Happy New Year!

Happy New Year for all the aficionados of Latin football!
I had to postpone the updating of this blog because now I'm dancing Argentinean tango, spending on it all my spare time. By the way, the tango is the closest to football kind of art. Dance it and you'll understand the phenomenon of Argentinean football. Meanwhile also enjoy my other blog on Latin music:
community.livejournal.com/latin_albums
See you in 2008!

Namesakes: Luizão

This is the name which is mistakenly pronounced in the world as [lu-ee-za-o]. Should be rather [lu-ee-zon]. There are three "main" Luizaos today: superstarry 32-year forward Luiz Carlos Bombonato Goulart, who played best of all for Guarani jointly with Marcio Amoroso, then for plenty of clubs inlcding Sao Paulo and Herta. Also a famous fullback of Benfica and Brazilian national team, Anderson Luis da Silva. The third one to be a star soon is Luis Carlos Nascimento Junior, reaised by Cruzeiro and bought recently by Vasco da Gama.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

László Megyesi (Hung.)
[laslo med-ye-shi]

Marek Kaščák (Czech.)
[kash-chak]

Marian Cârjă (Rom.)
[ker-zhe]

Marián Had (Slovak.)
[gad]

Marius Iordache (Rom.)
[marius yordake]

Miguel Riffo

Colo Colo's fullback Miguel Riffo may pass to Brazilean football next season. Two grandees - Sao Paulo and Palmeiras - expressed interest in the Chilean.

Breno & Bayern

Bayern joined the hunt for Sao Paulo's fullback Breno. Besides, he is actively wanted by Real Madrid.

Jorge Valdivia & Caio Junior

Two main figures in Palmeiras' midfield this season, Chilean Jorge Valdivia and Brazilian Caio Junior, may continue play together in Dutch Feyenoord, which expressed desire to buy both stars. Besides, Valdivia is pretended by Deportivo and Valencia, while Caio Junior is wanted by Ajax.

Transfers: Joílson

Right wing Joílson was presented as Sao Paulo´s new player. This season he outstandingly played for Botafogo.

Edmundo

Brazilian legend Edmundo (36) who currently plays for Palmeiras, may return to his native Vasco da Gama next season. If it happens, he will once again join there his eternal mate Romario, who this time will be coaching his friend.

Darío Conca

Argentinean Darío Conca may prolong his contract with Vasco da Gama, the head of which like him very much. Although, River Plate, which possesses enganche´s pass, would like to sell the player, not to rent him again.

Arouca & Benfica

Fluminense's anchorman Arouca, who had a great Brasileirão, received an offer from Benfica and rejected it. Could be that the decision was motivated by miserable transfer's price. The Portugueses estimated the transfer in three million euros.

Alex Dias & Fluminense

Famous Brazilian forward Alex Dias is likely to leave Fluminense. If the club from Rio manages to sign such stars as Washington, Dodo and Leandro Amaral, there won't be room for experienced Alex Dias.

Rogerio Ceni

Rogerio Ceni was voted as world's best keeper. The inquiery was carried out by France Football. Brazilian outvoted Buffon, Czech, Kahn, Boruc and Casillas.

Ever Banega & Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid gradually becomes the main expert on young Argentinean stars. The most prominent young player of those who still play in Argentina, Ever Banega from Boca Juniors, is expected in Madrid as soon as next season.

Gata Fernandez & Palmeiras

In light of possible losing of their superstar Jorge Valdivia, who is wanted too much in Europe, the heads of Palmeiras want to sign Gaston "Gata" Fernandez, who was key in San Lorenzo's championship in last Clausura. Beside the Argentinean, the "greens" would like to sign Chileans Carlos Villanueva from Audax and Gonzalo Fierro from Colo Colo as well.

Pablo Aurrecochea

Uruguayan keeper of Paraguayan Cerro Porteño, Pablo Aurrecochea, is likely to become a new player of Colon. Previously Pablo has already played in Argentina for Argentinos Juniors.

Hugo Tocalli & Velez Sarsfield

Everything changes rapidly in Argentina. At this moment not Pellegrino, but Hugo Tocalli, who won a world championship with Argentinean sub-20 in 2006, is just one step away from signing with Velez Sarsfield as a chief coach. He is expected to be assisted by Carlos Compagnucci.

Guille

One of Argentina's biggest idols of the last decade, Guillermo "Guille" Barros Schelotto, is thinking of returning to his native Gimnasia La Plata. Although, the current player of Columbus Crew will be able to address this issue thoroughly only after the presidential elections in Gimnasia that will take place in December.

Mauricio Pellegrino & Velez Sarsfield

Ex-fullback of Velez Sarsfield, Barcelona and Valencia, Mauricio Pellegrino, is the most probable candidate to coach the club from Liniers after the resignment of La Volpe finally took place. Thus, the defensive style of Velez Sarsfield won't be changed, obviously.

Mariano Pavone

Mariano Pavone finally managed to score his first goals for Betis. In a clash against Zaragoza (2:1) he scored both.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

József Mogyorósi (Hung.)
[yozhef mod-yo-ro-shi]
Juha Majava (Finn.)
[yuha mayava]
Jyri Hietaharju (Finn.)
[yuri hi-ye-ta-har-yu]
Krzysztof Łągiewka (Pol.)
[kshishtof lan-gev-ka]
Ladislav Jamrich (Czech.)
[yamrih] (or [yamrij] for Spaniards)

Namesakes: Juninho

There are lots of players with this nickname. Two of them are beyond any confusions, since they have added to their nicks the names of their states: Juninho Paulista and Juninho Pernambucano. Today there is one more quite loud Juninho - Botafogo's fullback Anselmo Vendrechovski, who has Polish roots. In Portugal there has been playing ex-midfielder of Atletico Mineiro, Junior Cesar Arcanjo, also Juninho. While in Japanese Kawasaki Frontale there is 30-year ex-Palmeiras Carlos Alberto Carvalho Anjos, Juninho, of course. And finally, there is a keeper-Juninho - Tadeu de Jesus Nogueira Junior, and he is from Atletico Mineiro.

Transfers: Magno Alves

The return of one of Fluminense's best forwards, Magno Alves, to his alma mater is quite probable. For the last four years he has been playing in South Korea and Japan.

Lulinha

Chelsea promised to apply maximum of agression in a struggle for the young Brazilian miracle, Lulinha. For now he has been playing for Corinthians.

Sao Paulo - pentacampeon!

Sao Paulo became Brazil's champion for the fifth time. The triumph took place in the match against America, which was won by the Paulistas 3:0. the goals were scored by Hernanes, Miranda and Dagoberto.

Transfers: Renato Augusto

Renato Augusto did not confirm the rumours of his 30-million-euros move to Benfica. The extremely bright superstar is going to contunue playing for Flamengo with which he has a contract till 2012.

Transfers: Breno

Sao Paulo's fullback Breno is regarded as a possible reinforcement by Real Madrid. Breno was one of Brasileirao's main figures this season.

Reinaldo & Botafogo

After ke's main scorer Dodo annouced that he leaves te club, the Fogao's chiefs started looking for his replacement. And looks like they have already found it in person of Reinaldo who returned home after a brief speel in Turkey.

Ariel Ortega

The rumours of Ariel Ortega's move to Mexican Atlas, remained only rumours. That was announced by River Plate's vice-president, Domingo Diaz.

Juan Roman Riquelme

The list of the clubs, who want Juan Roman Riquelme, gets broader and broader. This time Newcastle United expressed desire to pay 16 million dollars for the superstar. It was exactly this club, which put an end to career of poor Argentinean Cristian Bassedas.

Transfers: Hernan Pellerano

Quite possible that Deportivo A Coruña will substitute one its Argentinean with another soon. After it became clear that Fabricio Collocini wants to leave the Galician club, Deportivo aimed at one of Argentina's best fullbacks, Hernan Pellerano from Velez Sarsfield.

River Plate in Ecuador

Given the growing number of football talents, produced in Ecuador, River Plate decided to open a perminent representation in Guayaquil. Let's recall that one of South America's best young payers, Alberto Valencia was very close to signing with "millionarios" a couple of years ago.

Luciano Leguizamon

The situation with Luciano Leguizamon, forward of Gimnasia La Plata, is weird. After he traded jerseys in a clasico against Estudiantes with Juan Sebastian Veron, who asked for Leguizamon's jersey for his adopted son, Gimnasia's hincha, the fans of El Lobo accused Leguizamon in betrayal and insisted in taking him out of the squad. Gimnasia's notorious president Munoz added to hystery by accusing Luciano in "breaking the codes of football". The future of extremely talented player is unclear.

New National Teams

The previously published squads of new national teams of Argentinean provinces and Brazilian states did not include many famous players, who were born in smaller states and provinces. But all of them could select wonderful teams too. Including the following players:


GOIAS

Lindomar
Paulo Nunes
Gustavo
Fernandao
Leonardo Manzi
Roberto

ALAGOAS

Adriano
Souza
Jadilson
Morais
Flavio (goleiro)
Denis Marques
Aloisio

SANTA CATARINA

Maicon
Filipe
Marquinhos
Silvio Criciuma
Fernando Menegazzo
Evandro


PARA

Velber
Elson
Maraba


BRASILIA DF
Kaka
Washington
Dimba
Warley
Amoroso

CEARA
Dudu Cearense
Jonatas
Iarley
Leandro Lima
Kuki

TOCANTINS
Roni
Sandro Hiroshi

MARANHAO
Kleber Pereyra
Dill

PARAIBA
Marcelinho Paraiba

MATO GROSSO
Beto

MATO GROSSO DO SUL
Lucas

RIO GRANDE DO NORTE
de Souza

JUJUY
Ariel Ortega

CHUBUT
Andres Silvera
Cristian Tula

FORMOSA
Hugo Ibarra

MISIONES
Diego Rivero
Mariano Messera
Carlos Marczuk

CATAMARCA
Daniel Diaz

TUCUMAN
Juan Krupoviesa
Gustavo Balvorin

SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO
Julio Marchant

CORRIENTES
Jose Sand

CHACO
Christian Gimenez

MENDOZA
Neri Cardozo

ENTRERIOS
Luciano Leguizamon

Namesakes: Anderson

Number one here is, despite his young age, Anderson Luis de Abreu Oliveira, a young wonder from Gremio who shines today at Manchester United. The second popular is defenseman Anderson Cleber Beraldo, Corinthians' graduate who plays today for Olympic Lion. Besides, there is Anderson Polga in Porto, but he uses both his name and surname for his identification. An finally, the fans of course have not forgotten about famous Sonny Anderson da Silva Nilmar, who has already retired.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Janos Szekely (Hung.)
[yanosh sekey]

Jaromír Šilhan (Czech.)
[yaromir shilgan]

John Wolyniec (Pol.)
[volinets]

Jonne Hjelm (Swed.)
[yunne yelm]

Josef Jindřišek (Czech.)
[yozef Yin-drzhi-shek]

New National Teams: Rio Grande do Sul

A national tema of the most Southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul with the capital in Porto Alegre, is as good as any other world's grandee, and can easily become world champion 9if allowed to dispute this title):

RIO GRANDE DO SUL

Keepers:
Diego (Danrlei)

Defensemen:
Roger (Chiquinho)
Scheidt (Andre Luis)
Anderson Polga (Regis)
Bolivar (George)

Midfielders:
Mineiro (Paulo Baier)
Anderson (Tinga)
Ronaldinho (Rafael Sobis)
Daniel Carvalho (Alex)

Forwards:
Christian (Claudio Pitbull)
Josiel (Marcelinho)

Namesakes: Giovanni

There two main namesakes with this name, and both are too famous to confuse them. Giovanni Silva de Oliveira, ex-Santos, ex-Barcelona, now at Olympiakos, is finishing his career. The one who is more actual, is called Giovanni Deiberson. He was raised at Cruzeiro, then also played in Barcelona, and now is a leader of Manchester City.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Jakub Dohnálek (Czech.)
[yakub dognalek]

Jan Lecjaks (Czech.)
[yan lets-yaks]

Jan Rajnoch (Czech.)
[yan raynoh]

Jan Štohanzl (Czech.)
[yan shtoganzl]

Jani Lyyski (Fin.)
[yani lyu-ski]

Paulo César Gusmão

Paulo César Gusmão is a new coach of Vasco da Gama. He already coached Cruzmaltino in 2001. Now his task is to save the club from relegation.

Transfers: Carlos Alberto

Werder's midfielder Carlos Alberto who has been failing to adapt in Germany, is probable to return to his native Fluminense. He is supposed to be loaned for one year.

Sacking: Carlos Ischia

Another coach stepped aside from his position in Argentinean Apertura. This time it was Carlos Ischia from Rosario Central. His club is currently the last in the table of the tournament.

Transfers: Augusto Fernandez & Omar Bravo

River Plate's playmaker Augusto Fernandez and forward of Chivas and Mexican national team Omar Bravo are regarded as possible reinforcements by the chiefs of Spanish Deportivo. It was announced by the coach of the club from A Coruña, Miguel Angel Lotina.

New National Teams: Paraná

The shining of the stars born in South Brazilian state of Parana may blind you. Isn't it a perfect squad for winning the World Champion's crown?

PARANA

Keepers:
Rogerio Ceni (Edson Bastos)

Defensemen:
Rafinha (Adriano)
Juninho (Miranda)
Naldo (Marcao)
Belletti (Alessandro Mori)

Midfielders:
Kleberson (Pretto Casagrande)
Jadson (Fernandinho)
Alex (Lucio Flavio)
Tcheco (Thiago Neves)

Forwards:
Dagoberto (Alexandre Pato)
Nilmar (Lima)

Namesakes: Roger

Number one here, with no doubts, is Roger Galera Flores, an incredibly bright playmaker, who played in native Fluminense, Corinthians, Benfica, now in Flamengo. The second popular Roger is Roger Machado Marques, left wing (or fullback) who played 10 years in Gremio, now in Fluminense.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Imre Csermelyi (Hun.)
[im-re cher-mey-ee]

Ionel Boghiţoi (Rom.)
[ionel bogitsoy]

Ionuţ Chiricu (Rom.)
[ionuts kiriku]

István Szűcs (Hun.)
[ishtvan siuch] ([siuch] as one syllable).

Ivica Kralj (Croat.)
[ivitsa kral], with "l" mild as in French.

Argentina: Apertura 2007, 14th Week

Tigre - Arsenal 2:0
Martin Morel, Sebastian Rusculleda
Tigre is seriously dreaming of title, which characterizes very well this strange Aperura.

Lanus - San Martin 2:0
Diego Valeri, Sebastian Blanco
Lanus is first now in the APertura's table.

Olimpo - Banfield 1:1
Sebastian Gonzalez - Christian Lucchetti (pen.)

Colon - Gimnasia de Jujuy 0:1
Gabriel Loeschbor

Rosario Central - Velez Sarsfield 0:2
Pablo Lima, Lionel Rios
Central is unlikely to leave the last position in the table.

Argentinos Juniors - Racing 1:0
Gabriel Peñalba
Argentinos lack only four points to be the first.

Gimnasia de La PLata - River Plate 0:2
Diego Buonanotte, Radamel Falcao Garcia

Huracan - Newell's Old Boys 3:1
Franco Mendoza, Andres Franzoia, Rolando Schiavi (pen.) - Rolando Schiavi (o.g.)

Boca Juniors - Estudiantes 1:1
Martin Palermo - Pablo Piatti
Boca did not manage to beat one of the weakest teams of the tournament.

Independiente - San Lorenzo 1:2
German Denis - Adrian Gonzalez (pen.), Jorge Ortiz
The main candidate for the title lost in principal match, but did not lose the chances to triumph. Denis scores his 16th goal in 14 games.

Juan Roman Riquelme

Juan Roman Riquelme, nominated for the World's Best Player, sparkled interest of one club more. this time its Brazilian Fluminense, strongly supported by their sponsors lately, that dreams of having Argentinean for Copa Libertadores.

New National Teams: Sao Paulo (state)

One of the most powerful national teams at a world championship where the most talented world's players might have been gathered indeed, could be a team of Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. Here are three variants:

SAO PAULO

Keepers:
Marcos - Fernando Enrique - Doni

Defensemen:
Ilsinho - Cicinho - Anderson Lima
Rodrigo - Edu Dracena - Rodolfo
Marinho - Gustavo - Alex Silva
Kleber - Coelho - Rogerio

Midfielders:
Correa - Renato - Marcelo Mattos
Ricardinho - Caio - Rodrigo Taddei
Diego - Ze Roberto - Denilson
Robinho - Marcinho - Gil

Forwards:
Luizao - Ricardo Oliveira - Nene
Luis Fabiano - Jo - Grafite

Brazilian Slavs

In Brazil he number of players of Ukrainian origin is not that big. The main star has been Helcio (Helcio Roberto Alisk) who has been a leading midfielder in many Brazilian clubs. He is 38 now. Another great player is Santos' playmaker Tcheco. He has no Ukrainian blood, but was raised by Ukrainian community in Curitiba, attended Ukrainian church and school and began playing football in local team named "Poltava". The latest information (thanks to DGM) also enlists Rafael Sobis among Brazilian Ukrainians. He said in one of his interviews that he is Ukrainian on his father's side. The rest of Brazilian Slavs (mainly Poles) is as follows:

Marcos Skavinski (Marcao)
Anselmo Vendrechovski (Juninho)
Filipe Kasmirski (Filipe)
William Kozlowski (William)
Leopoldo Markovski (Leo)
Germano Borowicz (Germano)
Marcio Glad (Marcinho or Marcinho Guerreiro)

Of them only the last one returned to his motherland and is playing for Metallurg Donetsk.

Namesakes: Diego

Everything is clear with Diego Ribas da Cunha, Werder's leader, everybody knows him well. There is also notable keeper Diego Costa Silva who made himself a loud name in Atletico Paranaense. Fluminense raised Diego de Souza Andrade, who started with calling himself just Diego, but later added Souza to it. Now Diego Souza is one of leaders in Gremio. He shouldn't be confused with another Diego Souza - Diego de Souza Gama Silva, originally from Palmeiras, now playing for Tokyo Verdy in Japan. And the last one of those who deserve mentioning is one of very talented twin-brothers raised at Internacional, Diego de Lima Barcellos. Funny, but his twin brother is called Diogo.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Guadalberto Mojica (Span.)
[mohika]. This surname is often mispronounced in an English manner, with "j" like in "John". Should be like "h" in "Harry".

György Józsi (Hung.)
[diord yozhi]. [Diord] is pronounced as one syllable, "zh" is like "s" in "pleasure".

Gyula Hegedűs (Hung.)
[diu-la hegedush]. [diu] is one syllable, like English "dew".

Henrik Rydström (Swed.)
[rüdstrom]. For the English it obviously would be [roodstrom].

Igor Žofčák - (Czech.)
[igor zhofchak]

Jairo

Jairo, an ex-midfielder of Corinthians with which he became champion in 1990 died in Parana in moto accident. He was 41.

Transfers: Washington

Famous forward Washington, who holds national record of 32 goals scored in one championship, is likely to join Fluminense. 32-year Brazilian, who has been playing in Japanese Urawa Reds lately, shares the list of Flu's possible reinforcements with Leandro Amaral of Vasco, Alex Mineiro and David Ferreira of Atletico Paranaense, as well as Acosta of Nautico.

Argentinean Ukrainians, part 2

It's a sequel to the first part of this megaproject which promises to get prolonged for years, until someone realizes that Ukraine is simply obliged to bring its compatriots back home, even if only in form of football players, as well as to disfruit from the fact that Ukraine is represented in Argentina with huge community the same that Italy and Spain disfruit from being presented there by their communities as well. I hope, everyone enjoyed the 2001 epopee with inviting Camps, Klimowicz, Chatruk and Kmet to Ukrainian national team. The idea was appreciated by the whole world except for the chiefs of Ukrainian football. OK, we'll wait. For now, for those who liked the first part, here is the part number two.

During six years that passed since the documentary on "Ukrainian Four" saw the light, no new Ukrainian players of the level of those four emerged in Argentina. Patricio Camps (35) retired. Julian Kmet (30) hasn't been able to get out of his decline, having traded many teams of the first and second division (now in Ferro). Jose Chatruk (31) after roaming over many famous teams returned to his beloved Racing. Diego Klimowicz (33) obtained Polish citizenship and traded Wolfsburg for Borussia Dortmund. But there have always been other players, whom we shouldn't forget in no way.

First, let's pay tribute to great forward Adrian Czornomaz (39), who was shining during 90s in Independiente and later re-wrote all the records of Nacional B. Played in Austria a little. He was a real star.

Jorge Balanda. A nephew of one of the leaders of Ukrainian community in Argentina, he played in defense of Quilmes for some time, now in Los Andes (Nacional B).

Carlos Marczuk (30). Another native of "Ukrainian" province of Misiones, he played on the right wing of Instituto and Colon, then in Peru (including for Sporting Cristal). Now he returned home and plays in Misiones for Crucero del Norte.

Maximiliano Kondratiuk. A keeper of San Martin from San Juan. This year he burst with his sensational club into la Primera.

Daniel Mielnicchuk. Another keeper who has been balancing for a couple of years between the main squad and reserve of Independiente.

Marcelo Kobystij (35). Several years ago he was a titular defenseman at Huracan, but then descended with his club into Nacional B, now seems to have retired.

Lucas Ischuk. A keeper with a solid reputation. Has experience of playing in the prime league. Now is with Atletico Tucuman.

Carlos Kletnicki. This keeper has been playing for many years now for Gimnasia La Plata. May be a Pole too.

Javier Klimowicz. Another keeper. This one with an interesting career. Several years ago he moved to Ecuadorian league, where became a nation's pet, got Ecuadorian citizenship and may play now for Ecuador.

And now some unique names, which Ukrainians simply are obliged to know about.

Daniel Dobryk (32). A unique player. In River Plate Hernan Crespo had no chances under this Ukrainian forward! What spoiled him his career was his uncontrolled agressiveness. He is known as one of the grittiest and respectful Argentinean players. With the course of time he started playing a playmaker. Now plays in Mendoza for Deportivo Guaymayen. This player evokes special pity for not being regarded by his motherland.

Guillermo Szeszurak (also 30+). This Ukrainian when playing for River Plate was an idol of you know who? Javier Saviola! But his career wans't lucky either and he spent it on playing for the lower leagues clubs, having scored lots of goals. Now he has retired and opened a football school of his own.

Sergio Diduch (30). This forward was raised by Boca Juniors, although did not managed to play for the great club. He spent his career in the league of Honduras, and is stil there as of now.

Ricardo Wisniewski. This forward is still young and had wonderful press some time ago. Now he is in Venezuelan Monegas.

There are more players of Ukrainian origin in Argentina, simply remember them:

Miguel Angel Kosciuk (Los Andes)
Victor Sieracki (Ferrocaril Sud)
Maximiliano Serafinovich (Sporting Bahia Blanca)
Sergio Kaezuk (San Miguel)
Orlando Iwanski (Ituzaingo)
Silvio Rudnicki (Laferrere)
Hernan Kisnaszuk (Barracas)
Flavio Pavich (Acassuso)
Carlos Renyinski (Leandro N. Alem)
Cesar Gaczynski (Excursionistas)
Sergio Mazur
Pablo Derkacz
Gustavo Pysiak

Viva Ucrania!

New National Teams: Pernambuco

Despite its modest size, the hot Brazilian state of Pernambuco with the center in the city of Recife is able to suggest for a World Cup an absolute kill-team. What strikes most is midfield:

PERNAMBUCO

Keeper:
Bosco

Defensemen:
Lucio
Edson
Nem
Cleber Santana

Midfielders:
Josue
Iranildo
Juninho Pernambucano
Flavio Luiz

Forwards:
Araujo
Sergio Alves

Namesakes: Alex

There are at least five famous players with this name. The best of them is legendary playmaker Alexsandro de Souza from Coritiba, who made Cruzeiro champion in 2003 and got Bola de Oro for that. Now he pulls Fenerbahce on his shoulders in the Champions League. The tall and mighty fullback Alex Rodrigo Dias da Costa managed to play for Santos, PSV and Chelsea already, and is regularly called to Brazilian national team. A couple of months ago there have been rumours that Barcelna expresses interest to Internacional's polifunctional midfielder Alex Meschini, which automatically promotes him to the group of outstanding Alexes too. Sao Paulo had an Alex of their own, fullback Alex Bruno Costa Fernandes. Now he is in Botafogo. And finally, the last famous Alex - Alexander Pereira Cardoso, another Bola de Oro's holder (2001) is known better as Alex Mineiro.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Gabriel Giurgiu (Rom.)
[jurju] with "j" like in "John".

Gabriel Paraschiv (Rom./Ukr.)
[paraskiv]

Gancarczyk (Pol.)
[gantsarchik]. For some reason this Polish player, who plays in Ukraine, is mistakenly called "Gancharzhik" there.

Gergely Rudolf (Hung.)
[gergey rudolf]

Gergely Délczeg (Hung.)
[gergey deltseg]

Transfers: Roque Junior

Ex-defensmen of Milan and Brazilian National Team, Roque Junior, signed with German Duisburg. Brazilian had been without a club lately.

Coritiba

Coritiba, which virtually secured its return to the prime league, now thinks of how to keep its best players. The fullback Henrique has been sounded by Udinese, midfielder Pedro Ken and forward Keirrison have been watched by Vitoria Guimaraes and wanted by Sao Paulo. The only star they have a chance to keep is 18-year midfielder Marlos, who has not become an undoubtful titular yet.

Juan Roman Riquelme

After two supergolazos of Juan Roman Riquelme against Chile Milan immediately offered to Villareal eight million euros for one of world's best players. Thus, the Italian grandee joined the long queue of those who pretend for Riquelme, with Mahcnester City and Betis showing the biggest interest.

Miguel Tevez

In Manchester United they think already that one Tevez is not enough, they want two. Alex Ferguson announced that the club would love to sign Carlitos' younger brother, Miguel Tevez (17), who currently plays for reserve of Boca Juniors.

Ezequiel Lavezzi

Napoli's Argentinean forward Ezequiel Lavezzi, announced the best League's newcomer by La gazzetta della sport, took part in an accident on one of city's streets when his car collided with another one. The player and his fiancee started sorting it out with the owners of another car, which ended with fight.

Transfers: Javier Mascherano

Argentinean anchorman Javier Mascherano may trade Liverpool for Barcelona soon. It might happen if Catalan club doesn't succeed in bringing home Cesc Fabregas.

Brazilian Germans

If German national team one day finds itself lacking players, it has a precious superresource in Brazil, where many local players have German surnames:

Kretzer (Flavio)
Spellmeier (Felipe)
Hahn (Jerri)
Mestiner (Mauro)
Boeck (Marcelo)
Richartz (Eder)
Muller (Luiz Muller)
Hering (Hering)
Stival (Cleyber)
Scherpel (Eduardo)
Vergner (Danilo)
Buttenberder (Fernando)
Schwenk (Schwenk)
Weisheimer (Guilherme)
Mutt (Jorge Mutt)
Hinterholz (Danrlei)
Back (Marciel)
Hubner (Ramon)
Baier (Paulo Baier)
Lammel (Anderson Lammel)
Doring (Andre)
Horn (Neto)
Diniz (Fernando Diniz)
Diniz (Wagner Diniz)
Hahn (Marcio Hahn)
Schmitz (Rafael Schmitz)
Schmidt (Edu)
Hallmann (Geufer)

While the half of them for some reason are keepers, the efforts of Herr Ramon, Herr Danilo and Herr Paulo Baier, jointly with Edu from Betis and Rafael Schmitz from Birmingham, as well as Wagner Diniz, who has gained wonderful form, will be definitely enough to win the World Cup. In other words, the German team could be easily compiled of Brazilian Germans alone.

New National Teams: Minas Gerais

Today in our rubric dedicated to new national teams, that various regions of South America could send to World Cups, we present you a team of Brazilian state Minas Gerais with the center in a wonderful city of Belo Horizonte.

Keepers:
Heurelho Gomes (Harley)

Defensemen:
Mancini (Jonathan)
Thiago Heleno (Geder)
Leonardo (Thiago Gosling)
Elivelton (Ruy)

Midfielders:
Marcos Paulo (Ricardinho)
Geovanni (Ramon)
Wagner (Danilo)
Ramon Hubner (Renato)

Forwards:
Marques (Fred)
Alex Mineiro (Eder Luiz)

Namesakes: Ze Roberto

Jose Roberto da Silva Junior, who is in Bayern now, is know to everybody. While another Ze Roberto, who also played in Europe, and who now loudly leaves Botafogo for Schalke-04, is known less, although is skillful too. His name is Jose Roberto de Oliveira.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Endre Bajúsz (Hung.)
[endre bayus]

Eugeniu Cebotar (Hung.)
[eujeniu chebotar]

František Dřížďal (Czech.)
[franteshek drzhizhdal]

Gábor Bagoly (Hung.)
[gabor bagoy]

Gábor Vincze (Hung.)
[gabor vintse]

Ze Roberto

Botafogo's midfielder Ze Roberto (not the one who's a pentacampeon, but quite high-level as well) who has been opposed to the chiefs of the Brazilian club for the last moth, decided to leave Fogao. The new destination seems to be German Schalke-04.

New National Teams: Santa Fe (province)

Small Argentinean province of Santa Fe is one of world's football capitals. You can easily get convinced in that by having looked at three squads that this province could have sent to take part in a World Cup:

SANTA FE

Keepers:
Juan Pablo Carrizo - Roberto Abbondanzieri - German Lux

Defensemen:
Paulo Ferrari - Alcides Piccoli - Diego Crosa
Federico Lussenhoff - Gabriel Heinze - Leonardo Talamonti
Walter Samuel - Leandro Gioda - Ezequiel Garay
German Re - Horacio Ameli - Leandro Fernandez

Midfielders:
Ever Banega - Leonardo Ponzio - Nicolas Domingo
Marcelo Delgado - Guillermo Marino - Ezequiel Gonzalez
Leonel Messi - Santiago Raymonda - Damian Manso
Fernando Belluschi - Santiago Solari - Maxi Morales

Forwards:
Ezequiel Lavezzi - Luciano Figueroa - Nicolas Frutos
Emanuel Villa - Cesar Delgado - Maxi Rodriguez

Latinamerican "Clasicos"

In Latin America the traditional rivalry of two teams is called "clasico". Several pairs form "superclasicos".

SUPERCLASICOS

River Plate - Boca Juniors (Argentina)
Flamengo - Fluminense (Brasil)
Palmeiras - Corinthians (Brasil)
ROsario Central - Newell's Old Boys (Argentina)
Independiente - Racing (Argentina)
Penarol - Nacional (Uruguay)

CLASICOS

Argentina:
San Lorenzo - Huracan
San Lorenzo - Boca Juniors
Velez Sarfield - Ferro
Velez Sarfield - Nueva Chicago
Nueva Chicago - All Boys
Estudiantes - Gimnasia La Plata
Talleres - Belgrano
Colon - Union
Atletico Tucuman - San Martin
Chacarita - Nueva Chicago
Lanus - Banfield
Independiente Rivadavia - Godoy Cruz
Argentinos Juniors - Platense

Brasil:
Atletico Mineiro - Cruzeiro
Internacional - Gremio
Santos - Palmeiras
Corinthians - Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo - Palmeiras
Vasco da Gama - Botafogo
Vasco da Gama - Flamengo
Atletico Paranaense - Parana
Botafogo - Fluminense
Flamengo - Sao Paulo
Fortaleza - Ceara
Sport - Nautico
Paysandu - Remo
Goias - Vila Nova
Brasiliense - Gama
Juventude - Caxias
Guarani - Ponte Preta
Sao Raimundo - Nacional
Figueirense - Avai
CRB - CSA
America Natal - ABC

Paraguay:
Olimpia - Cerro Porteno

Mexico:
Chivas Guadalajara - America
America - Necaxa
Chivas Guadalajara - Tecos UAG

Peru:
Alianza Lima - Universitario

Chile:
Colo COlo - Universidad de Chile
Universidad Catolica - Universidad de Chile
Wanderers - Everton

Colombia:
America de Cali - Deportivo Cali
Atletico Nacional - Independiente
Independiente - Millionarios

Ecuador:
Barcelona - Emelec
El Nacional - LDU

Bolivia:
The Strongest - Bolivar

Venezuela:
Caracas - Tachira

Costa Rica:
Alajuelense - Saprissa

Panama:
Tauro - Plaza Amador

Nicaragua:
Diriangen - Real Esteli

Guatemala:
Municipal - Comunicaciones

Honduras:
Marathon - Olimpia

El Salvador:
FAS - Aguila

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

David Šmahaj (Czech.)
[shmagay]

Decebal Gheară (Rom.)
[dechebal gia-re]

Djordje Babalj (Croat.)
[jorje babal] - "j" here is English, while "l" is mild as in French.

Dmitri Khokhlov (Rus.)
[hohlov] or [jojlov] for the Spaniards.

Dmitri Sytchev
[si-chov], the second syllable is stressed.

Namesakes: Souza

The most talented Souza was called in Russia "de Souza". His full name is Jose Ivanildo de Souza, and he was actually the one to wake the Russian football up. He played for Krylia Sovetov. After having returned to Brazil he played for Flamengo, and now is the heart of America of his native Natal. Williamis de Souza Silva is very talented too, as far as he wears a jersey number 10 in Sao Paulo and is a candidate to Brazilian National Team. The Souza number three is called Rodrigo de Souza Cardoso, and he is a titular forward in Flamengo today. He had a spell with Bulgarian CSKA.

New National Teams: Rio de Janeiro (state)

Another variant of new, non-affiliated with FIFA teams, this time of a Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Of course, everyone could easily select at least three great squads there:

Keepers:
Julio Cesar - Helton - Eduardo

Defensemen:
Gilberto - Leo - Gustavo Nery
Fabiano - Alex - Odvan
Luiz Alberto - Antonio Carlos - Edinho
Alessandro - Fabiano Eller - Leonardo Moura

Midfielders:
Magrao - Ricardo Bovio - Arouca
Marcelinho Carioca - Pedrinho - Ibson
Felipe - Renato Augusto - Carlos Alberto
Roger - Diego - Athirson

Forwards:
Vagner Love - Edmundo - Valdir
Romario - Deivid - Jean

Namesakes: Leandro

There are two especially famous players with this name: Leandro Silva Wanderley, who played several matches for the Brazilian national team, and Leandro Lessa, who had a voyage to Moscow Lokomotiv several years ago. Both have a very good reputation in Brazil. There are more Leandros, but they have additions to their names: very talented young Leandro Lima (bought by Porto), Leandro Amaral (important scorer in Vasco) and Leandro Guerreiro (key player of Botafogo).

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Cristian Şchiopu - (Rom.)
[shkio-pu]

Csaba Ködöböcz (Hung.)
[chaba ködöböts]

Daniel Tjernström (Swed.)
[chernström]

Daniel Ytterbom (Swed.)
If "Y" is at the beginning of a word, it's pronounced as [i], not as [yu]: [itterbom].

Dávid Meggyes (Hung.)
[meg-diesh]

Souza vs. Dunga

Dunga disliked the fact that Sao Paulo's playmaker Souza criticized in the press the practice of Dunga's preferring players who play in Europe to those who play at home. Souza himself was one of the candidates for the national team, but after those words Dunga in the worst soviet traditions virtually closed the door to country's main team for the talented player.

La Doce

A barrabrava of Boca Juniors, Mauro Martin, proclaimed himself a new chief of La Doce - a powerful organization of barrabravas of the famous club. The previous chief, Rafael di Zeo, got imprisoned for four years.

Antonio Mohamed

Antonio Mohamed, who was suddenly sacked as a coach of Huracan, signed with Mexican Veracruz. He will replace there another Argentinean, Nery Pumpido.

Superclasico

River Plate: Juan Pablo Carrizo - Paulo Ferrari, Nicolas Sanchez, Eduardo Tuzzio - Leonardo Ponzio, Oscar Ahumada, Fernando Belluschi, Augusto Fernandez (Matias Abelairas), Ariel Ortega (Andres Rios), Diego Buonanotte (Mauro Rosales) - Radamel Falcao Garcia

Boca Juniors: Mauricio Caranta - Hugo Ibarra, Gabriel Paletta, Jonathan Maidana, Claudio Morel Rodriguez - Ever Banega, Pablo Ledesma, Neri Cardozo, Leandro Gracian (Sebastian Battaglia) - Martin Palermo, Rodrigo Palacio (Alvaro Gonzalez)

Goals: Radamel Falcao Garica, Ariel Ortega (pen.)

At the end of the first half Even Banega was sent off.

Superclasico turned out to be interesting only in the first half, where all the events took place. Garcia scored a golazo after a great assist of Belluschi. Then Ortega twice shot from the penalty spot, after Caranta moved before Ortega touched the ball. Young Buonanotte who is rapidly becoming a star before our eyes, dribbled a lot, very fancily and very effectively. That was him who was marked illegally by Paletta and earned the penalty. What put an end to the game still in the first half was sending off Boca's best player as of now, Ever Banega, who received his second yellow card.
Boca's loss was stipulated by the absense of activity and constructivism in the midfield. Neither Gracian, nor Cardozo, nor Ledesma managed to fulfill playmaking functions, hence the superpair of forwards ran idle for most of time. While Passarella this time cleverly decided not to make stupid things, and as a result enjoyed a great win. It's hard to believe that with such a bright squad River is in the misddle of the table with half of the points lost.

New National Teams: Buenos Aires (province)

It is possible to compile at least three equal selections of the players born in the province of Buenos Aires:

BUENOS AIRES (province)

Keepers:
Oscar Ustari - Gustavo Campagnuolo - Gaston Sessa

Defensemen:
Eduardo Tuzzio - Clemente Rodriguez - Diego Placente
Gabriel Paletta - Emiliano Dudar - Marcos Galarza
Gabriel Milito - Rolando Schiavi - Jonatan Bottinelli
Lucas Castroman - Lucas Mareque - Ariel Garce

Midfielders:
Lucas Biglia - Fernando Gago - Oscar Ahumada
Daniel Montenegro - Rodrigo Diaz - Cristian Raul Ledesma
Juan Roman Riquelme - Leandro Romagnoli - Daniel Bilos
Carlos Tevez - Andres D'Alessandro - Lucho Gonzalez

Forwards:
Javier Saviola - Fernando Cavenaghi - Sergio Aguero
Gonzalo Higuain - Mariano Pavone - Martin Palermo

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Axel Wibrån (Swed.)
[vilbron]

Bogdan Vrăjitoarea (Rom.)
[vre-zhi-to-a-rya]

Ciprian Deac (Rom.)
[chiprian dyak]

Cosmin Gheorghiţă (Rom.)
[ge-or-gi-tse]

Cristian Chivu (Rom.)
[ki-vu]

Argentina: Apertura 2007, 13th Week

Gimnasia de Jujuy - Huracan 2:0
Pablo Goltz (o.g.), Osvaldo Miranda

Banfield - Colon 3:1
Jerónimo Barrales (3) - Germán Rivarola

Olimpo - San Martin 2:1
Josemir Lujambio, Mauro Olivi - Luis Tonelotto

Velez Sarsfield - Tigre 1:1
Víctor Zapata - Sebastián Ereros

Racing - Rosario Central 2:2
Facundo Sava (2) - Emiliano Papa, José Luis Vizcarra
Central again let the victory escape at the very end of the game, and has been falling down in descenso table.

San Lorenzo - Gimnasia de La Plata 1:1
Jorge Ortiz - Ignacio Piatti
Despite colorless performance Ramon Diaz is sure that the team will fight for thr title.

River Plate - Boca Juniors 2:0
Radamel Falcao Garcia, Ariel Ortega (pen.)
Boca didn't have a single trump for the Superclasico.

Newell's Old Boys - Independiemte 2:1
Damián Steinert, Santiago Salcedo - Daniel Montenegro
Second triumph of Ricardo Carruso Lombardi in his second game as Newell's coach. For now he's been the main candidate for Best Apertura's Coach laurels.

Arsenal - Lanus 0:1
José Sand
Lanus officially announced that they are going for the title.

Estudiantes - Argenntinos Juniors 3:0
Juan Sebastián Verón (2, 1 - pen.), Ezequiel Maggiolo
Recovered Veron somewhat cleaned the reputation of the main Apertura's loser.

Argentinean National Team

On the eve of the clash against Chile Alfio Basile cleverly invited five representatives of Argentinean Apertura: River's keeper Juan Pablo Carrizo, Boca's right wing Hugo Ibarra, playmakers of Independiente and River Daniel Montenegro and Fernando Belluschi, as well as the best tournament's scorer, German Denis from Independiente.

New National Teams: Bahia

We continue presenting wonderful new national teams that might have made look any tournament, starting with the World Cup, much fancier. This time it's a National Team of Brazilian Bahia state. Despite that both its clubs (Bahia and Vitoria) are far now from their best conditions, the quality of the players they brought up is incredible. Look yourself (the team consists of the players born in the state of Bahia):

BAHIA

Keepers:
Fabio Costa (Dida)

Defensemen:
Dani Alves (Baiano)
Fabão (Junior Baiano)
Adailton (Jean)
Junior (Leilton)

Midfielders:
Alan Bahia (Bebeto Campos)
Fabio Baiano (Gil Baiano)
Alessandro Cambalhota (Vampeta)
Danilo (Jorge Wagner)

Forwards:
Liedson (Obina)
Magno Alves (Edilson)

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Andrei Viţelaru (Rom.)
[andrey vitselaru]

Andrew Hainault (Can./Fr.)
[eno]. The stress falls onto the last syllable, of course.

Anes Mravac (Bos.)
If a "с" in a surname of Yugoslavian origin doesn't have a special sign over it, it should be pronounced like [ts], not like [ch]: [mravats].

Antti Pohja (Fin.)
[poh-ya]. [h] is pronounced.

Axel Kjäll (Swed.)
Swedish "Kj" is pronounced as [tch]: [tchell].

Dario Conca

Argentinean Dario Conca, who has become a genuine star of Brazilian Vasco da Gama, is very likely to prolong his contract with Cruzmaltino for another season. The proprietors of his pass, heads of River Plate, are interested in that too, since the value of one of the best Brasilerao's playmakers is rapidly increasing.

Injuries: Cristian Daniel Ledesma

Lazio's leader Argentinean Cristian Daniel Ledesma is going to have his knee operated. This would have him outside of football for 3-4 weeks.

New National Teams: Cordoba

As far as there is no logical explanation to participation of four British or two Danish "national" teams in World Cups, we suggest you new, way more interesting national teams which would be much more popular among the world fans and have much more reasons to exist than national teams of Wales or Faroe Islands. Especially given that the queues to Brazilian or Argentinean teams are one kilometer long. We start with a National Team of a wonderful Argentinean province Cordoba (it consists of players born in this province):

CORDOBA

Keepers
Franco Costanzo (Mario Cuenca)
Juan Carlos Olave (Esteban Dei Rossi)

Defensemen
Martin Pautasso (Fabricio Coloccini)
Nicolas Burdisso (Fernando Ortiz)
Martin Demichelis (Gabriel Loeschbor)
Fabricio Fuentes (Diego Colotto)

Midfielders
Guillermo Pereyra (Esteban Gonzalez)
Pablo Aimar (Livio Prieto)
Guillermo Marino (Marcos Aguirre)
Daniel Ludueña (Claudio Sarria)

Forwards
Mauro Rosales (Cesar Carignano)
Hector Bracamonte (Martin Cardetti)

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Abdelhak Boutasgount (Arab./Fr.)
[abdel-hak boo-tas-goon]

Aleksandr Bebikh (Rus.)
The "kh" construction is one of the silliest inventions in transliteration of Russian names into English. It was invented exactly for cases like this, when a Russian names has a final "x", the English equivalent of which - "h" - is not pronounced at the end of the words. To make it sound they invented this combination which is pronounced by the English very differently from the Russian "x" - they pronounce it like "k" strongly aspirated. But what is much worse, later people decided that this was the combination to render Russian "x" in ANY position, for example, at the beginning of a word. Although English "h" would have been way more adequate in this case. [alexander bebih].

Aleksei Blokha (Rus.)
Another example with the same awkward "kh" combination. When transliterated into various languages it shold be like this: Bloha - in English, Blocha - in German, Bloja - in Spanish, etc.

Alin Nicu Chibulcutean (Rom.)
In Romanian language the "сh" is read as [k] if followed by "е" or "i": [alin niku ki-bul-ku-tian].

András Dlusztus (Hun.)
[andrash dlustush]

Argentina: Apertura 2007, 12th Week

Colon - Olimpo 3:0
Darío Gandín, Fernando Merlo, Luis Quinteros

Independiente - Gimnasia de Jujuy 3:0
Germán Denis (2, 1 - pen.), Carlos Matheu
German Denis scored his 15th goal in 12 matches. The record of Martin Palermo (20 goals) has been clearly threatened.

Huracan - Banfield 1:0
Walter Coyette

Argentinos Juniors - River Plate 4:1
Gabriel Hauche, Alejandro Delorte, Franco Niell, Roberto Battión - Marco Ruben
The worst River's performance in years. The hinchada is counting days till Passarella's sacking.

Lanus - Velez Sarsfield 2:1
José Sand (2, 1 - pen.) - Facundo Coria
After this loss La Volpe's days as Velez's coach are numbered too.

Boca Juniors - San Lorenzo 2:0
Martín Palermo, Sebastián Méndez (o.g.)

Rosario Central - Estudiantes 2:2
José Vizcarra (2) - Iván Moreno y Fabianesi (pen.), Pablo Lugüercio
Central deserved a win, but allowed a goal at the end of the game.

San Martin - Arsenal 1:1
Gabriel Roth - Andrés San Martín

Tigre - Racing 3:2
Néstor Ayala, Leandro Lázzaro, Guillermo Suárez - Facundo Sava, Franco Sosa
Usual outsiders and newcomers look sensational this season.

Gimnasia de La Plata - Newell's Old Boys
Postponed for October 26th

Transfers: Athirson

Botafogo broke the contract with Athirson, who failed to gain his form in two months spent at club. Now famous Brazilian is choosing between several offers from Arab countries.

River Plate

Similar search of a new coach has been carried out in River Plate too, although not so officially. There has been a rumour that Diego Simeone has been contacted, despite that president Aguilar refused to confirm it. Although the inadequacy of Passarella is clear, Simeone is hardly a right candidate. When his Estudiantes won the title, it was prepared by Merlo, while Simeone showed his low competence this year, after three main players of La Plata club left the team.

Ricardo La Volpe

Ricardo La Volpe will remain as a coach of Velez Sarfield till there is a replacement for him. The search is under way. Understanding that he is of no use for Velez now, La Volpe even suggested to leave right away, with no claim for the remaining sum of the contract, but the heads of the club asked him to stay until the end of the year.

Barcelona Guayaquil

Barcelona Guayaquil failed to qualify for the final liguilla of Ecuadorian championship, despite being regarded as a main candidate for the title. Both Argentinean stars, Marcelo Delgado and Gaston Sessa, didn't help the team.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Vlastimil Stožický (Czech.)
In Czech language "ž" stands for [zh], while "-cky" and "-cka" endings should be read as [tski] and [tska], NOT [ki] and [ka]: [stozhitski].

Zbigniew Małkowski (Pol.)
A tricky Polish name is pronounced this way: [zbignev].

Edu Drácena (Br.)
In the nickname of this Brazilian defenseman of Besiktas the stress falls onto the first syllable.

Källstrom (Swed.)
In Swedish language the "k" before "ä" is pronounced as [ch]: [chalstrom].

Ivica Dragutinovic (Serb.)
In Serbian language "c" is [ts], don't pronounce it as [ivika]. It should be [ivitsa], with the stress on the first syllable.

Argentina: Apertura 2007, 11th Week

Olimpo - Huracan 3:1
Josemir Lujambio, Mariano Martínez, Mauro Olivi (pen.) - Franco Mendoza

Estudiantes - Tigre 2:2
Agustín Alayes, Ezequiel Maggiolo - Néstor Ayala, Juan Carlos Blengio

Gimnasia de Jujuy - Gimnasia de La Plata 4:0
Marcelo Berza, Osvaldo Miranda, César Carranza, Marcelo Quinteros

Colon - San Martin 1:1
Darío Gandín (pen.) - Sebastián Brusco

Velez Sarfield - Arsenal 0:0

Banfield - Independiente 2:0
Jerónimo Barrales, Cristian Lucchetti

River Plate - Rosario Central 3:3
Andrés Ríos, Diego Buonanotte, Radamel Falcao Garcia - Martín García, Damián Díaz, Ronald Raldes

Racing - Lanus 1:1
Martín Romagnoli - José Sand
Racing stopped it's streak of three wins, but still managed not to lose.

San Lorenzo - Argentinos Juniors 2:1
Andrés Silvera, Osmar Ferreyra (pen.) - Néstor Ortigoza (pen.)

Newell's Old Boys - Boca Juniors 1:0
Santiago Salcedo
Carruso Lombardi coudn't imagine a better start as a coach than to defeat Boca Juniors.

Venezuelan National Team

Coach of Venezuelan national team, Richard Paez, announced the list of players to take part in first qualification matches for Mundial 2010 against Ecuador and Argentina:

Keepers: Renny Vega (Busaspor, Turkey) and Leonardo Morales (Deportivo Anzoátegui)

Defensemen: José Manuel Rey (AEK Larnaka, Cyprus), Héctor González (AEK Larnaka, Cyprus), Alejandro Cichero (Litex, Bulgaria), Luis Vallenilla (Nea Salamis, Cyprus), Roberto Rosales (Gent, Belgium), Andrés Rouga (Alki Larnaka, Cyprus) and Jorge Rojas (América, Colombia)

Midfielders: Edder Pérez (Marítimo, Portugal), Ricardo David Páez (Verria, Greece), Leonel Vielma (Caracas FC), Alejandro Guerra (Caracas FC), Luis Vera (Caracas FC), Miguel Mea Vitali (Unión Maracaibo) and Luis Manuel Seijas (Deportivo Táchira).

Forwards: Juan Arango (Real Mallorca, Spain), Giancarlo Maldonado (Atlante, Mexico), Nicolás Fedor Miku (Gimnástic Tarragona, Spain) and Daniel Arismendi (Unión Maracaibo)

Thiago Neves

Fluminense's Thiago Neves, who has been one of the best playmakers this season in Brazil, keeps on being reluctant in prolonging his contract with Flu, keeping in mind his possible transfer for European football. While Fluminense's coach, famous Renato Gaucho, keeps on insisting that without signing a new contract Thiago can't count on playing.

Juan Roman Riquelme

Juan Roman Riquelme, who has been out of football, may continue his career in Manchester City. Sven-Goran Eriksson, who is coaching the English club now, wants the Argentinean to help Manchester City to qualify for Eurocups. While club's owner, Tai Thaksin Shinawatra is ready to spend on Riquelme 8 million euros.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Tomasz Kuszczak (Pol.)
The difficult "szcz" denotes a sound close to "shch" in "fresh cheese": [tomash kushchak].

Tor Hogne Aarøy (Nor.)
In Norwegian language the double "аа" is [o], the "о" is often read as [u], the "g" before "n" sometimes is read as "y", while "ø" after consonants is read as French "eu": [tur huine orøy].

Tuncay Şanlı (Tur.)
In Turkish language the "c" mean English "j". So, he is "Tunjay", not "Tunkay", as many think. While "Ş" is a Turkish [sh]: [tunjay shanli].

Václav Mrkvička (Czech.)
Czech "c" is [ts]. As for the surname, it has a hidden syllable: [vatslav m(o)rkvichka].

Vedran Ćorluka (Croat.)
Often the special sign over the "c" is omitted, which leads to a mispronunciation. Should be: [vedran chorluka].

Vanderlei Luxemburgo & Flamengo

Famous Brazilian coach Vandelei Luxemburgo, whose contract with Santos is almost over, and who would like to change a club, has received a superoffer from Flamengo. He has not only been offered a good salary, but also promised interest from players' sale.

Nelson Rivas

Colombian fullback of Inter Nelson Rivas has been suspended for one month due to cardiological problems. If further examination detects serious problems with player's heart, he won't be able to play in Italy, since the local clubs bear criminal responsibility for their players' health.

Argentinean National Team

Alfio Basile announced a list of players who will take part in first qualification matches for Mundial 2010 against Chile and Venezuela:

Keepers: Roberto Abbondanzieri (Getafe), Oscar Ustari (Getafe).

Defensemen: Daniel Díaz (Getafe), Gabriel Heinze (Real Madrid), Gabriel Milito (Barcelona), Javier Zanetti (Inter), Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo), Martín Demichelis (Bayern), Nicolás Burdisso (Inter).

Midfielders: Esteban Cambiasso (Inter), Maxi Rodriguez (Atlético Madrid), Fernando Gago (Real Madrid), Jonás Gutiérrez (Mallorca), Javier Mascherano (Liverpool), Federico Insúa (América de México), Juan Román Riquelme (without a club).

Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Javier Saviola (Real Madrid), Sergio Agüero (Atlético Madrid), Carlos Tevez (Manchester United).

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Steven Pienaar (Dut.)
In Dutch language the "ie" stands for a long [i], while doubled "аа" is pronounced as a single [a]: [pinar].

Szombathely (Hun.)
In this Hungarian surname you should remember two things: first, the "sz" stands for [s], and second, the "ly" is [y], as in "boy": [som-ba-tey].

Thomas Myhre (Dan.)
The "y" letter in Scandinavian languages stands for French [u] sound, if not at the beginning of a word. While the "h" is mute in this case: [miu-re] (with [iu] being one syllable).

Tim Cahill (Eng.)
Despite that the "h" is in intervocal position (between two vowels) here, in which it's often mute, in this case it's clearly pronounced: [ka-hill].

Tomasz Cywka (Pol.)
Unlike in Hungarian, in Polish the "sz" is [sh], while "с", as we told many times, is [ts] in Polish language. The "y" is different to "i", but the non-Polish are not likely to understand the difference. So, it's [tomash tsivka].

Ever Banega

President of Boca Juniors, Mauricio Macri, rejected Milan's proposal to buy Ever Banega for 14 million dollars. The price offered for one of the best Argentina's young players seemed too low for Macri.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Sami Hyypiä (Fin.)
In this tricky Finnish name the doubled "yy" is pronounced as single French "u": [hiu-pee-a], "iu" should be one syllable.

Sedgwick (Eng.)
Although the root "e" is omitted here, the "g" anyway should be read as in "gesture", not as a [g]: [sedzhwik].

Shunzuke Nakamura (Jap.)
First, the "Sh" is pronounced here as [sh], because it is followed by "u", not by "е" nor "i", and second, the Japanese swallow the second "u" in this name: [shunske].

Stephen Hunt (Eng.)
That's how the name [stiven] is written in English. Don't look for "Steven". Update: ok, look for Steven, there tons of them. Although, the correct way to spell this name is still "Stephen".

Stephen Wishart (Eng.)
Here the "s" and the "h" belong to various roots, hence don't form a [sh] sound: [wis-hart].

Transfers: Kleberson

Finally pentacampeon Kleberson managed to return home. After his intent to sign with Santos failed, the Paranaense joined Flamengo. In Europe Kleberson's last club was Turkish Besiktas.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Raimond van der Gouw (Dut.)
The rules of Dutch language demand this surname to be pronounced as [van der gau].

Riccardo Scimeca (It.)
In Italian language "sc", if followed by "i" or "е", is read as [sh]: [shimeka].

Robert Malcolm (Eng.)
The second "l" in this surname is mute: [malkom].

Roman Bednář (Czech.)
Another example of a Czech surname with "ř", which is pronounced as [rzh]: [bednarzh].

Rudi Skácel (Czech.)
In Czech language the "с" is [ts]: [skatsel].

Transfers: Ze Maria

Well-known Brazilian winger Ze Maria signed with Sheffield United. The ex-player of Brazilian national team used to play for Inter and Parma. His last club was Spanish Levante.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Nicky Wroe (Eng.)
In English language the "Wr" combination at the beginning of a word has "W" mute.

Pavel Ricka (Czech.)
In Czech language "с" is always [ts], don't take the "ck" for English [k]. It's [tsk]: [pavel ritska].

Peñarol (Ur.)
Some forget sometimes about the tilde, which results in wrong pronunciation of a club's name. Should be [peniarol].

Péter Halmosi (Hung.)
Another Hungarian name to repeat the Hungarian phonetic rules. As the rest of similar Hungarian three-syllable surnames, this one has a stress over the first syllable: [peter halmoshi].

Pugh (Eng.)
This English name should be pronounced as [piu] (one-syllable).

Ricardo Caruso Lombardi

Ricardo Caruso Lombardi, who has been sacked as a coach of Argentinos Juniors, has replaced Pablo Marini on the position of a chief coach of Newell's Old Boys. Before Argentinos Caruso Lombardi coached mainly small clubs like Temperley, Sportivo Italiano, Estudiantes de Caseros, Platense, El Porvenir, All Boys and Tigre.

Injuries: Alexis Sanchez

In a match of Argentinean Apertura against Tigre River Plate's yuong star Alexis Sanchez was attacked by defenseman Juan Carlos Blengio which resulted in torn ligaments. That means that next three months the hope of River and Chilean national team will have to spend without football.

Argentina: Apertura 2007, Week 10

Arsenal de Sarandí - Racing Club 0:1
Sava

Lanús - Estudiantes La Plata 1:0
Jimenez
Estudiantes turned out to be completely unprepared for the tournament.

Huracán - Colón de Santa Fe 2:2
Mendoza, Nieto - Romero, Gandin

Rosario Central - San Lorenzo 1:3
Silvera, Mendez, Hirsig - Vizcarra

Gimnasia La Plata - Banfield 0:1
Cvitanich

San Martín San Juan - Vélez Sarsfield 3:2
Brusco (pen.), Tonelotto, Herrera - Silva, Balvorin (pen.)
An excellent win of modest provincial club. La Volpe's days at Velez are numbered.

Argentinos Juniors - Newell´s Old Boys 4:0
Hauche, Pereira (3)
An unexpected hat-trick of Uruguayan Pereira resulted in sacking of Newell's head coach.

Independiente - Olimpo Bahía Blanca 3:0
Montenegro, Denis (2)
Denis scored twice again and has now 13 goals in 10 games. An outstanding pace.

Tigre - River Plate 4:1
Martinez, Gimenez, Ayala (2) - Ruben
After that game Passarella started showing the signs of being prepared for defection to Monterrey. A wonderful win of small club over the giant does not seem that bright in light of severe injury of Alexis Sanchez who will be out of action for next three months.

Boca Juniors - Gimnasia de Jujuy 2:2
Boselli, Paletta - Miranda, Berza
Boca was sleeping by the end of the game and allowed a goal in injury time.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Martin Švejnoha (Czech.)
Another Czech "h", which should be pronounced rather as [g], since it's voiced: [shvey-noga].

Metcalfe (Eng.)
In this surname the "l" is mute: [metkaf].

Mirsad Bešlija (Croat.)
This surname is read due to the rules common for the western slav languages: [mirsad beshliya].

Moritz Volz (Ger.)
In German language "v" is pronounced as [f], while "z" stands for [ts]: [folts].

Nick Farquharson (Scot./Austr.)
The surname is of Scottish origin - [farkerson], but in Australia it is pronounced differently: [farkuarson].

Argentina & Brazil: Those Who Never Went to Europe

The emigration of Argentinean, Brazilian and Uruguayan players to Europe has become unprecedently active in last years. The talented players leave their homeland sometimes having not actually played in national leagues and hence having not gained their valuable experience. The wisest from this point of view seem to be those who managed to avoid the temptation and stay in South America at least till their 23-24 years. Let's have a look at those players.

Number one is, undoubtedly, River's leader Fernando Belluschi, who managed by his 23 to become Argentina's champion with Newells. Fernando now is in wonderful form, being a member of Argentinean national team, as well as one of world's best midfielders.

Another one to deserve some respect is once world champion with sub-20 Ariel Seltzer from Argentinos Juniors. This fullback remained faithful to his team both when it descended to the lower league, and when it returned and began to show some great football now.

Another outstanding Argentinean who remained loyal to his country despite his bright talent is Santiago Raymonda, playmaker of Instituto and Arsenal. He is 28 already.

Raymonda's club-mate, also a playmaker, Martin Andrizzi belongs to the same category. He is 31 already, but has never played abroad. He is considered as a very qualified specialist in Argentinean football.

Many Argentinean keepers of the highest class spend all their career at home. One of examples is Cristian Lucchetti, a keeper-scorer, who spent one season in Mexican Laguna Santos though.

Ex-defenseman of sub-20 Banfield's Marcos Galarza has reached 23 years, which means that he has played eight seasons in Argentinean league, and that his priceless experience is doubled by his youthfullness and energy. The best moment to move to Europe.

The same can be said about Galarza's mate forward Dario Cvitanich. He has blossomed by his 23 having turned into one of the most threatening Argentinean forwards.

Juan Krupoviesa, who is 27 now, remained faithful to Argentina and Boca too. At the present moment the member of Argentinean national team is injured.

One of the most classic cases is the one of Rodrigo Palacio. He is 25, he is a member of Argentinean national team, but he has never tried yet European pitches. Although Olympic Lyon expressed very serious interest to him a month ago.

Another one to never get to Europe is once Argentina's speediest defenseman Alcides Piccoli from Colon. He is 28 already and is unlikely to move abroad.

The same refers to very popular in Argentina forward Claudio Enria. This santafesino has tried great deal of Argentinean clubs, but never played for European ones, although could have felt himself perfect in any of them.

Gimnasia de Jujuy is lead this season by 27-year wonderful playmaker Cesar Carranza. Last year he conducted the game at Nueva Chicago. For unknown reasons the European scouts pay no attention to that skillful player.

Fernando Crosa has turned 28. Now he is somewhat lost, but a couple of years ago played for River Plate and was considered as one of Argentina's best fullbacks.

An experienced warrior, playmaker Pablo Batalla has reached 23 years too. This season he plays for Gimnasia de La Plata. Has never played in Europe either.

Cristian Cellay underwent all the testing and humiliation with his Huracan in lower league. Now this excellent defenseman is 26.

The brightest playmaker Rodrigo Diaz was away for Mexican Toluca for quite a brief period. The rest of his career was spent in Argentina, in particular in Independiente. Europe incomprehensibly does not express interest to that brilliant.

Of course, there is no way to forget about German Denis, the best Argentina's striker as of today. By his 26 this forward has developed so much, that is simply obliged to be invited to the national team. Europe does not notice him either.

The whole group of wonderful players, who are more than 23, but who never played in Europe, gathered in Lanus. First of all, Agustin Pelletieri, who already played for national team, as well as wonderful Marcos Aguirre and solid forward Jose Sand.

German Re is the only one to remain from the champion squad of Newells 2004. His outstanding level allowed him to move in either of directions, but he remained faithful to Newells.

Several excellent players who have never smelled the European grass, play today in Olimpo. In particular, River's alumnus playmaker Diego Barrado, 26, as well as defensemen Matias Villavicencio and Raul Saavedra.

Racing's Nicolas Cabrera and Cristian Pellerano have never left the country either. While Martin Romagnoli managed to become 30 without leaving Argentina too.

River's Paulo Ferrari and Danilo Gerlo could have been desired in any European grand. Instead they decided to spent the best years of the careers at home.

San Lorenzo boasts of several such players too. Jonathan Bottinelli has turned 23 several days ago, but this is already a tested warrior, wanted by many European grandees. Gaston Aguirre is a bit older, he is 26, but still has not played abroad. Neither have Cristian Tula (29), Gonzalo Hirsig (29) and Adrian Gonzalez (31).

Well, and finally, Velez Sarsfield with its experienced Mariano Uglessich, Walter Bustamante, Hernan Pellerano and Sergio Sena. In their cases the experience is combined with youthfullness and wonderful physical conditions.

In other words, it's quite possible to make a great Argentinean National Team out of the players who are older than 23 and who never played abroad. For example, it could be like this:
Cristian Lucchetti - Paulo Ferrari, Marcos Galarza, Hernan Pellerano, German Re - Fernando Belluschi, Santiago Raymonda, Rodrigo Diaz, Marcos Aguirre - German Denis, Rodrigo Palacio

Brazil too has many such players, despite that the Brazilians are tempted even more by the European clubs.

In Atletico Mineiro today there has been sticking out Corinthians' alumnus 24-year Coelho. In victorious for Corinthians season of 2005 he had played an important role.

Atletico Paranaense's anchorman Alan Bahia has never left country by his 24 years.

By his 25 years Botafogo's fullback Anselmo Vendrechovski, better known as Juninho, has turned into one of Brazil's best defensemen. Before Fogao he played for his native Coritiba.

One of Brazil's most talented playmakers Lucio Flavio by his 28 years left the homeland just once - for Arab Al-Ahli. Today he plays for Botafogo too.

Another one to have 26 years already is Cruzeiro's playmaker, who played in many Brazilian grandees, Marcinho. He neither crossed Brazilian border despite having an undoubtful and bright talent.

Keeper Fernando Enrique is 24, and he has been loyal to his Fluminense so far.

Another one to have a brief spell in Arab football is playmaker of many big Brazilian clubs, Tcheco. At least, he never played in Europe.

One of Brazil´s best defending midfielders today is named Martinez from Palmeiras. By his 27 years he has played exclusively at home.

Josiel from Parana is 27 too, and he is one of this year's best scorers. He has been wanted by many European clubs, but has been remaining at home for now.

One of Brazil´s best keepers, Fabio Costa from Santos, never played abroad in his 30.

Another defending midfielder Rodrigo Tabata (ex-Goias, now Santos) has played solely in Brazilian teams till his 27 without thinking of Europe. His qualification is beyond any doubts.

Pedrinho, well-known all over Brazil, spent just one season at Al-Ittihad, but most of his career was spent in Brazil. He is 30 already.

Rogerio Ceni, a keeping-striking legend spent 16 last years in Sao Paulo. He is 34 now and his case is one of the brightest, since he is a true world-class figure.

Those to never play abroad have been also Maurinho, once member of Brazilian national team, as well as respectful Corinthians' fullback Marinho. Both are old enough.

Dagoberto, despite being wanted by many European grandees, successfully managed to play at home till his 24, while the rest of his sub-20 mates have long been playing in Europe already.

Only after having turned 28 ex-playmaker of Goias and Sao Paulo Danilo was released to play in Japan.

Paulo Baier, one of the best Brasileirao's players today, is 33. He has never left country either.

Finally, extremely talented Flavio Luiz played at home till he turned 30.

So, the Brazilian National Team of those who are over 23, and who never played abroad, impresses too:
Rogerio Ceni - Coelho, Marinho, Juninho, Maurinho - Martinez, Marcinho, Lucio Flavio, Flavio Luiz - Dagoberto, Josiel

I don't know what you think, but to me those who prefered to stay at home seem to be twice as more respectful.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Maciej Żurawski (Pol.)
In Polish language "с" stands for [ts] (if not in combination with "h"), "j" stands for [y], while "Ż" - for [zh]. The combination "ie" means a long mild [e]. "W" is [v]. So, [matsey zhuravski].

Mahon (Eng.)
Despite that it does not have an ending "e", it is pronounced as if it had one: [mahoun]. Note also, that a derivation "McMahon" is read differently too.

Mark Nygaard (Dan.)
In Danish language "y", if not at the begininng of a word, is read as [yu]: [nyugard].

Mark Yeates (Eng.)
This surname has several variants of pronunciation. We suggest the most common: [yeits].

Martin Slocombe (Eng.)
Another example of a "combe" root, in which the "b" is mute: [slokom].