Come on Colchester, Norwich, Barnet and, erm, Costa Rica!

The Spoiler’s knowledge of Costa Rican football isn’t as good as it once was and, in truth, it was never that good to begin with. However, after watching Uruguay’s toothless performance against Argentina last month, our hunch is that they can get a result tomorrow night. Here’s why they’re one of four teams in our accumulator this weekend…

Colchester (v Exeter)
The only team they’ve failed to beat at home in the league this season are Leeds. Exeter have lost all four of their away games with top-half sides.

Norwich (v Tranmere)
The Canaries haven’t lost at Carrow Road since their opening day humiliation. Tranmere’s only away points came against bottom side Wycombe.

Barnet (v Hereford)
Ian Hendon’s men are unbeaten at Underhill and have won their last three there to nil. Hereford are yet to win away.

Costa Rica (v Uruguay)
They’ve won nine of their last ten home games, with victims including World Cup qualifiers USA and Honduras.

For a £10 stake, you can win £103.50 on Betfair with this quadruple.

Click here to claim a free £25 bet when opening a Betfair account

The Albicelestes’ poor form under Diego Maradona continues

Paraguay 1/ Argentina 0
While World Cup Qualification strugglers Portugal were given a boost with a 1-0 victory in Hungary last night, Argentina saw no such change in their fortunes. Following defeat in Paraguay, Diego Maradona’s side now find themselves in the fifth-place play-off spot in the South American qualification system that is pretty much designed to give them an easy ride.

Argentina have lost four of their last five qualification games, and slip-ups in the two remaining matches against Peru and Uruguay could mean they miss their first World Cup finals since 1970. Maradona, it seems, is dealing with the pressure with his own unique brand of panicked defiance:

“As long as I have a drop of blood left, I will fight to get Argentina qualified.

“We’re not out of the World Cup.

“I’m not afraid of criticism. I’m not afraid of anybody. I’m going to continue no matter who criticises me.”

[Video: 101GG]

Psychotic pitch invader throws cup tie into disarray

South America’s reputation as the global epicentre of football violence was bolstered yesterday thanks to an incident that occurred during the Copa Sudamericana match between Bolivia’s Blooming and Uruguay’s River Plate.

Shortly after River Plate capitalised on a hideous goalkeeping error [0.12 in the video], a knife-wielding fan ran onto the pitch and attacked River’s Henry Gimenez. Thankfully, the moronic supporter was subdued before he could get “stabby”, but the referee had no option but to abandon the game. Blooming fans weren’t particularly happy with this decision, and proceeded to pelt the pitch with missiles and flares.

The was the first leg of the cup tie, and it’s currently not known whether River will be allowed to advance directly to the next stage, or if the authorities will risk playing out the return leg.

[Dirty Tackle]

Dario Silva overcomes tragic adversity

Former Portsmouth forward Dario Silva was forced to retire from the game in 2006 when injuries sustained from a car crash meant his right leg had to amputated below the knee.

Not being the type to sit around and feel sorry for himself, Silva was determined to walk again (doctors said he may not) and there were rumours that the Uruguayan would retrain as a rower for the London 2012 Olympics.

Via the use of a prosthetic leg, the 36-year-old has made a miraculous return to the beautiful game in a recent charity clash between a Uruguay XI and an Argentina XI. As you can see above, he even managed to get on the score sheet.

Spoiler bonus: See a compilation of Silva’s best moments after the jump…

National Anthem jeering will result in cancellation

Last month, Tunisia supporters visiting the Stade de France controversially booed the French national anthem prior to a friendly. This enraged French Prez Nicolas Sarkozy, who decreed that French football games should be cancelled if anyone jeers the pre-match national anthem. Sports minister Roselyne Bachelot confirmed the threat, saying: “Any match at which our national anthem is whistled at will be immediately stopped.” No one cared to explained to her that a match that has yet to start cannot be “immediately stopped”.

For the first time since the deplorable event, France will return to the Paris stadium tonight to face Uruguay. Unlike the Tunisians, the South Americans will have little political cause to boo France’s national anthem La Marseillaise, yet Paddy Power are offering 33/1 on the match being cancelled on account of naughty crowd behaviour.

If the visiting fans fancy travelling thousands of miles to see a game called off, they know exactly what to do.