Argentine championship inicial results and standings

Aug 3 (Infostrada Sports) - Results and standings from the Argentine championship Inicial matches on Friday Friday, August 3 Arsenal 1 Union (Santa Fe) 0 Standings P W D L F A Pts 1 Arsenal 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 Quilmes 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 All Boys 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Godoy Cruz 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tigre 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 San Martin (San Juan) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atletico Rafaela 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Newell's Old Boys 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 River Plate 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Independiente 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Colon (Santa Fe) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Velez Sarsfield 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Boca Juniors 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Estudiantes 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Racing Club 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atletico Belgrano 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 San Lorenzo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Argentinos Juniors 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lanus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 Union (Santa Fe) 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 Next Fixtures (GMT): Saturday, August 4 Velez Sarsfield v Argentinos Juniors (0010) Racing Club v Atletico Rafaela (1710) Colon (Santa Fe) v Lanus (1910) Quilmes v Boca Juniors (2115) Newell's Old Boys v Independiente (2320) Sunday, August 5 Godoy Cruz v All Boys (1810) San Lorenzo v San Martin (San Juan) (2010) River Plate v Atletico Belgrano (2215) Monday, August 6 Tigre v Estudiantes (2310)

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cs-Japan beat Brazil in women's soccer quarter-finals - results

WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - COVENTRY, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Japan beat Brazil 2-0 in the Olympic women's soccer quarter-finals on Friday. Results Table Japan beat Brazil 2-0 (1-0) U.S. beat New Zealand 2-0 (1-0) France beat Sweden 2-1 (2-1)

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River begin with Belgrano revenge meeting

River Plate return to the top flight of Argentine football at the weekend after the indignity playing in the second division and will immediately face the team who sent them down a little more than one year ago.

In a quirk football seems to have a habit of producing, the fixture list has paired River with Belgrano on the opening day of the season, the same team who beat them over two legs in a promotion/relegation play-off.

River's relegation sent shockwaves through the country as it was thought the Argentine Football Association (AFA) had engineered a system which made it impossible for any of the big clubs to go down.

Relegation is decided on a points-per-game average over three years, the logic being that while a big club may have one bad season, they are unlikely to have three in row.

However, beset by financial and organisational problems, River did exactly that and their woes ended with a 3-1 aggregate defeat to Cordoba-based Belgrano in the 2010-11 playoff.

Coached by Matias Almeyda and boosted by the signing of former France international David Trezeguet, who was raised in Buenos Aires, they won promotion at the first attempt last season.

Their presence means the return of the River-Boca derbies, one of the football world's great fixtures.

Boca themselves will be coming to terms with the departure of talismanic playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, who quit the club after they lost the Libertadores Cup final to Corinthians.

ONE WINNER

For the first time since 1990-91, the season will have only one single champion.

The last 21 seasons have been divided into two championships, known as the Apertura (Opening) and Clausura (Closing) with the 20 teams meeting once in each.

This time, the winners of each championship, which will be renamed 'Inicial' and 'Final', will meet in an end-of-season decider.

It is still not the same as a European league system as the team which has the most points over the whole season may not necessarily win the title. The controversial relegations system remains in place.

Despite the new format, Argentine football remains mired in problems with crowd violence, clubs in financial difficulties and the loss of promising young players to foreign clubs.

This, combined with the short championships, has led to a dramatic leveling out with smaller clubs such as Banfield, Lanus and Arsenal, the defending champions, all winning the title in the last five years.

In an attempt to clamp down on violence, the Argentine government and the AFA announced earlier this week that fans would be electronically finger-printed as they entered stadiums for some games.

The government said it would provide a database of finger prints to help identify troublemakers and keep them out of stadiums.

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Sao Paulo keeper Rogerio regains scoring knack

Sao Paulo goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni scored with a majestic free-kick in a 2-0 win over Bahia on Wednesday signalling he has regained his scoring knack after a long injury layoff.

The 39-year-old goalkeeper, who played his first game of the year last Sunday following a shoulder injury, curled the ball into the top corner early in the Copa Sudamericana tie.

It was the 104th goal of his career, widely regarded as the highest total ever scored by goalkeeper in professional football. Teenager Ademilson scored Sao Paulo's second.

The competition is the regional equivalent of UEFA's Europa League.

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Schiavi sorry for "food for rats" outburst

Boca Juniors captain Rolando Schiavi has apologised for a Twitter outburst in which he complained that the team had been served "food fit for rats" in a Venezuelan hotel.

His apology came as Argentina's most popular club arrived home two days late and at the wrong airport following a pre-season tour to Colombia and Venezuela.

"I apologise for my over-the-top and irresponsible words which were made in the heat of the moment, when I was tired," said Schiavi in a new tweet. "I regret what I wrote so I have deleted it."

Boca were supposed to leave the Venezuelan city of Puerto La Cruz on Monday night along with fellow Argentine club All Boys, but a mix-up over their chartered flight meant they only departed on Wednesday.

They were left wondering whether they would even get home in time for their opening Argentine championship match against Quilmes on Saturday.

At one point, Schiavi tweeted: "They've taken us to a fourth-rate hotel, with lots of damp, dirty sheets and food fit for rats."

Argentine media said the flight finally left on Wednesday only to be diverted to Cordoba when it reached Argentina due to fog at Buenos Aires.

It was due to fly to Buenos Aires later on Thursday.

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Sao Paulo score four on Rogerio's return

Sao Paulo celebrated the return of talismanic goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni with a 4-1 thrashing of Flamengo in the Brazilian championship on Sunday.

The 39-year-old keeper, who has scored more than 100 goals in his career from penalties and free-kicks, had been out of action since last November with a shoulder injury.

Former Brazil striker Luis Fabiano scored two of the goals for Sao Paulo, who gave Flamengo's new coach Dorival Junior plenty of food for thought in only his second game in charge.

Palmeiras dropped into the relegation zone with a 2-1 defeat at Cruzeiro which ended with their players surrounding the referee furiously protesting his decisions.

The referee left the pitch with a police escort as the Palmeiras team remonstrated over the penalty award which led to Borges giving Cruzeiro the lead before half-time. They were also livid over a disallowed goal.

Palmeiras coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who led Brazil to their World Cup victory in 2002, refused to talk to the media after the match.

Borges also scored Cruzeiro's second goal with Hernan Barcos pulling one back for Palmeiras, who are 18th in the 20-team table with 10 points from 13 games. The bottom four go down.

Atletico Mineiro stayed top with a goalless draw at Fluminense. They are two points clear of Vasco da Gama, who were also involved in a 0-0 draw with Internacional.

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