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

For me this was a very happy moment as I worked with Mario for two years. He is now one step away from being the next coach of Rosario Central.

The former World Cup hero for Argentina returns to the team that saw him become one of the most potent goalscorers of the 1970's. A legend at Rosario as well as at River Plate and Valencia, things are a different tune as far as his coaching resume is concerned. A coaching stint in Indonesia and a title in Bolivia, Mario will make his Argentine coaching debut. Kempes was made international ambassador to the club and now he will have to show his magic as he is the all-time leading scorer with the Canallas with 89 goals.

Kempes will have one big responsibility- get his beloved Rosario Central out of the cellar in the relegation percentage race.

Kempes Is New Coach At Rosario Central