Fecha 3, Clausura 2011, Argentina

Details of the third round of games in the Clausura 2011 tournament.

Reports

Paraguayan striker Jorge Achucarro was Banfield's goalscoring
hero in their surprise 0-1 away win against Estudiantes.

Olimpo were the surprise joint leaders on six points after the first two games but they dropped their first points of the campaign after an enthralling 3-3 draw against Godoy Cruz, who despite losing several influential players continue to play entertaining football. Olimpo will be both disappointed to have thrown away their 2-0 half time lead but also relieved to have salvaged a point with an injury time equaliser, especially given that Salom was clearly offside when he received the ball during the buildup play.

Gimnaisia y Esgrima de La Plata put an end to their 14 game run without an away win in the league with a 1-3 win against Colón. Juan Neira scored either side of a Gabriel Graciani strike for the hosts before Lucas Castro chipped in with yet another injury time goal (one of 10 goals scored in the 88th minute or later in the first 22 fixtures).

Quilmes look like they are getting off to another terrible start, they are the only team without a point and bottom of the relegation standings after their 2-1 defeat to Lanús. All of the goals came in the first half and Diego Valeri was the hero for the home team with both of their goals either side of a Pablo Garnier. Lanús undobtedly have one of the stars of the league in "Italian" World Cup winner Mauro Comoranesi, who put in a good performance and played the assist for Valeri's goal.

Racing Club came back from a goal down to San Lorenzo to secure another impressive 1-2 away win. Jonathan Botinelli opened the scoring for the hosts with a header after ten minutes but Racing Club responded well considering they aare without their iconic Colombian "enganche" Gio Moreno. Both of their goals came from supurb Iván Pillud crosses and were converted by their other Colombian Teó Gutiérrez. It was an excellent result for Racing after the disappointment of their home defeat to Boca Juniors last weekend, San Lorenzo on the other hand will be bitterly disapponted to have lost this game against a team that are missing the player that is widely regarded as their most influential player.

The Boca Juniors manager Julio Cesár Falcioni took the very brave decision to drop star player Juan Román Riquelme even though he was fit to play against All Boys, a decision I predicted that he would have to deal with in my Clausura 2011 preview. Unfortunately for Falcioni his attempt to assert authority over the team was not particularly sucessful becuase they could only manage a 0-0 draw, giving critics amongst the fans plenty of ammunition to use against their new manager. It would only take a few more controversial decisions like "Riquelmegate" to see Falcioni end up thrown on the Boca Juniors scrapheap like newly installed Chile manager Claudio Borghi was in the Apertura.

River Plate joined Olimpo at the top of the table on seven points with a 0-1 away win against Independiente who have now gone 14 league games without a win. Mariano Pavone scored in the 88th minute to secure the three points for River. They should already have been ahead but the linesman made an incredibly bad call to rule out Pablo Ferrari's first half strike, you can't be offside if you are behind the ball and it is played forwards. What makes the decision even worse was that it was another fine passing move that set up the chance.

Banfield pulled off the shock result of the round with a 0-1 away win against Estudiantes. Not only was it Banfield's first win in ten league games it ended Estudiantes run of seventeen home games unbeaten, their sequence of ten consecutive home wins and their run of seven wins in a row home and away.

Argentinos Juniors ended up with yet another draw but they will not be too disappointed with a 1-1 result against Vélez Sársfield since they played the last half hour with only ten men. David Ramírez scored again for his new team to put Vélez one goal ahead at half time. In the second half Mauro Bogado was sent off for the hosts before Franco Niell (5' 4") nipped in to score with a near post header.

In the monday night fixtures relegation strugglers Huracán will be pleased that their new striker Javier Cámpora got his first goal from open play but severely disappointed with the slack defending that gifted Arsenal their equaliser. Tigre will also be happy that their key striker has bagged his first goal of the season in their 1-0 win against Newell's Old Boys. Joint top scorer in the last tournament Denis Straqualursi will need to keep firing them in if Tigre are going to stay out of the relegation zone.

Results

25-02-11
Colón	1-3	Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP)
Olimpo	3-3	Godoy Cruz
26-02-11
Lanús	2-1	Quilmes
San Lorenzo	1-2	Racing Club
Boca Juniors	0-0	All Boys
27-02-11
Estudiantes	0-1	Banfield
Argentinos Juniors	1-1	Velez Sársfield
Independiente	0-1	River Plate
28-02-11
Huracán	1-1	Arsenal
Tigre	1-0	Newell's Old Boys

Positions

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Olimpo	3	2	1	0	8	5	+3	7
2	River Plate	3	2	1	0	3	0	+3	7
3	Lanús	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6
4	Estudiantes	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6
5	Racing	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6
6	Godoy Cruz	3	1	1	1	7	6	+1	4
7	San Lorenzo	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
8	Gimnasia (La Plata)	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
9	Arsenal	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
10	Colón	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
11	Banfield	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
12	All Boys	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
13	Tigre	3	1	1	1	1	2	−1	4
14	Boca Juniors	3	1	1	1	2	4	−2	4
15	Argentinos Juniors	3	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
16	Newell's Old Boys	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
17	Vélez Sársfield	3	0	2	1	4	5	−1	2
18	Independiente	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
19	Huracán	3	0	2	1	2	4	−2	2
20	Quilmes	3	0	0	3	1	5	−4	0