The good:
Carlos “El Chino” Luna scored the first hat-trick of his career and buried Boca Juniors into a deeper crisis. Luna took advantage of a defense that leaves a lot of gaps and gave Tigre the 3 points at home. Boca hosts River Plate in “El Super Clasico” next weekend, in a game that could define the future of many.

The bad:
The young Independiente midfielder Walter Busse suffered a broken tibia and fibula during an accidental collision against Chacarita’s side Centurion. Busse will be out of the soccer fields for at least 7 months.


River Plate wins and awaits the Super Clasico

Before the beginning of the match the home crowd chanted the name of one of the club’s idols Ariel Ortega, expressing their desire to see him against Boca Juniors. Let’s not forget that the reason why he has not been called into the squad in recent weeks is due to his addiction to alcohol.

The game started with a goal off the sidelines. Less than one minute into the game defender Paulo Ferrari joined the attack and placed a low cross into the box, Gustavo Canales attempted to score with his heel but the ball ended up in the goalkeepers hand, who lacked to control the ball, Rogelio Funes Mori took advantage of the rebound and scored the first goal of the match. River kept attacking through the right flank with Paulo Ferrari, and with great movement from Both Canales and Funes Mori.

In the second half, River picked up the game and had the chance to seal the game when Marcelo Gallardo assisted Gustavo Canales, the shot hit the side netting, but it was a warning. Minutes later Juan Manuel Diaz took advantage of a throw in and crossed the ball into the box, Gustavo Canales anticipated the play and put a header into the near post.

River got 3 very important points at home, and finally was able to able to win a game comfortably. Next weekend River will visit Boca Juniors. At this point we can say River walks into the game with a serious advantage.

Boca Juniors falls into the mouth of the Tiger

Carlos Luna was the MVP of the week, after scoring his first hat-trick. Boca once again showed that their back line is the weakest area, and they suffered from it. Alves is still unable to find the team, but I do not blame him. After the game Alves said “Boca needs to be prepared before every match, today we lost to a superior team in all lines, but in particular a team with attitude”. This comment by the head coach sparked controversy, because many understood that he said that Boca Juniors has no attitude. Alves’ job is to clear the path for a new coach, he will do his job to make sure all players who are not fitted to be in this team are let go.
One important piece of information is that Boca Juniors currently is 17th on the league and is the team with the most goals against. Next week they host Boca. Will Alves back up the current squad? Will Ibarra and Mendez return to the squad? We will have more information through the Week



Rosario Central defeated San Lorenzo 1-0 with a goal by Milton Caraglio, who returned to the fields after six months of inactivity due to a knee injury. After the game Caraglio received the applause of the stadium and left in tears.

Argentinos defeated Racing 1-0 with a goal by Pavlovich.

Banfield with an alternative team tied against Arsenal in a goal less match. Banfield will try to secure the ticket to the next round of the Copa Libertadores midweek.
Independiente defeated Chacarita Juniors 1-0 in a very controversial match. The sideline official was standing next to the line when the ball impacted his foot (the ball was going out), Independiento took advantage of this and crossed the ball into a broken defense to find the head of Eduardo Tuzzio who scored the only goal of the match.

Godoy Cruz with two goals by Federico Higuain defeated Atletico Tucuman and is 1 point away from the leader. Last week Juan Arango interviewed head Coach Omar Asad, to listen to the interview follow the link below:

http://www.simplyfutbol.com/2010/03/interview-with-omar-asad.html

Other results:

Velez 1 – 0 Lanus
Estudiantes 2 – 2 Newell’s
Colon 1 – 1 Gimnasia

Argentine League Week 9 Recap

San Lorenzo visited Estudiantes de La Plata. Estudiantes came into the game in need of 3 points after losing the derby to Gimnasia de La Plata. Once again Sebastian “La Brujita” Veron showed the world why he was chosen as the best player of the continent. He organized his team; he was vocal and scored the second goal. This week Estudiantes will make their debut in the Libertadores, they have the hard task to defend their crown.

Boca Juniors traveled to Rosario to visit Newell’s Old Boys. A minute of silence was offered before the beginning of the game in memory of the 14 year old who was killed this week during an encounter between rival bands of Newell’s. Boca’s victory of 3-1 over Lanus was just a mirage, once again Boca lost, their defense allowed everything through and when they seemed to be picking up the game, Abbondanzieri allowed a goal from 20 yards outside the box, which could have been easily handled by another goalkeeper. In less than 15 minutes, Newell’s was up 3 goals. Boca has two main problems:

1. It has not found a consolidated defense; they are giving too much space, every set play becomes a goal opportunity (almost 90% of the balls that come into the box from a set play have finished in a goal)

2. Boca has two great finishers, Palermo and the youngster Lucas Viatri, but what can a center forward do when the ball does not make it to the box. Boca does not play through the wings, therefore they don’t create opportunities.

Head Coach Avel Albes has no responsibility in this loss. His team does not respond, the defense offers no guarantees and we can say luck is not in their side.

Chacarita Juniors defeated Banfield 2 goals to 1, and with this result there are out of the relegation spots. Chacarita displayed some very good Futbol, and once again they were deadly in the set plays. Chacarita’s head coach Fernando Gamboa was very happy about the result and said “why not dream about the championship”.

River Plate tied goal less to Rosario Central, in a match that started very promising but soon developed into a boring one. River Plate showed a lot of security in the back, this was a good sign of recovery. The young squad attempted in every way to break the game, but the lack of offensive options didn’t help. Villalba and Funes Mori, both 18 years old, displayed an acceptable level but could not find the net. Marcelo Gallardo made his debut this year and Matias Almeyda once again showed the fans why he was chosen Captain.

The worst news this weekend was the fact that once again, Ariel Ortega fell into his addiction of alcohol driven by a state of depression. It is no longer an issue of Futbol, it is his life that is at stake. As a fan of River I wish for his prompt recovery, he is an essential piece of the team and we want him to be happy, wearing the number 10 and having the crowd chant “Ole” “Ole”. We hope for his safe recovery and his return to the fields soon.

pictures: Diario Ole

Clausura 2010 - Week 3