Boca beats Mac TA in centenary match

Argentinean champion Boca Juniors defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-0 at Bloomfield Stadium on Thursday night in a friendly match celebrating the hosts' centenary.
Boca striker Martin Palermo, one of the few first team players to make the trip to Israel, scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot on the 76th minute.
Maccabi's 100th year was nothing short of disastrous and the loss was a fitting end for the yellow-and-blue who suffered from a season of lows and extreme lows.
A sizeable crowd attended the game, which was organized by Ben Gurion University, with all the proceeds from the match going towards scholarships for students at the institution.
Bloomfield was filled by thousands of Argentinean Israelis‚ who enjoyed every moment of their idols on the pitch.
The game was Tel Aviv coach Ton Caanen's last in charge of the yellow-and-blue after Maccabi's decision to appoint Eli Cohen in his place. Caanen addressed the fans before the match and said: "I want to say to the fans of Maccabi Toda Raba‚ for all their support. I hope you enjoyed your time with me because I enjoyed my time with you, despite Maccabi not having the season you expected."
Tel Aviv began its 100th season with a star studded lineup, which included Avi Nimni, Eyal Berkovic and Giovanni Rosso, with the clear objective of winning the league and cup double.
The team had a season from hell and could only manage a disappointing sixth place in the league and an early cup departure to inferior national league opposition.
Maccabi was hoping to at least end the season on a high and seized the initiative from the first whistle, almost taking the lead as early as the sixth minute. Striker Ofir Haim, playing his last match in the yellow-and-blue, had plenty of time in the Boca box but his shot was cleared off the line by the Argentinean defense.
Tel Aviv continued to go forward and moments later almost scored the first goal in the match. Giovani Rosso came inches from tapping in a cross that beat keeper Pablo Migliore but the ball passed the Croatian midfielder and the game remained scoreless.
In the 25th minute former Argentinean international Martin Palermo should have given his team the lead but his left foot shot ran just wide of the post.
Two minutes later Palermo came close once more. The striker attempted a bicycle kick to the delight of the crowd, but his shot was wide once again.
Tel Aviv controlled the majority of the possession in the first half and should have taken the lead in the 35th minute. Youngster Ori Shitrit took advantage of a Boca defensive mistake but was unable to beat keeper Migliore, shooting to the center of the goal.
The last chance to break the deadlock before half time fell to Boca midfielder Guillermo Marino who failed to score and shot straight at keeper Liran Strauber.
Both teams were clearly tired at the start of the second half with Boca having the better of the early play.
After 76 minutes the deadlock was finally broken. Guillermo Barros Schelotto was brought down in the box and Palermo blasted Boca into the lead from the penalty spot. Maccabi was unable to level the score and lost the match, but can at least comfort itself that its hellish season is over.

Boca defeats Olimpo

Boca Juniors capped its Argentine Apertura championship by defeating Olimpo Bahia Blanca 2-0 in the last round on Sunday at Bombonera stadium.Matias Silvestre scored off a header in the 14th minute and Rodrigo Palacio made it 2-0 in the 59th for a seventh straight win for Boca, which won the tournament last week.It was Boca's fourth cup in less than a year, after the South American Recopa and Copa Sudamericana, and the Clausura championship.Boca ended with 43 points, followed by Lanus with 35, River Plate with 34, Gimnasia Jujuy on 33, and Gimnasia La Plata at 32.River Plate defeated host Quilmes 3-1 in a match which was suspended in the 67th minute because of fan violence.Boca, Gimnasia La Plata, River, Banfield and Velez will play in the 2007 Copa Libertadores. The same teams plus Lanus and San Lorenzo will strive to wrest the Sudamericana from defending champion Boca.Instituto and Tiro Federal were relegated to second division.Argentinos Juniors and Olimpo will play with two teams from second division, and the two winners of the home-and-away series will play in the first division next season.

Basile nears deal with Boca Juniors

Boca Juniors manager Alfio Basile said Wednesday he was close to renewing his contract for another season, days after the Buenos Aires soccer powerhouse won its fourth major title under his leadership.
Since joining the side in June, Basile has coached Boca to victory in the Recopa and Sudamericana championships. His team also has won the Argentine first-division Apertura title to close 2005 and the Clausura championship on Sunday. "I think I"m going to continue," Basile told local reporters this week. "I say 'I think' to be safe, because we're lacking some things, details that we have to improve to strengthen the roster."
Boca president Mauricio Macri also sounded upbeat about Basile extending his contract.
"Both parties are willing. The economic part is resolved," said Macri, who refused to discuss financial details.
Local news reports suggested Basile, whose one-year contract with Boca ends in June, would receive a 30 percent raise. But the club has neither confirmed nor denied those accounts amid reports of plans for a news conference Thursday.
Despite the victories, Basile still has faced difficulties winning over Boca fans reluctant to forget Carlos Bianchi, the winningest coach in the team's history.
Unlike Bianchi, Basile's name was never chanted by the fans in the stands known for their to-the-death loyalty to the club.
"It's always difficult to get recognition in Boca. Even for Bianchi, who won everything, it was hard," Basile said.
According to an online opinion survey published Tuesday in Argentina's leading newspaper, Clarin, 57.8 percent said they felt Basile would be unable to win more titles than Bianchi.
Of some 20,000 respondents to the survey for Clarin Digital, some 42.2 percent predicted he would surpass Bianchi. No margin of error was reported for the poll.
Voted the world's best club coach in 2000 and 2003 by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics, Bianchi won four domestic championships, three Copa Libertadores and two Intercontinental Cups during two spells in charge of Boca Juniors. He also led another Argentine team, Velez Sarsfield, to the Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup titles in 1994.

Boca wins second straight title

Boca Juniors won its second straight and 23rd Argentine league title Sunday, clinching the Clausura championship with a 2-0 victory over Independiente to take a six-point lead over second-place Lanus with one round remaining.
This triumph was Boca's fourth championship since Alfio Basile took over as coach in July, adding to the South American Recopa and Copa Sudamericana titles and last year's Argentine Apertura crown.

Abbondonziari Promises Top Form

Argentina keeper Roberto Abbondonziari says he is over a patch of rough showings and will be at his best during World Cup 2006.
The Boca Juniors man has received pans for his play in recent months – admittedly, with good reason.
"I think that after the friendly against Croatia, where a lot of things were said about me, I got it into my head that I had to be as relaxed as possible," explained Abbondonziari.
"In the last few games, I've had the confidence that every goalkeeper needs to have and the results can be seen on the pitch."
"I feel that I am good enough to be defending the goal for the national side," he declared.
"I'll get to the World Cup at the perfect moment."

Croat-Argentine soccer forward dreams of Argentine World Cup place

Winger Daniel Bilos, who plays for Argentine league team Boca Juniors, told sports broadcaster TyC Sports on Wednesday that he still dreams of being called up for Argentina's World Cup team.
The World Cup, "is a dream I hope comes true, although it is difficult. There is not much time left and the manager has little time to try out new players," he said.
Bilos, 25, has rejected the call up from Croatia, where his grandparents were born, despite repeated entreaties from Croatia national soccer team manager Zlakto Kranjcar.
Bilos played 45 minutes of November's friendly Argentina, Qatarmatch, in the Qutari capital, Doha, but his performance has suffered since that date and he was never summoned by Pekerman.
However, on Sunday, when Boca massacred Estudiantes 4-0, Bilos showed the form he had shown when he first arrived at Boco, tranferred from Banfield, in the middle of 2005.
"I had a bad patch, but these things happen to everyone. The same thing happened to me in Banfield, but it was not so imporant. Luckily, things began to turn out for me again when I got to Boca.I hope to stay this way," he said.

Four-goal Boca close in on Argentine title

Boca Juniors , thriving without the distraction of the Libertadores Cup, closed in on the Argentine title with an emphatic 4-0 win over Estudiantes on Sunday. Boca, who have 37 points from 17 games, are four points clear of Lanus with two matches each to play in the Clausura championship and six ahead of River, who dropped to third after drawing 3-3 with Gimnasia-La Plata.
Boca got a helping hand as both Estudiantes and River rested their top players ahead of Libertadores Cup ties next week.
Midfielder Federico Insua broke the deadlock for Boca in the 20th minute when he left two defenders in his wake before scoring with a left-foot shot.
Insua also added the third in the second half with Rodrigo Palacio and veteran Guillermo Barros Schelotto helping themselves to the other goals.
'At times, we played brilliantly,' said coach Alfio Basile. 'It was the sort of football people like to see.'
River were denied a win when Uruguayan striker Gonzalo Vargas scored an injury-time equaliser for Gimnasia.
Gimnasia had gone ahead when Martin Cardetti scored against his own club in the 16th minute before Gonzalo Higuain and a Rubens Sambueza penalty put River 2-1 ahead.
Roberto Cornejo levelled in the 57th minute and Jeronimo Morales put River back in front with nine minutes left.