I was reading through a Colombia NT thread somewhere on BigSoccer, and someone tossed out that Colombia haven’t beaten their neighbors in Venezuela since 1997 or maybe even since the run up to the 1994 Cup Finals. And Colombia had at least one player sent off, which didn’t help.
Ah, here’s a recap from FIFA.com:
Uh oh not good 
Bolivia 1-0 Argentina 13:07 minutes
wiii!!, 1-1 
Bolivia 3-1 Argentina :’(
6-1
oh.
my.
frikkin
gosh.
Nos han roto el culo.
La Furia Roja, with its ninth consecutive victory (5 in official matches) has recorded the best start ever for a new coach with the team. Vicente Del Bosque’s team, refused to lose after being down one to the Turks in Istambul – not exactly one of the friendliest pitches in Europe. Xabi Alonso made things even after a Turkish defender handled a Torre’s header inside the keeper’s box. And just at the start of added time, Guiza who had recently come in for the lackluster Torres, ran down a ball on the right side of the pitch only to hit Albert Riera, coming in in stride on the opposite side of the field – Riera’s perfect finish not only gave Del Bosque his winning record, but also tied Spain’s longest streak without a loss. Which stood at 31 matches in a row under the much-discussed Javier Clemente.
Spain tops Group 5 with maximum points, 18 from five matches and look to have more than one foot in South Africa.
UEFA recap: Riera takes the wind out of Turkey’s sails
My condolences to the Argies. Not a case of 20/20 hindsight as I know many Argentinians were also opposed, but I never liked the idea of naming a rookie coach to the NT. As great as El Pelusa was as a player, it’s hardly a constant that said greatness will translate itself into coaching – Beckenbauer and Cruyff likely the exceptions not the rule.
He’s not quite a rookie coach. For a national team yes, but he’s had short stints as a club coach. Anybody that thought he’d be a good choice has done more coke than Maradona himself.
Do people in Spain actually refer to the team as “la Furia Roja”? That whole thing sounds like something out of a breathless newspaper report. It would be like calling England the “three lions” or Man Utd the “red devils”. Maybe OK for the back page of a tabloid, but you’d get some funny looks if you used it in everyday conversation.
The team came by that nick at the Antwerp Olympics when it went on to grab the Silver in its first showing. Name has to do with the style of play at the time and the color of our shirts – the first reference came in a match vs Sweden and was used in a Dutch newspaper due to the play and historic cry of a Basque player, José María Belausteguigoitia: “A mi que los arrollo!”. It was also a historic reference to our Tercios de Flandes and the fiersome Sack of Antwerp.
Now a days, most people normally use “La Roja” for short, or simply “La Seleccion” but you’ll still find plenty of references in newspapers and commentators (ESPN’s for instance) and old timers such as myself, to La Furia Roja – though that’s a style we haven’t used in decades as Spanish footie relies on technique more than anything else (though the temper still flares up now and again).
Right. I am sure you now know a lot more than you ever wanted to know about our nick. 
Snarky_Kong, Maradona had two very short stints as a coach, dismal with Mandiyu and all of 19 matches with Avellaneda – and that was 15 years ago! So yeah, I think you can say his coaching expertise is next to nothing.
MUCH better from the U.S. tonight. Still need to work on finishing, always the bugaboo for the men in the red, white and blue.
Lose the hoops, by the way. :rolleyes:
ETA: Honduras up 1-0 on Mexico as I type this. Eriksson is on his way out. Mexico are crap right now, comparatively speaking.
TnT was horrible and we never lose at home. I don’t know how much to take from that game. That second goal sure was pretty though. If Jozy could work on his first touch and improve his speed a bit he’d really be something.
**Bahrain **1:0 Qatar
Australia 2:0 Uzbekistan
South Korea 1:0 North Korea
Saudi Arabia 3:2 UAE
No huge surprises or upsets. Oz is looking comfortable but haven’t yet closed the deal.
Estonia 1:0 Armenia
Bulgaria 2:0 Cyprus
Latvia 2:0 Luxembourg
Hungary 3:0 Malta
Liechtenstein 0:1 Russia
Northern Ireland 1:0 Slovenia
Wales 0:2 Germany
England 2:1 Ukraine
Scotland 2:1 Iceland
Denmark 3:0 Albania
Switzerland 2:0 Moldova in Geneva
Poland 10:0 San Marino
Czech Republic 1:2 Slovakia
Andorra 0:2 Croatia
Kazakhstan 1:5 **Belarus **
Austria 2:1 Romania
Bosnia-Herzegovina 2:1 Belgium
Netherlands 4:0 FYR Macedonia
Italy 1:1 Ireland
Turkey 1:2 Spain
France 1:0 Lithuania
Georgia 0:0 Montenegro
Greece 2:1 Israel
Wow, only one draw in the lot. Big result for Spain on the road. Ireland also did well in Italy. Russia squeak by tiny little Lichtenstein. And Poland abuse San Marino.
Bolivia 6:1 Argentina
Ecuador 1:1 Paraguay
Chile 0:0 Uruguay
Brazil 3:0 Peru
The Argentina result is just stunning. Bolivia still won’t make the final, but just “Wow!” Maybe we’ll find out tomorrow it was some sort of sick April Fool’s prank.
USA 3:0 Trinidad and Tobago
Honduras 3:1 Mexico
Costa Rica 0:0 El Salvador with about 20 minutes left
Another shocking result out of Mexico. Is SGE gone now, or will they give him another match? Maybe Argentina and Mexico can work out a trade?
Jozy Altidore was huge for USA tonight. Really showed a lot, especially since he hasn’t played in a competitive match since December. Not bad for a kid. You have to fault TnT for at least the last one, but still. I think that puts him on 6 goals for 5 matches with the USMNT full side.
9 matches. 5 goals in 5 qualifiers though. He also had one called back on an absolutely horrible offside call.
And Costa Rica go up 1:0 on a 70th minute goal from Walter Centeno.
:eek::eek::eek::eek: How is this possible?
Simple. It’s possible because Maradona is an idiot. He was an idiot when he was a player, he has been a bigger idiot since being driven from football by drug addiction and laziness, and he’s still an idiot as a coach. He has a belief, perhaps inspired by the silly “Hand of God” talk, that he is somehow divinely annointed to be IT for Argentine football, regardless of what he is doing. He uses this to substitute for real work and effort. Argentina will probably qualify with him at the helm, but they will most likely implode in South Africa.
This
I knew this would happen when I learned they had given him the coach position, I remember saying “It is good that national teams can not descend in category or that would be our fate”
He was the best player of his generation (or all of them, no time for the time honored Pelé-Maradona religious war) but he is an idiot and a very bad coach.
I hope he resigns or something and we get a real coach and qualify to the World Cup, it would be a shame if we dont since we have very good players this time (Messi, Tevez, etc)