Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Getting A Late Start

If I'd have been thinking I would have started this blog a couple of months ago, before the start of the Argentine League season, and the build up towards the USA and Argentina's World Cup Qualifiers started up. Water under the bridge, I suppose, and with that I'll carry on...

I first became a fan of Newell's Old Boys while living in Argentina as a child. My father was transferred there when I was 9-10 years old, and I spent 3 1/2 years living in Rosario, or, more specifically, Fisherton, a suburb. The house we lived in was large enough that a few years after we moved out it was turned into a night club. Right next door was the golf club, my father making extensive use of the course, while we kids had access to the pool.

This was all in the late 60's, early 70's. In fact Newell's won their first championship the year AFTER my mother returned to the United States with us kids, in 1974. If not for my father sending a clipping the final standings, I wouldn't have known about that at the time. After that I didn't have any source for news on Argentine soccer until I discovered World Soccer magazine during the mid to late 90's.

As WS covers the game globally, each major country generally still only has one article per issue, which for a fan of an Argentine team, if your weren't a fan of either Boca Jrs, River Plate, whom ever was on top of the standings, or the team that was going through some sort of major scandel.

Thanks to the internet I was able once again follow Newell's, and in some small ways celebrate when they won their 5th title in 2004. Still, as most articles I find are in Spanish, and at best I spoke the language on about a 10 year old's level, I miss a lot of the details of what's happening.

Still, I do enjoy what I find, and considering how they've started out the new season I'm hoping for a good season. In six games, they have three wins, and only one loss. The game this Thursday against Boca should be interesting. Boca have not played well sense Riquelme has returned from the Olympics. if either team wins they will be tied with Tigre and Velez Sarsfield for second place.

As I don't get to see any of their games, I owe a huge thanks to those who post the goals on sites like YouTube.com. Below is Fabbiani's goal from Newell's 1-0 win over Independiente last weekend. Yes, it looks at first that the Independiente player is fouled in midfield, but the close up shows that he trips over the ball himself.

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