Latin American Roundup

Argentina tops Colombia for S. American U-20 title

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) -- Fernando Cavenaghi slammed home a powerful free kick in the 74th minute Tuesday to give Argentina a 1-0 win over Colombia and the Under-20 South American soccer championship.

Cavenaghi's score off a well-angled shot gave Argentina its fourth title in 21 championships, which was first played in 1954. Argentina is also a four-time World champion, having won its last crown in 2001.

A star for Argentinian club River Plate, Cavenaghi also led tournament scoring with a total of eight goals.

Meanwhile, Brazil and Paraguay joined Argentina and Colombia in qualifying for the Under-20 World soccer championships to be played in the United Arab Emirates starting March 25.

Brazil, which finished the tournament as runner-up to Argentina, defeated host Uruguay 2-1 to the muted silence of the Uruguayan crowd assembled for that earlier matchup Tuesday evening at Montevideo's Centenario stadium.

Closing out the tournament, Paraguay downed Ecuador 3-2 on Tuesday in the other of three tournament-ending matches here.

Argentina finished the tournament with 11 points followed by Brazil with 10 points, Paraguay 9, Colombia 8, Uruguay 4 and Ecuador 0. Only the top four advanced to the World championships that will showcase some of soccer's best up-and-coming players.

The Argentina-Colombia championship matchup began sluggishly as neither side showed precision in passing nor on the attack.

Neither Carlos Tevez of Argentina, or Victor Montano of Colombia -- two stars of the tournament -- were able to muster the leadership roles predicted.

Colombia's Hector Landazuri threatened briefly on attack in the 60th minute, before Cavenaghi found net with his scoring kick.

Desperate to tie it up, the Colombians rallied furiously but to little avail late in the game. In the 80th minute, Colombia's Edixon Perea looked as if he could nearly tie it up with a header, but the shot went just wide of the goal.

Argentina's Under-20 coach, Hugo Tocalli, acknowledged afterward that his team didn't play to its fullest but he was still satisfied that his team had managed to shut down the Colombian offense early.

"If I had to rate them, I would say they were at 60 percent of their potential," he said of Tuesday's final. But he said he had confidence in them en route to the World championships: "We know these players have a great future ahead of them."

LINEUPS:

Argentina: Gustavo Eberto, Walter Garcia, Joel Barbosa, Hugo Colace, Javier Pinola, Fernando Belluschi (45-Leonardo Pisculichi and in the 84th minute, Maximiliano Lopez), Javier Mascherano, Pablo Zabaleta, Carlos Tevez, Emanuel Rivas (67-Patricio Perez) and Fernando Cavenaghi.

Colombia: Hector Landazuri, Jose de la Cuesta, Andres Gonzalez, Cesar Augusto Fawcett, Fabian Lopez, Abel Aguilar, Johny Acosta (67-Edixon Perea), Johny Ramirez, Yulian Anchico, Victor Hugo Montano (61-Javier Araujo) and Jaime Ruiz.

Referee: Jorge Larrionda, Uruguay.

Simeone, Batistuta out of Argentina squad for friendly

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -- Argentina coach Marcelo Bielsa has left out stalwarts Diego Simeone and Gabriel Batistuta for next month's friendly in the Netherlands.

The omission of midfielder Simeone, who has won over 100 caps, and all-time top scorer Batistuta suggests that the international career of both players may have come to an end.

Batistuta announced his international retirement before last year's World Cup but media reports since suggested the 33-year-old striker, who joined Inter Milan from AS Roma earlier this month, had reconsidered the decision.

Bielsa included three uncapped players in the squad for the game on February 12 -- Deportivo Coruna defender Lionel Scaloni, Atletico Madrid defender Fabricio Coloccini and Nantes midfielder Mauro Cetto.

He also selected several players who have barely been tested at international level including Real Madrid pair Esteban Cambiasso and Santiago Solari, Bologna's Julio Cruz and Javier Saviola from Barcelona.

Midfielder Juan Riquelme, who has struggled since joining Barcelona last July, was left out.

Striker Hernan Crespo and midfielder Matias Almeyda were unavailable due to injury.

Bielsa is slowly attempting to rebuild his side after the debacle at the World Cup in South Korea and Japan, when his team arrived as favourites but failed to progress beyond the first round.

Argentina beat Japan 2-0 in their only match since the tournament.

All 22 of Bielsa's squad for the Netherlands match are based with European clubs. None of them are involved in the three-match tour of Honduras and the United States for which Bielsa is experimenting with home-based players.

Argentina face Honduras away on Friday, Mexico in Los Angeles on February 4 and the United States Miami on February 8.

The squad was announced in a statement issued by the Argentina Football Association (AFA) late on Tuesday night and Bielsa was not available to comment on his choices.

Goalkeepers - Pablo Cavallero (Celta Vigo, Spain), Roberto Bonano (Barcelona, Spain).

Defenders - Roberto Ayala (Valencia, Spain), Fabricio Coloccini (Atletico Madrid, Spain), Walter Samuel (AS Roma, Italy), Mauricio Pochettino (Paris St Germain, France), Facundo Quiroga (Sporting Lisbon, Portugal), Lionel Scaloni (Deportivo Coruna, Spain), Juan Pablo Sorin (Lazio, Italy), Diego Placente (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany).

Midfielders - Pablo Aimar (Valencia, Spain), Javier Zanetti (Inter Milan, Italy), Marcelo Gallardo (AS Monaco, France), Mauro Cetto (Nantes, France), Juan Sebastian Veron (Manchester United, England), Esteban Cambiasso (Real Madrid, Spain), Santiago Solari (Real Madrid, Spain)

Forwards - Javier Saviola (Barcelona, Spain), Gustavo Lopez (Celta Vigo, Spain), Claudio Lopez (Lazio, Italy), Julio Cruz (Bologna, Italy) Ariel Ortega (Fenerbahce, Turkey).

River Plate coach under pressure before season starts

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 29 (Reuters) - River Plate's Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini is already under pressure two weeks before the start of the Argentine season after poor results in warm-up matches.

The heat was turned up after River drew and then lost on penalties to arch-rivals Boca Juniors in one of Argentina's traditional summer tournaments at the weekend.

One week earlier, they lost 1-0 in another meeting of the country's two biggest clubs.

Pellegrini, who has been in the hot seat for less than six months, summed up the situation when he told reporters: "We are trying to be ready for the season, which is what really matters.

"But this is River and we have to win always, especially when Boca are the opponents.

"I know about River's history and I know what it means every time we lose to Boca. We lost to Boca, which hurt a lot. The defeat hurt and so did the draw at the weekend.

"Despite the bad results, we have never been outplayed by Boca or any of our other opponents."

Pellegrini joined River after leading less fashionable San Lorenzo to the league title in 2001. He took River to a third place finish in the Apertura championship -- considered a failure -- and committed the cardinal sin of losing at home to Boca in October.

"I don't mind being questioned but it bothers me when they publish a load of things which are not true," he said. "And when we lose to Boca, it's easier to invent things and start a crisis."

Parreira begins Brazil's quest for next World Cup

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- It felt like old times -- there was coach Carlos Alberto Parreira calling the roll for Brazil's national team and talking about winning the World Cup.

He's been there, done that, and is out to do it again.

Nine years after he coached Brazil to its fourth World Cup title at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, Parreira is back at the helm of the world's winningest soccer team and looking ahead to the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

In the interim, Brazil picked up its fifth World Cup title last summer, adding to championships in 1958, '62, '70 and '94. But the pressure to win is as keen as ever.

"We were champions and must always be champions," Parreira said Tuesday. "What's past is past."

Parreira inherits a solid core of players from former coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who quit to coach Portugal's national squad. Brazil will be loaded with World Cup champions when it visits China for a friendly game on Feb. 12.

Among the 19 players from European clubs announced Tuesday, 12 were at the World Cup. Parreira will complete the squad next week with three players from Brazilian clubs.

The famed "Three R" attack -- Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho -- is back. So is the defensive line of Cafu, Edmilson, Roque Junior and Roberto Carlos, with Bayer Leverkusen fullback Lucio sitting out with an injury.

The only surprise was young Parma striker Adriano.

Parreira said his job today is easier than in 1994, when Brazilians were anxious to end a 24-year drought without a World Cup title.

"In '94, the pressure was very great from fans and the press," he recalled. "Today the atmosphere is lighter, more optimistic."

Parreira also has changed.

Criticized in '94 for what fans perceived as an overly defensive strategy, Parreira won praise for his work with Corinthians last season. With an aggressive three-striker formation, the team won the Brazil Cup and finished second in the national championship.

Brazil, with the Three R's, will probably look a lot like that, he said.

"They are decisive players from the midfield forward," he said. "They need the same liberty they had at the World Cup."

Parreira also is determined not to repeat the mistakes of the last qualifying round, when Brazil constantly changed its lineup and nearly missed the World Cup for the first time, qualifying only in its final game against Venezuela.

"We know the difficulties we will face in the qualifying and the World Cup," he said. "It's not enough to have the best players. We need a sequence of work."

And there's no room for losing.

"Our responsibility now is much greater," he said. "When you're on top, you have to stay there. 'Good' is no good for us. We have to work for excellence."

Roster (player and club):

Goalkeeper: Dida (AC Milan)

Defenders: Cafu (AS Roma), Belletti (Villarreal), Juan (Bayer Leverkusen), Edmilson (Lyon), Roque Junior (AC Milan), Junior (Parma), Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid)

Midfielders: Emerson (AS Roma), Ze Roberto (Bayern Munich), Flavio Conceicao (Real Madrid), Gilberto Silva (Arsenal) and Juninho Pernambucano (Lyon)

Forwards: Adriano (Parma), Amoroso (Borussia Dortmund), Rivaldo (AC Milan), Ronaldinho (Paris Saint-Germain), Ronaldo (Real Madrid) and Denilson (Betis)

 

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Both the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.