When two tribes go to war
October 8th 2009 20:51
A week ago I wrote how Paul Tisdale and his management team have far greater expectations of what City can achieve in the near future than I do.
So what am I after this season? An overdue run in the Cup? No. A sniff around the playoffs come the end of the season? Not even.
I want two games against that mob from down the Devon Expressway on the next term´s fixture list.
The season we took six points off them seems a very long time ago but for me, especially the away leg, rank top of my magic moments watching City.
Nowadays from the boardroom to the pitch The Grecian are on the way up while it looks like our County neighbours are in complete disarray, happy days!
Last weekend I saw the two geographically closest teams in Buenos Aires go head-to-head. In the Clásico de Avellaneda, Racing Club went down 2-1 to Independiente thanks to a first half brace from Darío Gandín.
However even in a region peppered with fierce rivals the one game round these parts which gets them all going is the Battle of the Americas.
Be it a clash in the World Cup finals or a domestic under-17 game, Argentina versus Brazil is never a dull affair.
As well as upsets these matches have been liberally peppered with all that is good, bad and plain ugly in the game of football.
In the first knock round of Italia 90 Argentina took on Brazil in Turin. The game coming earlier than expected due to Argentina's poor showing in the group stage. After Argentina´s 1-0 win it was alleged that their trainer gave the Brazilian Branco a bottle of water laced with tranquilisers while he was down injured.
Maradona himself blew the lid on the 'holy water' scandal years later during a television appearance. Carlos Bilardo, the Argentine coach at the time, still maintains his innocence in the case.
Eight years earlier at the World Cup in Spain the technically superior Brazil played Argentina off the park in Barcelona racking up a three goal led before Maradona was sent off for a petulant kick on Joao Batista. Argentina did manage to pull one back in the last minute but the holders were nonetheless sent packing from Spain.
En route to their 1978 triumph Argentina were forced to play their second round games outside Buenos Aires due to a defeat against Italy in the first round.
Brazil and Argentina played out a tense goalless draw in the game which has since become known as A batalha de Rosário. In the final round of games Brazil beat Poland 3-1 letting the Argentines know that they had to beat Peru by four clear goals when the two played later the same night. Argentina led 2-0 at halftime but in the second half Peru collapsed and Argentina netted another four times without reply.
Further incidents of a game between the countries spilling into bad feeling are numerous. US President Ronald Reagan had to step in after trouble at a game between Argentina and Brazil almost led to a full blown conflict between the countries in 1986.
A couple of matches in the mid forties were also particularly heated, on both occasions bad tackles and broken bones led to full scale riots in the stadia.
Up the City!
Tim
http://timsturtridge.com/
So what am I after this season? An overdue run in the Cup? No. A sniff around the playoffs come the end of the season? Not even.
I want two games against that mob from down the Devon Expressway on the next term´s fixture list.
The season we took six points off them seems a very long time ago but for me, especially the away leg, rank top of my magic moments watching City.
Nowadays from the boardroom to the pitch The Grecian are on the way up while it looks like our County neighbours are in complete disarray, happy days!
Last weekend I saw the two geographically closest teams in Buenos Aires go head-to-head. In the Clásico de Avellaneda, Racing Club went down 2-1 to Independiente thanks to a first half brace from Darío Gandín.
However even in a region peppered with fierce rivals the one game round these parts which gets them all going is the Battle of the Americas.
Be it a clash in the World Cup finals or a domestic under-17 game, Argentina versus Brazil is never a dull affair.
As well as upsets these matches have been liberally peppered with all that is good, bad and plain ugly in the game of football.
In the first knock round of Italia 90 Argentina took on Brazil in Turin. The game coming earlier than expected due to Argentina's poor showing in the group stage. After Argentina´s 1-0 win it was alleged that their trainer gave the Brazilian Branco a bottle of water laced with tranquilisers while he was down injured.
Maradona himself blew the lid on the 'holy water' scandal years later during a television appearance. Carlos Bilardo, the Argentine coach at the time, still maintains his innocence in the case.
Eight years earlier at the World Cup in Spain the technically superior Brazil played Argentina off the park in Barcelona racking up a three goal led before Maradona was sent off for a petulant kick on Joao Batista. Argentina did manage to pull one back in the last minute but the holders were nonetheless sent packing from Spain.
En route to their 1978 triumph Argentina were forced to play their second round games outside Buenos Aires due to a defeat against Italy in the first round.
Brazil and Argentina played out a tense goalless draw in the game which has since become known as A batalha de Rosário. In the final round of games Brazil beat Poland 3-1 letting the Argentines know that they had to beat Peru by four clear goals when the two played later the same night. Argentina led 2-0 at halftime but in the second half Peru collapsed and Argentina netted another four times without reply.
Further incidents of a game between the countries spilling into bad feeling are numerous. US President Ronald Reagan had to step in after trouble at a game between Argentina and Brazil almost led to a full blown conflict between the countries in 1986.
A couple of matches in the mid forties were also particularly heated, on both occasions bad tackles and broken bones led to full scale riots in the stadia.
Up the City!
Tim
http://timsturtridge.com/
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