Boca Juniors and Celtic coming to Seattle...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sounders/2011723886_friendlies29.html

The Boca Juniors game is very soon. Hopefully the Sounders can play competitively. Barcelona put on a ridiculous clinic in the second half of last years' high profile game. Chelsea was the other big opponent last season.

Boca isn't what it was last year. Right now, they are so desperate they have a Brazilian playing defense.

I just got an interesting e-mail from PGE Park.

Guess who else is playing Boca?

May 29, at 7 pm.

There is a spot at the front of section 105 for another Pilot fan if he can score a ticket...

I was a Boca fan at age 5 (even though I lived in a Ritzy neighborhood near River Plate). By age 7 I had every trading card of every Boca player of the mid 50"s I have the shirts, the bandanas, I know the songs and cheers - I even made a trip to La Bombonera a couple years ago to soak in the magic.


I can even tell you why the Coke signs are Black.

Now I find Los Xeneizes will be in PGE while I'm back East... sigh....

You guys will get to see two of the legends of Argentine soccer and a cast of worthy supporters. Juan Román Riquelme is Still the best pure playmaker since Maradona (maybe part of the reason for their feud) and Martín Palermo Just passed the 222 goal mark (a Boca record) and, at 36, just might still make the upcoming World Cup team.

The rest aren't shabby either, even if most are in the twilights of their careers. Gaitán, Bataglia, and Monsón were great players in their days (all were in World Cups) and can still dominate their opponents.

You might even See Chilean goofball Gary Medel score a goal or two.

Purplegeezer wrote:I was a Boca fan at age 5 (even though I lived in a Ritzy neighborhood near River Plate). By age 7 I had every trading card of every Boca player of the mid 50"s I have the shirts, the bandanas, I know the songs and cheers - I even made a trip to La Bombonera a couple years ago to soak in the magic.


I can even tell you why the Coke signs are Black.

Now I find Los Xeneizes will be in PGE while I'm back East... sigh....

You guys will get to see two of the legends of Argentine soccer and a cast of worthy supporters. Juan Román Riquelme is Still the best pure playmaker since Maradona (maybe part of the reason for their feud) and Martín Palermo Just passed the 222 goal mark (a Boca record) and, at 36, just might still make the upcoming World Cup team.

The rest aren't shabby either, even if most are in the twilights of their careers. Gaitán, Bataglia, and Monsón were great players in their days (all were in World Cups) and can still dominate their opponents.

You might even See Chilean goofball Gary Medel score a goal or two.

"You guys will get to see two of the legends of Argentine soccer and a cast of worthy supporters. Juan Román Riquelme is Still the best pure playmaker since Maradona "

You might get a pretty good arguement from Barca fans about Xazi Hernandez as "The best" playmaker. Messi is great..But Xazi has a good part in helping him be great!

In the context of great Argentine players, Xavi has never been able to break into La Seleción for some reason.



I'm pretty sure he isn't on anybody's list of great Argentine playmakers.

Good point...But if he was Argentinian....

Seriously, do yourselves a favor and look up some YouTube videos of Palermo. It would be an honor to see him score against the Timbers.

Palermo's not coming. He made the preliminary World Cup roster.

I've seen Palmero play I'd say at least 50 games or so (on TV) He's a great player no doubt. I wasn't attempting to discredit him by saying I think Xavi might be a better play maker.

List of the worlds best (not official and not just Argentinian) playmakers.
Thought it was interesting.

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1213591

Yeouch

Boca goes 0 for the USA and gets beat by the Timbers...

Even playing all scrubs I wouldn't have expected that.

I just checked some Argentine blogs and they are being pretty harsh. They don't accept that a second division team could beat them. Of course, the River fans are the harshest. The fact that they lost in a venue where teams play with a "rugby" ball seems hysterical to them.

To be fair the winner was an absolutely gorgeous free kick around the wall, over the keeper and inside the far post. Boca loved getting out on the counterattack and had a lot of guys who were skilled with the ball. Really entertaining to watch both teams.

We got a crowd of 14,000+ and I would say there were lots of Argentina and Boca shirts in the stands. Afterward I talked to a lady who said, "Oh I love Argentina...but I'm actually River Plate, so it's okay."

OK?

River is looking at relegation if they have another season as bad as they had this year...

http://vodpod.com/watch/3733843-portland-timbers-3-boca-juniors-2

They still think PSU plays Rugby at PGE

Purplegeezer wrote:They don't accept that a second division team could beat them.

Especially one from the USA who plays on plastic and rubber. I can understand their frustration. The gap between first and second divisions here isn't that large however. Is the difference between the top two leagues in Argentina more pronounced than it is here?

All in all, a great atmosphere and one of the most exciting games I can recall seeing in person. Our last two goals were the first this year not involving one Ryan Pore (Superstar). Maybe Lopez just earned himself some more PT (and especially the opportunity to take direct kicks).

In Argentina, there's a pretty big gap between the top ten first division teams and the bottom 10. In fact, most years there's a big dropoff after about 5-6 teams. That's what makes River looking at relegation so stunning.

The second division teams aren't even on the map. Maybe like the Timbers u23's or something. Often the kids are younger. I did see a River youth team with Bounonotte beat a second division team a few years ago. He was like 15.

What a great day for Portland soccer. The Rain won and the Timbers beat Boca!!! Boca!!!







I am still floating amongst the clouds. I will tell this story decades from now.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41639453@N00/sets/72157624164530694/

Sounders won 3-0. What was the final score of the Timbers vs. Boca game?

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Putting this all in perspective, these are pre-season tours for the big teams that come to the US...like Boca, Manchechester U., etc. They play the scrubs, and the objective is not to get hurt. All the same, I was at the game in Seattle and Boca really got worked pretty badly. It wasn't very close.

Portland 3-2 Boca. Make no mistake, Boca wanted a result Saturday and played like it. It was a good win against a quality side and the Timbers players want to use it to break out of the poor run they have been in.