Carnival Celeste

Arica, a city in the far north of Chile has had a twenty-seven year wait for its football club to win promotion back to the top flight of Chilean football. I have followed San Marcos de Arica  since moving here in April 2011 by attending nearly every home match in that time.  Under the scorching hot midday sun on Sunday 4^th November 2012 San Marcos ended their barren spell. Below is my personal account of how the final day unfolded.

First we had to queue up for an hour or two just to get a ticket earlier in the week. Then when the day arrived we had to wait hours outside the stadium before we gained access inside. It was a year in which San Marcos de Arica led for the majority of the season and they headed into the last game just needing a point to gain promotion, they could even afford to lose if Barnechea failed to win against Nublense.

San Marcos de Arica are a well-supported club by Chilean standards, regularly attracting 5,000 fans even in the bad times but many Chileans even if they support their local club will also feel like they have to support one of the big Santiago clubs as well. The impressive performance of the team this season has helped in attracting many new fans to the stadium. There seems to be a lot more pride in supporting their local side, the sky blue shirts becoming an ever increasing sight in the city as the season progressed. In June they had already won the Apertura (Opening season) title which meant they would have two more chances in the play-offs if they didn’t make it automatically by winning the Annual season. Attendances have been on the up with more than 10,000 fans turning up as the promotion race heated up towards the end of the Clausura (Closing) and Annual season.

The day started with joining a queue that snaked it’s way through the streets of the city for around half a mile joining the hundreds of fans that had queued overnight to secure their favourite spot on the terrace. Most of these loyal fans that had been through the heartbreak of a play-off final defeat on penalties to Palestino in 2010 and were praying for no such heart-break this time.

There was no doubt San Marcos de Arica had the wobbles as the finishing line neared. Two  home defeats on consecutive Saturday’s including one to promotion rivals Barnechea had  created some tension between those dedicated fans who go every week and ‘hinchas de carton’ (plastic fans) who had started to turn up but added a noticeable negative atmosphere when things didn’t go to plan. Shouts of yetas (jinxes) rang around the terraces when hundreds of fans headed for the turnstiles in the last few minutes of the penultimate home game of the season. It was clear from some of the comments around me that some of these fans hadn’t been much in recent months perhaps preferring the comfort out their living room on the late Saturday nights San Marcos de Arica usually contest their home matches. Due to cultural and climate factors games usually kick off at 22:00 in the far north of Chile.

CDF, the Chilean cable television station dedicated to football that shows numerous Primera A matches every week and 1 live Primera B game most Sundays were also in Arica. They screened the game on their premium channel which Chileans need to pay to see. CDF monopolise live domestic football in Chile, no game from Primera A or Primera B is on national free to view TV and all are shown on CDF Premium. Inexplicably this was the first time San Marcos de Arica had a home game shown live this year despite being the best team in the division. Arica is a long way from Santiago and there is quite a bitter feeling as to how CDF covered the Primera B season, many claimed it was clear they preferred the Santiago based Barnechea.

Once the game was underway the tension at times was unbearable inside Estadio Carlos Dittborn, the nerves appeared to have transferred onto the pitch where the home side struggled to find their find rhythm. Deportes Concepcion looked a bit livelier going forward and just before half time they managed to silence the partisan crowd by taking the lead after an error in the San Marcos defence.

Regular updates came through on radios and mobiles from Chillán more than 2000km south where Barnechea had to beat Nublense to secure automatic promotion ahead of Arica. Nublense themselves had been in the title race for much of the season and at one point were favourites having gone unbeaten for 19 games. Despite going behind early promotion rivals Barnechea were leading 3-2 heading into the final minutes of the game and looked set to spoil the Arica party.

In Arica it felt like the clock was ticking quicker than ever as time begun to run out for the home side, they hit the bar with 20 minutes remaining but they hadn´t created much apart from that as the pressure looked like it had got the better of them. They kept pushing on but the Deportes Concepcion defence stood firm, the away side knew they had to win to keep their play-off hopes alive. Countless free kicks inside the opposition half were hacked away, The Arica DT (manager) Luis Marcoleta looked on with his hands on his head in ever increasing disbelief and made a couple of changes that seemed to re-energise the team. The home side knew they just needed an equaliser and then with just 4 minutes remaining the ball fell kindly for rising star Renato Gonzalez, he chipped it to Pablo Frances in the area, the Argentine drilled it across the six yard box, Estay missed his kick but Maurico Segovia didn’t! The big lanky defender  swept the ball home into the roof of the net to spark an explosion of colour and noise inside the famous old stadium. In the midst of the celebrations was Joel Estay who finished as Arica’s top scorer in this glorious campaign. The bulky number 21 stood with just the match ball for company and seemed totally lost in the moment and thanked the heavens. Meanwhile the unlikely hero Segovia was brought down to the floor by an avalanche of San Marcos players and coaching staff with many a Tardelli celebration on show.

The stadium was now bouncing with jubilant locals, a Deportes Concepcion free kick came to nothing and Arica then broke on the counter, sub Piña was brought down and the ref played advantage, Estay took a wild shot but the ref controversially decided to bring the play back and give Arica a free kick. Piña stepped up and saw his free kick take a big deflection and bounce into the corner of the net to spark wild celebrations around the city. Moments later the referee blew his whistle and with that ended almost three complete decades of hurt for the San Marcos de Arica supporters.

The  local radio station describes the San Marcos de Arica goals in this video…

Hundreds of fans poured onto the pitch from all sides of the terrace to carry their heroes on their shoulders, Pedro Carrizo, the captain, goalkeeper and strong candidate for player of the season held aloft the trophy amongst a sea of young San Marcos fans and then led a lap of honour around the track of the stadium. The celebrations carried on for around an hour inside the stadium. The party wasn´t finished there as the players were soon off to the city centre to parade the trophy whilst packing into an open freight on the back of a lorry. Fans danced, drank and sang in the street for hours, it was a real carnival atmosphere.

San Marcos de Arica will join a host of clubs from the north of Chile in Primera A next season including their fierce rivals Deportes Iquique (promoted in 2010) who have just qualified for the Copa Libertadores. The transition between the two divisions has been bridged successfully by many sides in recent years. San Marcos with the potential to get crowds over 10,000 on a regular basis could well be the next club to thrive in the top division.

Barnechea meanwhile conceded a late equaliser which means they will face Nublense again in a 2 legged play-off. The two late goals from Segovia and Piña cost Deportes Concepcion a play-off place and it will be Everton Vina Del Mar who will contest a play-off match against a side from near the bottom of Primera A. At the other end of the table, Puerto Montt,  the team furthest south geographically in the division were relegated on the same day the team furthest north were promoted funnily enough.

That Nublense equaliser in Chillán also meant that San Marcos de Arica added the Clausura to their Apertura and Annual titles. The Primera B treble in 2012 is an emphatic way to end the drought after 27 years. The club and the city is now set to compete with the elite of Chilean football again.

 

San Marcos de Arica 3 – 0 Union Temuco

On Sunday 10^th June 2012 the city of Arica that lies in the extreme north of Chile was in party mood, remembering fifty years since it hosted a World Cup Quarter Final between Chile and the USSR in which the home side ran out 2-1 winners, the script seemed to be written for the locals to be celebrating success again exactly half a century on from Chile’s best ever performance in a World Cup.

Incredibly the football club of the city wasn’t formed until 16 years after it hosted seven World Cup matches. Since their formation as Deportes Arica, the club have languished in the second tier of Chilean football for the majority of their existence and have even found themselves in the third division not long ago. They have also been through liquidation which brought about a renaming process to Club Deportivo San Marcos de Arica. As with many clubs in the extreme regions of Chile they still suffer from a serious lack of funding and national coverage which hinder their progress. Shirts of Colo Colo and Universidad de Chile are always present in the city and the stadium, Arica is sadly just a second team for many supporters but the ground has a friendly feel. Their only real success came in the early eighties with a Primera B title in 1981 and a fourth place finish in the top division in 1984. They were relegated the following year however after losing key players to bigger clubs.

When I moved to Arica at the start of 2011 they were struggling at the foot of the Apertura and playing in front of a couple of thousand people in a very small temporary stadium next door to the Carlos Dittborn which was being renovated. They looked in danger of returning to the third division but a change of coaching and management along with some new signings timed with the move back to their true home brought about a remarkable recovery in the past year and the loyal fans are looking upwards for once.

A year on from surviving a relegation scare San Marcos de Arica were now looking seriously at ending a twenty-seven year wait for a return to top division football and in the 89^th minute of their final home game of the season, forward Renato Gonzalez, one of the players of the season, raced through to seal a 3-0 win over Union Temuco it looked like the wait was coming to an end. Moments before that third goal, news had swept around the ground that their two rivals for the Primera B Apertura title had failed to win meaning San Marcos were to become champions of this division for the first time since 1981 and qualify for an end of year play off for promotion.

A couple hours earlier the teams had ran out just before midday into a fervent atmosphere and to a rousing rendition of the hymn of the city and the club. ‘Arica Siempre Arica!’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve7kf2EOxnc) is always belted out by the locals at every home game and on this day it had some extra intensity. The game itself started without much incident.  A couple of half chances aside the home side were cautious and nervous whilst the away side’s main threat was from set pieces. The early afternoon heat seemed to sap the energy of the players and crowd alike as the first half wore on and anxiety grew.

The half time interval offered some light entertainment to distract us from the nerve shredding.  Leonel Sanchez, a star player for Chile in the 1962 World Cup entered the field of play to polite applause to take a penalty in front of Arica’s small but tuneful ‘Barra’. Sanchez faced a man dressed in a Spider costume. This was of course a tribute to legendary USSR goalkeeper Lev Yashin who earned the nickname The Black Spider for his ability to make impossible saves. In the quarter final against Chile in Arica in 1962 he played one of the games of his life following a unusual drop in standards in the group stages. The Black Spider made save after save but eventually Sanchez found a way past him on that day in 1962 and today wasn’t to be any different as Sanchez sent ‘La Araña Negra’ the wrong way to the delight of the thousands inside the Carlos Dittborn stadium.

Arica started the second half on the front foot but soon found themselves down to ten men as midfielder Angelo Gonzalez received his second yellow card of the match for a late challenge. Things were looking ominous for the home side. They were a man down and needing a goal. Rivals for the title, Barnechea were winning 2-1 away against Naval, the pressure was really on. They kept attacking however and moments later striker Joel Estay won a penalty after some hot headed goalkeeping meant the Temuco number one had to bring the talismanic striker down even though Estay was moving away from the goal.  Reliable penalty taker Nestor Contreras drilled his penalty low into the net to scenes of great joy all around me.

It didn’t take long for Arica to build on the lead but the second goal did come in rather bizarre circumstances as Union Temuco pressed the self-destruct button. Joel ‘El Matador de Arica’ Estay, was again at the centre of it all as he chased down a ball in the channel, muscled out a defender and entered the penalty box, he preceded to lose control of the ball and the danger appeared to have passed but in a moment of madness a covering defender for Union Temuco inexplicably swung an arm into the face of Estay and Arica had their second penalty of the game and Union lost their man advantage. Nestor Contreras despatched his penalty right into the corner to send the crowd of more than 10,000 fans into raptures as you can see here, just about! http://tinypic.com/r/210yeli/6

Sixty-seven minutes had passed and Union Temuco had barely offered a goal threat all afternoon. The home crowd were just waiting on news from two other games and if results went their way then the party could begin. A few minutes remained when suddenly some fans in the main stand and the players and staff on the Arica bench started celebrating. News had come through that title rivals Barnechea had conceded a last minute equaliser. The whole stadium erupted with joy at this moment. Arica had done it with a game to spare. They made it 3-0 and it wasn’t long after that the final whistle sounded that fans of all ages raced onto the pitch to greet their heroes. The crowning moment arrived when goalkeeper Pedro Carizza led a lap of honour around the pitch with the Primera B trophy held aloft with delighted Arica fanatics following behind cheering and dancing in triumph.

It was during this chapter that spirit crushing news had started to filter through the stands that Barnechea had actually won 2-1 and the title wasn’t Arica’s just yet. It was a scene reminiscent of the closing stages in the second tier of English football last year at Loftus Road when Norwich City found an injury time winner to halt QPR’s celebrations. Fans walked out the stadium in disbelief; some hadn’t heard the news and were still celebrating. The sound of car horns were present hours after the stadium had cleared. All around the city many fans carried on celebrating regardless. Meanwhile supporters of other clubs took to Twitter to laugh at the farcical episode.San Marcos de Arica still have a chance to have the last laugh as they go into the final week of Apertura season in pole position with a two point advantage over Barnechea. A point at Deportes Concepcion for Arica will probably seal the title for a side that has played with great attacking intent home and away throughout the year so far. If they do slip up; Barnechea, the smallest club in the division, will have a great chance to win promotion for the second consecutive year.

Many fans are going to be watching on big screens inside the Carlos Dittborn but many will fly down to the south for the ultimate match of the Apertura campaign. A few committed souls will even go by coach which could well end up taking up to forty hours each way but I’m sure it will be worth every second and peso of the journey to see their heroes lift the trophy without any doubts.

San Marcos de Arica take on Deportes Concepcion on Sunday 17^th June 2012 at 12pm local time. 

1904 – 1914 Summer Tours of South America

Evertonians Chilean Style

Pre-season tours of Asia, Europe and North America will be on the schedules of many English clubs in the coming months but it’s been a few decades now since South America was a popular touring choice for a pre-season jolly, as the English Premier League seeks global commercial domination I wonder whether it will be long until we see a team touring this glorious continent once again.

Over one hundred years ago, it was all a very different story as many sides spent large parts of the summer break touring South America. It appears that in 1904 Southampton became the first professional club to tour in this part of the world as they swept aside teams representing Argentina and Uruguay and were also said to inspire a few teams to adopt red and white stripes.

Nottingham Forest followed in 1905 after an invitation from Argentine FA and a payment of £200 and in doing so inspired one of the greatest club sides in South America, Independiente, to change their colours to red. In Argentina and Uruguay  Forest played regularly in front of crowds of around 10,000, playing eight matches, scoring 57 times and only conceding 3 in a hugely successful tour. Amongst the crowds that came to watch these matches stood a certain Juan Peron who went onto become the President of Argentina and to marry American pop superstar Madonna (!)

Everton and Tottenham Hotspur were the first high-profile touring parties to South America in 1909. The secretaries of Everton and Tottenham received a letter of invitation from the English FA general secretary Frederick Wall inviting both clubs to participate in a series of matches in Argentina and Uruguay. The players would be away a total of nine weeks but only three weeks of that spent on South American soil.

The voyage from Blighty across the Atlantic began in somewhat adverse circumstances on the 14^th May 1909. First, the players were informed they were to travel second class without consultation due to FA cost cutting measures that had to be taken for the tour to go ahead and then the Spurs party missed the boat completely. They were greeted with plenty of mocking from their Everton counterparts upon their arrival on the boat later that day; they had caught up by chartering a tug boat.

Once they arrived in Buenos Aires a couple of weeks later, the players only had a few hours to adjust to their new surroundings before being asked to play a match in front of the Argentine President, the game ended 2-2 and the President was impressed and entertained by both the Toffees and the Lilywhites.

Both teams played local sides as well as each other. Boca Juniors and River Plate had both been founded by 1909 but it was a side featuring many a man named Brown called Alumni that provided opposition for Everton in a 4-0 win for the visitors. This included a hat-trick for Bert Freeman. Both sides went onto Uruguay, a nation that took to the beautiful game very well on and off the field  and Everton struggled to a 2-1 win against a Select XI from the national league before disposing of Spurs with another hat-trick from the star of the tour, that man again Bert Freeman.

Tour Hero

The players wrote letters back home of their tour experiences, many of them remarked on the beauty of Rio de Janiero, a city that was a stopover but it appears no official matches were played in Brazil; however locals were keen to watch and try to join in with the Everton and Spurs players having a kickabout in the dock and on the beach. Before departing back to England, Bert’s Everton teammate Val Harris decided to treat himself to an exotic pet and returned back home with a Parrot. Spurs also took home a Parrot but legend has it that it died on the infamous day Arsenal were elected into the 1^st Division in place of Tottenham.

The joint tour was considered a great experience and success, Everton’s legacy in South America was assured when a group of Anglo-Chileans that had witnessed part of the tour decided to form their own Everton football club in Vina Del Mar that is still going strong today. The Ruleteros Society is in place to create a special friendship between the two clubs and also aims to contact all the amateur football clubs in South America with Everton in their name , of which there are many. The Chilean side visited Merseyside for a friendly in July 2010 with the home side running out 2-0 winners in front of 25,000 at Goodison Park.  It’s been said that a return fixture in Chile should take place in the future.

In 1914 Exeter City embarked on a somewhat legendary tour of Brazil and Argentina. In one match the club secretary of Racing Club went well outside the technical area brandishing a revolver and took aim at the referee after Exeter went 3-0 up, the ref had to be persuaded to continue the match. Upon resumption he  decided to make things a little easier for himself by awarding the home side a penalty, they scored and the crowd went wild with excitement, fireworks were let off and a band came marching on playing the Argentine national anthem.

Brazil v Exeter City - Live and Exclusive in HD

The tour became even more problematic for Exeter in the Brazil part of the tour as several players were arrested for ‘indecent exposure’ on the beaches of Rio De Janiero. It appears they only removed their shirts rather than go the full monty but it’s fair to say that Brazil’s attitude towards body exposure was not as liberal as it is today. Also despite winning two matches on Brazilian soil, in the third they lost to a side that is recognised as the birth of the Brazilian national team as players from Rio and Sao Paulo joined together to beat The Grecians 2-0. It’s said the men from the south west of England did not take kindly to this upset and Brazilian star striker Artur Friedenreich had his teeth knocked out.

The positive cultural impact of these tours in South America is undeniable and although many of them took place in close-season rather than pre-season, they were a huge success and fed the continent’s hunger to watch the game played in their cities to the highest level. The reasons why clubs don’t tour South America are fairly obvious; lack of commercial profit certainly compared to Asia and also worries about safety are two key reasons.

The Premier League is very popular here and I’m confident any Premier League side brave enough to visit would see the stadiums filled especially against the clubs in Argentina where the atmosphere is arguably the best in the world and in doing so would benefit enormously from what would surely be a memorable experience as I’m sure tour legend Bert Freeman could vouch for.

Unión Española 2 – 2 Universidad Católica – Copa Libertadores 2011

My first experience of club football here in Chile and it was a very positive one. I joined just over 10,000 noisy supporters in Santa Laura, Santiago and we were treated to an entertaining 2-2 draw in the first week of group matches in the Copa Libertadores. Here’s my photos, videos and thoughts on the match and experience. Luckily I anticipated all 4 goals, click the links in the article.

I arrived at the stadium in the north of the city fifteen minutes before kick off as I finally dragged myself away from the Arsenal v Barcelona match. It was easy enough to get a ticket from the box office and I decided to get a seat to the side of the pitch with the Católica fans as they were making a typical South American racket complete with drums and a brass section, far more tuneful and enjoyable than England and Sheffield Wednesday’s fans attempts to re-create this kind of atmosphere back home. As I write this report the songs are still reverberating in my head.

The home side Unión Española started the game with some excellent pressing high up the pitch forcing defensive errors and making for some exciting attacking play and they could have been ahead in the first minute. The ball bobbled around the Catolica area until eventually Jaime produced a save from Toselli.

Throughout the first half Católica found it difficult to defend against the excellent right hand side of the attacking Española. Excellent movement from the ever dangerous Argentine front man Jaime caused the Católica defence a few tactical dilemmas.  The picture below shows that Española were prepared to leave 3 forwards up even when Católica had the ball in the Española  half. Católica in turn looked nervous to commit to many players forward, Unión Española really had the favourites rattled.

The away side however thought they had gone ahead slightly against the run of play halfway through the first half but Roberto Gutiérrez’s header was ruled out for offside. In truth UC offered little in the 1^st half apart from moves that regularly broke down in the final third with slopping passing to blame, Fernando Meneses an exception,  and there were many disgruntled Católica fans at the half-time whistle.

At the start of the second it seemed like the half time break had made no difference to the champions of Chile and they fell behind. A corner was headed into the path of Monje to smash home from inside the 6 yard box to put the impressive Española 1-0 up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oDi2W6ttG8

This goal seemed to wake Catolica up. A key moment occurred around this time when the number 10 Marcelo Canete who had a very poor game, was substituted to the relief of the UC fans. His replacement Villanueva had an immediate impact as he grabbed hold of the midfield and soon after his introduction UC equalised. Lucas Pratto glancing home a header from a cross from the left. All square. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykq1q0P1Ezo

For the first time in the match it was clear UC were on top and they looked a very capable side. The goal of the match put UC 2-1 up. It was a nice move ending with a superb touch and finish from Fernando Meneses, a goal his exciting performance deserved . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIoSCR7DqOk . At this stage you felt they would go on to seal the victory comfortably. They nearly did just that when an audacious lob from Roberto Gutiérrez after some poor goalkeeping just went wide of the post.

As the final whilst neared, tension appeared in the Católica backline again and Espanola had started to force some errors. Then in the 89^th minute whilst seemingly in little danger Catolica youngster Alfonso Parot gave away a silly penalty that was expertly converted by Leal, a contender for man of the match. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPIsm-x1akI . Española got away with a point in the end, they sat back and invited pressure when they had gone ahead in a game which I feel they had in their control. They were not helped by the loss of Olarra during the 2nd half.

It finished 2-2, a fair result all in all and I’m already looking forward to my next Copa Libertadores match. Argentine side Velez look a strong bet to win this group although on this showing if the Chilean teams can tighten up at the back they will both push hard for qualification.

More Photos Here - http://s1135.photobucket.com/albums/m621/caniggiascores/Union%20Espanola/

Alianza Lima and the 1987 Air Disaster

Alianza Lima, formed 1901 by horse stud workers of Italian heritage are Peru’s oldest professional football club. Since their first championship in 1918, Alianza have won titles in every decade apart from one, the 1980’s, a decade marred by one of the saddest tragedies in South American football.

Los Portrillos, 1987

During the first round of the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, the Argentine sports magazine El Gráfico named the Peruvian midfield made up of Alianza Lima players (César Cueto, Teófilo Cubillas, José Velásquez) as the best in the world. Peru, then South American champions, in their iconic white strip with red diagonal slash, had swept aside Scotland and Iran and got a very creditable draw against eventual finalists Holland in the 1^st round. The 2^nd phase however, they fell to 3 straight defeats including the infamous 6-0 defeat against the hosts.

That same year, Alianza Lima won the Peruvian national championship after 18 long years of suffering. Unfortunately, despite the talent in their ranks, this victory did not kick-start a new glory period in the club’s history. In 1987, after eight years of disappointment, the club found itself leading the Peruvian championship with a few games left to play. The team was galvanized with a generation of young stars affectionately known as “los portillos” roughly translated as ‘the ponies’. They came from lower divisions and young players spotted in the street and they constituted a new hope not just for Alianza but for the Peruvian national side that had been in decline following a disappointing performance in the 1982 World Cup.

On December 7^th 1978, the title contenders travelled to Deportivo Pucallpa, a club based in the jungle in the east of Peru, and maintained their championship credentials with a 1-0 win that sent them top of the league. The Alianza players were keen to return to the capital as soon as possible after their victory to celebrate with family and friends. The club chartered a Peruvian Navy Fokker F27-400M plane to take them back to Lima but had to wait until the next day.

The plane took off early evening on the 8^th December from Pucallpa airport at 18:30, as the plane neared its destination, the captain Peruvian Navy Lieutenant Edilberto Villar and his co-pilot could not confirm if the landing gear of the plane was locked down. The aircraft then completed a successful fly-by to confirm the wheels were indeed in place and turned around to attempt another landing. The plane carrying 44 people including; players, coaches, fans and crewmembers plummeted into the Pacific Ocean at 20:05 in the evening as the pilots flew the plane too close to the water and the impact was fatal.

After a few days of searching for bodies it was confirmed that everybody on board the plane had died, apart from one man: the pilot, Edilberto Villar. Sixteen players of Alianza Lima were dead and many of the bodies were never recovered from the ocean. The star of the team was Luis Escobar, who had made his debut at just fourteen years old and at the time of the accident was still only eighteen and was having a fantastic campaign. Francisco Bustamante (21 years) and José Casanova (24 years) were popular players for the national team also fell victim. Others included top goalscorer Alfredo Tomasini, who survived for many days as he was one of the few who could swim but drowned just before the rescue of the pilot.

Coach Marcos Calderón, arguably the greatest Peruvian coach of all time was a great loss for Peruvian football going forward, this man revolutionised the national side in the 70’s and was at the helm for the Copa America triumph in 1975 and the world cup campaign in 1978. During the season there was always talk that this team could form the base of a decent Peruvian national side again, perhaps with Calderón guiding them once more. He certainly still had a lot to teach and give.

National mourning and grief followed the deaths. Naturally the stars of Alianza Lima were the ones adorning pictures, t-shirts and newspaper headlines but this tragedy including fans, coaching stuff, referees and cabin crew. Mass crowds gathered on the beaches, in the street, in the bars and in the stadiums all united together in grief. The President of the Republic Alan Garcia and Ministers of State attended as many funerals as they could. Officially there were three days of mourning in honor of those who perished and it took three weeks until the national championship resumed.

As the news broke across the world, in England, Bobby Charlton made public his sadness at the news of the tragedy, remembering the crash suffered by the club Manchester United, February 6, 1958, which caused the death of eight players, the coach, a fan and eight journalists. Uruguayan and South American champions Peñarol played the final of the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo, with black ribbons on their shirts as a sign of solidarity with their Peruvian counterparts.

Controversy followed the incident and many theories are still about today not helped by the fact the Navy and government kept the information and reports on the accident hidden from the public. It’s claimed they actually fired shots into the air when bereaved family members went to try and speak to them about the accident. Many a conspiracy theory was created, two popular ones in particular.

The first controversial theory is that the plane was part of a drug trafficking operation and whilst flying back to Lima, the players caught wind of this and it started an argument on board which ended with a couple of the players being shot, this theory is supported by various reporters who claim two things. One is that there were two other planes that came from Pucallpa in the days leading up to the accident carrying large quantities of Coca. The other is that they made sure the bodies of some of the players were never recovered because the clothes which had been recovered allegedly had evidence of bullet holes. All this commotion on board the plane led the pilots to crash the plane, perhaps on purpose to create a story and then flee the country. It is true that Villar did in fact flee to Australia as soon as possible and has never returned to Peru since the accident, a major fact supporting this theory.

The second theory is another one of heroic team action. All on board became aware of a mechanical problem with the plane and were told there was a risk that the plane might end up hitting a slum near the airport. All the passengers decided that it is best the plane is crashed into the sea to avoid a greater catastrophe on land.

The more likely explanation is that the plane was in substandard condition but also the pilots had very little experience and were struggling with the controls as neither could read or speak English so therefore they couldn’t understand the manuals. Lieutenant Villar had failed a special training course which could have prevented the accident. It was dark by the time the plane hit the water and the pilots records show very little flying time at night.

Whatever the truth is, the more controversial theories came about due to social class tensions in Peru. The players very much represented the poor communities they grew up in and the public found it hard to accept this was just an accident and believed that the players knew something, the government didn’t want people to know as it was in the midst of defending itself in a guerrilla war that was gripping the country involving the maoist organization Sendero Luminoso (The Shining Path) and had lost further legitimacy with the public by nationalising the banking system in the same year as the accident.

As for Alianza Lima after the crash, unfortunately they lost out on the title, having borrowed players from Chilean club Colo Colo and also got some old favourites out of retirement; the club struggled to recover initially from the disaster and nearly suffered relegation the following year. It took the club 9 years to fully recover and regain the Peruvian championship ending another 18 season wait. Nowadays they are searching for their first title since 2006, they finished third in the 2010 campaign. In a recent poll they were found to Peru’s most popular football club and the legacy of the ‘portrillos’ is said to be one reason for that.

A Latin American Soap Opera – Starring – Paraguay’s national hero, a Mexican gang boss called ‘JJ’ and Miss Antioquia 2008

On January 25th 2010, a footballer in his prime was shot in the head in a bar in Mexico City. Miraculously he survived but his football career has not and he sadly announced his intention to retire recently.  A year on from the attack I take a brief look at the career of Salvador Cabañas and how his life is shaping up in the aftermath of the horrific attack.

I would imagine Salvador Cabañas is glad to see the back of 2010. A year in which his football career was ruined, his world cup dream taken away from him, tax problems surfaced in Mexico, his former agent is suing him and his wife has made a few unpopular moves and comments back in his homeland of Paraguay.

Cabañas is not a footballer that well known outside of Latin America, as he never made a move to Europe, despite some strong rumours of a transfer to Sunderland. He started out in his homeland of Paraguay, and then it was onto Chile before heading north to Mexico to earn a greater salary and reputation.

His career took off when he had a prolific season with Audax Italiano in the Chilean Primera Division in 2003. He then won his place back in the Paraguayan national team and then earned a big money move to Mexico where he made quite a name for himself with his scoring exploits. He first joined Jaguares de Chiapas before going onto Club America, a big force in Mexican football and based in the Capital.

He had been enjoying the moniker of ‘King of America’ in Mexico, a title reflecting his hero status with the fans of Club America. He had scored 66 goals in 115 games for America. Then, one fateful night in a toilet in a bar in Mexico City, he was shot in the head whilst enjoying a drink with his wife and his life was dramatically turned upside down and the drama had just begun.

He has hero status as well back in his homeland. He was top scorer for Paraguay as they qualified for their first World Cup since 1998 and when the tragic news came through thousands gathered in the national stadium to hold a vigil for Cabañas. After 30 days he regained consciousness and was talking away within minutes, astounding doctors and the police, although he remembers nothing of the actual incident.

The wife of Salvador, Maria Alonso, has been very vocal since the attack and has criticised the Mexican club for not paying his wages. In turn many citizens in Paraguay have been critical of Salvador’s wife’s pleading of poverty at first and the fact the government has granted them a welfare pension, usually only reserved for the very poor in Paraguay. She has now rejected the offer from the government and says she is prepared to work and just wants justice for her husband. This has brought about much argument in Paraguayan society but it seems the Cabañas family are on the brink of bankruptcy, brought about through tax evasion, and have sued his former agent José María González and Club America for breach of trust and fraud in relation to breaking contract agreements and failing to notify him of his tax issues, however Cabanas is also being sued by his agent for these claims.

As for the shooting incident, I would like to introduce to the story, José Jorge Balderas Garza or ‘JJ’. He is the probable perpetrator of the crime of attempted murder and he has been found and arrested recently, bizarrely with the help of Facebook. A location update posted by his Colombian model girlfriend Juliana Sossa (Miss Antioquia 2008!) alerted Mexican police to his whereabouts. You can only conclude that Ms.Sossa must either be very naive or looking for revenge of some kind.

JJ is an alleged associate of the infamous purported drug lord Edgar Valdez Villarreal, known as “La Barbie,” who was arrested last year and all kinds of different rumours circulate around the pair and just why they shot Cabañas. JJ claims Cabañas was acting violently that night but denies carrying out the shooting, instead blaming his bodyguard. JJ and his six associates were arrested soon after the Facebook update. They were carrying false IDs, along with what appeared to be bags of cocaine, guns and ammunition. He had been in hiding since the incident.

As for Cabañas, he needs to go back to Mexico to give evidence for the prosecution of JJ, however there is an arrest warrant out for Cabanas to. He is wanted by Mexican authorities for those unpaid taxes since 2007. The case rests on a knife-edge.

It’s a Latin soap opera that I have been following for awhile with many unbelievable episodes but I hope Salvador and his family find some solace and peace soon.. He has recently been given some hope that he might be able to play football again,  although with the bullet still lodged in his head this carries a risk and after all his been through already it’s debatable as to whether it is a risk worth taking.

Related Links (In Spanish)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRewsxSzmO4 – News report from the day of the attack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap2x1pHuzGo – Top Ten Goals For Club America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LizIWS4lE2A – You don’t need much spanish to enjoy this one

Copa América 2011 and the Decentralisation of Argentine Football

July 1^st 2011 will see the start of the 43rd Copa América* and the 9th to be hosted in Argentina. It was no real surprise Argentina was chosen as the host nation for the Copa América. There was a surprise however, when the Argentine FA announced the cities and stadiums to host the tournament. A decentralisation of Argentina’s most popular sport has possibly begun.

Football in Argentina is currently centralised by the fact that the Argentine club game is concentrated in Buenos Aires, the city and the province (confusingly the city isn’t part of the province of the same name). Currently there are 20 teams in the Primera División, only 3 clubs in the top flight are based outside the capital Buenos Aires and the BA province. This season sees Colón and Newell’s Old Boys in the Santa Fe province and Godoy Cruz in the city of Mendoza competing with the BA clubs. This isn’t just a current situation, historically theclubs based in 3 cities in the east of Argentina, Buenos Aires, La Plata and Rosario are dominant. These also include the oldest clubs as well, due to the location of the cities near ports and rivers and the railroad tracks all populated by British workers in the late 19^th century bringing with them their entertaining sport. During the time it took building up the infrastructure in BA and beyond, they formed football clubs as well. In turn the railroad tracks made it easy for supporters to travel home and away once the Argentine league was formed in the 1890’s and the game grew enormously in and around the capital in the early 20^th century.

The last time Argentina hosted the Copa América in 1987, only 3 cities were utilised by the Argentine FA. Matches were played out in Cordoba in the midwest, Buenos Aires and the passionate city of Rosario, which is just 4 hours from the capital city. Further to this, in the 1978 World Cup, only 5 cities were chosen to host matches, well below the average for the greatest international tournament in football. To date, Uruguay in 1930 and Chile in 1962 are the only nations to host the World Cup with fewer host cities chosen and they are far smaller countries. The clubs in these cities benefited from the World Cup matches being played in their stadiums and cities whilst many of the other cities and clubs in Argentina were left wondering where their slice of the pie (or empanada perhaps) is.

In 2011 however the member nations of CONMEBAL, plus invitees Mexico and Japan, will play matches in Salta, Jujuy, Mendoza, San Juan, Córdoba and Santa Fe. The only game to take place in Buenos Aires is the final. Additionally La Plata, the capital of the Buenos Aires province will host the opening ceremony and 5 other matches during the event.

With this decentralisation there has also been some interesting organisation of which nation plays where. Chile will play all their matches in Mendoza, a pleasant city just a few hours drive across the Andes, weather permitting, from the Chilean capital Santiago. Thousands of fans of Las Rojas will be expected to make the journey for matches against Uruguay, Peru and Mexico.

Paraguay and Bolivia will play in the northern cities of Jujuy and Salta which means cheaper travel for the fans of those respective nations. Although with this being a huge continent, it will still take them whole day to make the trip. Uruguay will play Mexico in La Plata which can be easily reached from the Uruguayan capital Montevideo by ferry.

As for the hosts, they will embark on a small national tour. Starting in La Plata against Bolivia they then host Colombia in Santa Fe and their final group game is in Córdoba against Japan. The 47,000 capacity Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes in Córdoba will also be the scene for their quarter final match if they were to win group A. It’s then back to La Plata for the semis. Lastly they will hope to be partying long into the night in Buenos Aires on the 24^th July after the final in Estadio Monumental, home of River Plate.

Copa América 2011 is  being anticipated in South America as one of the more competitive editions of the competition. Argentina will be confident of winning the Copa América on home soil. You can never write Brazil off but the current holders are very much in a transition stage and building for the huge pressure which will face them in 2014.  Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay will carry a threat  judging by their performances in South Africa. Most Argentines were happy with their group, it’s worth noting that their last matches against Bolivia and Japan ended in defeats albeit away from home.

It is no doubt going to be a lot of fun for many fans across the country in the cities outside Buenos Aires. Getting a taste for high quality football and a chance to cheer on their national heroes in a Copa América match will be a first for most fans inside the stadiums and should make for some excitable crowds. It is hoped that the clubs in all these cities will recieve a boost in attendances and also stadium improvements after the Copa has taken place. We’ll have to wait and see if the pressure gets to Messi and his chums in July but whatever the outcome, many will be hoping this decentralisation will be a huge success for this football obsessed nation.

*Copa América has been the name of the competition since 1975, previously it was called the South American Championship.

Adam Brandon

@caniggiascores

Caniggiascores.wordpress.com

For a map of the cities, dates, format and fixtures please see this page on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Copa_Am%C3%A9rica