first division, with only three wins from thirteen matches.

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The newly designated Colombian Football Federation has affirmed that their priority is to help Colombia qualify for the 2014 World Cup that will be staged in Brazil. The first step for the assembly will be to decide in April which coach will carry them to the World Cup. There are plenty of candidates to get things right for Los Cafeteros, who failed to qualify for the last three World Cups, those of 2002, 2006 and 2010.

Francisco Maturana is the prime candidate to take the manager´s position, while the future of Hernan Dario Gomez is unknown. Gomez rejected the chance to become the coach of Ecuador in order to keep alive his chances of coaching Colombia.

“The objective is to qualify for the 2014 World Cup and to be finalists of the U-20 World Cup of next year, which will be staged in our country,” stated Luis Bedoya, the new president of the Colombian Football Federation.

“Francisco Maturana will be confirmed as the manager of the national teams, a position which is required by FIFA, but we have yet to decide who will be the coach.”

“We didn´t value the name of Bolillo Gomez, but this doesn´t mean we have discarded him,” he concluded.

Colombia have made several modifications in an attempt to change the fortunes of their national team. It has been rumoured that the Colombian Federation will sign a deal with American sports brand Nike to supply them with their sporting gear heading towards 2014.

Gregory Sica

Southamericanfutbol.com

According to a leading medical official Paraguay and Club America striker Salvador Cabanas may never recall events when he was shot in the head at point blank range at a posh Mexico City bar in January. Cabanas is currently ongoing rehabilitation at a clinic in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Armando Ahued, head of Mexico City´s health secretary, admitted on Tuesday that Cabanas will be of no use to officials investigating the case. Jose Balderas, who was caught shooting the striker by surveillance cameras, has yet to be found by police.

Cabanas, a star of the Paraguayan national team, has been ruled out of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but doctors have yet to reveal when the player will be able to return to the football field.

Gregory Sica

Southamericanfutbol.com

Uruguay: Defending champions Nacional were held to an unexpected 1-1 draw by Tacuarembo at the Centenario stadium on Friday night. After conceding a first-minute strike former Valencia winger Mario Regueiro earned Nacional a point with thirty minutes remaining in the game.

Uruguay´s most popular club, Penarol, claimed their second consecutive victory of the season, beating Cerro 2-1 in a highly disputed encounter on Saturday. Penarol have been reinforced by loads of quality this season and are likely to fight for the title.

In other results, Liverpool edged Atenas 2-1, River Plate drew 3-3 with Central Espanol, and Danubio, with the presence of Alvaro Recoba, edged fierce rivals Defensor Sporting 1-0.

Colombia: Yovani Arrechea scored twice to lead Millonarios to a 2-1 win over Atletico Nacional in the inaugurating round of the Colombian Apertura championship on Saturday. Two players were sent off during a tense clash that was witnessed by more than 40,000 fans at the Campin de Bogota stadium.

At the Atanasio Girardot stadium, Independiente Medellin fought out a goalless draw with Independiente Santa Fe. The visitors played the final seven minutes with ten-men, but Independiente couldn´t make the most of their numerical advantage.

The most exciting match of the round was Real Cartagena´s 4-3 victory over Once Caldas on Sunday. In other matches, America de Cali drew 2-2 with Atletico Huila, Envigado edged Cucuta 1-0 and Chico beat Cortulua 2-1.

Brazil: Roberto Carlos was sent off inside the first ten minutes of Corinthians´ derby victory over Palmeiras. The former Real Madrid superstar mistimed a tackle and received a straight red card. Jorge Henrique´s strike moments earlier handed Corinthians the three points, and extended their lead in the Paulista State championship.

The 30,000 fans at the Pacaembu stadium saw the visitors dominate much of the match, but despite playing with ten-men for more than eighty minutes, Corinthians defended well and held onto the result. Former World Player of the Year, Ronaldo, didn´t take part in the game.

Meanwhile, for the Gaucho championship Internacional beat crosstown rivals Gremio 1-0 with an Alecsandro conversion ten minutes from full-time. It was an evenly disputed clash with few goal-scoring opportunities going to either team, which is generally the case in the Gre-Nal derby.

Gregory Sica

Southamericanfutbol.com

Nolberto Araujo, the Argentine defender of Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito, confirmed that he is enjoying his vacations because he finally won´t return to his homeland to play for Boca Juniors.

“I just left a reunion with the directors. The case is closed and it is a shame because I had the desire to go to Boca,” Araujo told reporters.

The defender claimed “(they) explained that negotiations were difficult from the start, that the offer (from Boca) was too low and they didn´t like how the Boca directors did things,”

Araujo hoped both parties would come to an agreement over the move, because according to the player “I was motivated, as were my whole family. At this age I had a once in a lifetime chance to make my dream come true and to play for a big team from Argentina.”

But Araujo also said that he can´t complain because Liga have treated him very well, and that he thanks the club for everything they have given to him and everything they will continue to give him.

Gregory Sica

Southamericanfutbol.com

Deportivo Quito were proclaimed champions of Ecuador after beating Deportivo Cuenca 3-2 in the return leg of the grand final on Sunday. With two terrific strikes from Michael Arroyo and another from Daniel Mina, the side from the Ecuadorian capital won the title. Meanwhile, Edison Preciado and Ismael Villalba converted for Deportivo Cuenca.

The first leg ended in a 1-1 draw in Cuenca, giving Deportivo Quito a 4-3 aggregate victory.

Ruben Dario Insua, the Argentine coach of the side, was on the verge of leaving the club due to a conflict with the board earlier in the season, but he stayed on due to the support he received from the players and the fans.

Carlos Vera, the referee of the match, sent off Ivan Borghello of Deportivo Quito and both Marcelo Bohorquez and Juan Guerron from Deportivo Cuenca.

Deportivo Quito won their fourth Ecuadorian championship, after having claimed the title in 1964, 1968, 2008 and 2009.

Gregory Sica

Southamericanfutbol.com