The Argentine football interview

Part 5 of my global interview series takes us to global football powerhouses Argentina and Juan Pablo Monsonís, from Mar del Plata. Juan Pablo hosts a weblog called "Leyendas del Futbol Mundial".

The weblog is dedicated mostly to storytelling about a fictional football league. My thanks for participating.

FC: We know about River Plate and Boca Juinors in the Argentine league, what about some other teams that have impressed you recently?

JM: Although Boca and River are the ones that most frequently win the Argentinian Championships, there are a few squads that have improved their game play during the last years. The most unexpected case is Newell's Old Boys who has won the Torneo Apertura in the last semester of 2004, and after that, Velez Sarsfield, the last champion of the Torneo Clausura 2005. Both of these teams had done well in the last seasons. We can include Banfield, Estudiantes and Arsenal as teams that have made great campaigns in these years, all of this maybe because the irregularity of the most economically powerful teams.

FC follow-up: Newell's Old Boys, where did the name come from?

Newell's Old Boys takes its name of Isaac Newell, an English professor from Kent. He lived in a house in Rosario which later would become a school, the Anglo Argentino. In that school, during the breaks of every class, the kids used to play football. Newell's son, Claudio, was one of those kids. Ater graduating, he and his former partners decided to establish a football club in the city. So, the club was named Newell's Old Boys as a tribute given to Isaac Newell by his ex-students. This happened in February of 1903.

Newell's has a very strong tradition in promoting young players who usually become football stars. Players like Gabriel Batistuta, Abel Balbo and Nestor Sensini among others, have started their careers at Newell's Old Boys. The derby of the city of Rosario is Newell's - Rosario Central. Recently, they've played a play-off match to decide which team would participate in the Copa Sudamericana (South-American Cup). The first match ended 0-0, and the final encounter in Central's stadium was 1-0 for Central. After the match there were many incidents caused by fans of Newell's which was stopped by the Police.

Another interesting anecdote about Newell's is their nickname, leprosos (leppers). This happened in the very first years of the century when Newell's was invited to play a friendly match against Rosario Central which would be of benefit to people affected by lepracy in a Rosario hospital. Newell's accepted the invitation, Rosario Central declined so the Central's fans have called them "Leprosos" since that moment, Central is called "Canallas" (Bad Boys).

FC: Argentina has many great players in Europe, but who haven't heard of yet that is still in Argentina but you think will move to a bigger clubs abroad?

JM: Nowadays, and thanks to the great performance that his team is demonstrating in the Torneo Apertura 2005, the man of the moment is Sergio Agüero from Independiente. He has been compared recently with Romario because of his ability to play in reduced spaces. He has not played so many matches, but his talent has all the football fans impressed very much, especially playing in the under-20 national team. He's 17 years old and a bright future ahead.

FC: What is the youth football system like in Argentina? How well supported are the youth national sides?

JM: Argentina always had very talented and powerful youth squads. There's a lot of work done in many clubs with their younger players who in many cases, appear very frequently in their clubs' line-ups since their are almost kids. Unfortunately they leave the country so soon and we can only enjoy watching them play for only a few years.

FC: Who are your top 5 Argentine players at the moment? How about top 5 ever?

JM: Mmmm, a difficult question. It took me some time, but this is my list. Obviously, it's personal, so here it goes:

Best Argentinian players nowadays:

1) Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal FC)
2) Carlos Tevez (Corinthians)
3) Lionel Messi (Barcelona FC)
4) Javier Mascherano (Corinthians)
5) Luis Gonzalez (Porto FC)

Best Argentinian players ever:

1) Diego Armando Maradona
2) Alfredo Di Stefano
3) Mario Alberto Kempes
4) Gabriel Batistuta
5) Daniel Passarella

FC: Because so many Argentine players play in Europe, are the European games televisied there regularly?

JM:We are able to see matches from the Premier League, Liga Española, Calcio Italiano, and the European competitions. Also, the Sports Channels show all the goals made by Argentinian players around the world. We can follow their tracks wherever they are, fortunately.

See a list of all the interviews published so far

Please email if you'd like to conduct an interview (over email) or if you know the name of a weblog in your country.