 |
"Gata" Fernandéz made up for a couple of
bad misses last weekend by heading the winning goal
for Estudiantes against Independiente. |
Free scoring
Godoy Cruz featured in the opening game of the round for the second consecutive weekend and the third time in the last five rounds. They faced a trip to strugglers
Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata who started the game in 19th place in the table with only 11 points, although 9 of them were won at home.
"El Tomba" won the game 1-3, their 3rd 1-3 away win this season and their 15th point away from home. After a goal apiece in the first half Godoy Cruz won the game in the second half with a brilliant long range strike from David Ramírez and an unfortunate own goal from Abel Masuero They are the highest scorers in the division with 29 goals in 16 games, 6 ahead of 2nd highest scorers Vélez Sársfield and they boast the best away record in the league too. They lie in 4th place in the table and will play in the
Copa Libertadores for the first time in their history in 2011.
Arsenal de Sarandí continued their excellent season with a 2-1 win against
San Lorenzo to jump back ahead of Godoy Cruz into 3rd place. They had to come back from a goal behind to score the winning goal in the very last seconds of the game. After a seven game unbeaten start to the season San Lorenzo's form has disappeared, they have only won one of their last nine games and are without a win in five.
On Sunday the leaders
Estudiantes faced a trip to Avellaneda to play
Independiente, who still seemed giddy from reaching their first international final in 15 years on Thursday. After a goal apiece in the early stages of each half the game seemed to be heading for a draw until Gata Fernandéz scored a looping header in the 85th minute. After a two footed lunge in injury time Enzo Pérez was sent off for the league leaders with a straight red card on top of the yellow he already had. Estudiantes may miss him while he serves his suspension.
2nd Placed
Vélez Sársfield beat
Tigre 2-1 at home in the last game of the round on Tuesday to close the gap back to two points and ensure that the championship race will last until at least the penultimate round of the championship. Vélez's goalscorers were Santiago Silva and Juan Manuel Martínez who are joint top of the goalscoring chart with 9 goals each.
There were a number of other intriguing ties, two of the newly promoted teams
Quilmes and
All Boys faced each other on Saturday. All Boys dominated the game and were cruising to a 0-1 away win against the bottom team in the division,
until their goalkeeper made a horrific feckup to present an unmissable goalscoring opportunity to Juan Morales who made it 1-1, then 33 year old striker Bernardo Romeo scored a routine header for the home side to give them a 2-1 result and their 2nd win in a 3 game unbeaten sequence after a pathetic 13 game winless streak to kick off their first season back in the top flight since their "Derby Countyesque" demise last time they played at the highest level.
Saturday's other game was also pretty special, featuring 3 goals in a four minute spell in the early stages of the first half. the rest of the game was far from boring too. For the first time in years
Racing Club are beginning to look like a decent side, had
Banfield striker Rubén Ramírez been awarded either of his two fairly convincing penalty appeals we could easily have seen a different result. Banfield's equaliser
was brilliantly worked but they conceded to the winning goal to Claudio Beiler only a minute later
after he was allowed a free run itno the Banfield penalty area straight from the kick off.
Boca Juniors also under instruction from caretaker manager Roberto Pompei faced a a tough game in Rosario against
Newell's Old Boys, the winning goal in a 1-0 win was scored in the 85th minute by 2nd half Newell's substitute Luis Rodríguez.
The other new boys in the division
Olimpo faced one of their grandstand fixtures, a trip to El Monumental to play
River Plate who extended their two game unbeaten start under interim manager J.J. Lopez with a 1-0 win. it was easy to see why these two teams are both battling to avoid
relegation, the defending was dismal at times and both teams squandered loads of the resulting chances to score.
The following day River Plate crept out of the relegation zone for the first time this season after
Huracán were beaten 1-2 at home by
Colón. Things have turned sour for "
"el globo" they have lost four consecutive games since and their only win in the last 10 games was that astonishing 3-0 win in the "
clásico porteño".
In the penultimate game of the round
Argentinos Juniors played like the champions they are for patches in a convincing 3-0 win against
Colón. Franco Niell looked a class act again with a goal and an excellent assist, it can only be his short stature that keeps the European clubs from snapping him up. Colón were poor but veteran former Derby County striker
Bichi Fuertes looked dangerous for them and midfielder Damián Díaz had a fairly good game too.
| 26-11-10 |
| Gimnasia La Plata | 1-3 | Godoy Cruz |
| Arsenal | 2-1 | San Lorenzo |
| 27-11-10 |
| Quilmes | 2-1 | All Boys |
| Banfield | 1-2 | Racing Club |
| 28-11-10 |
| Newell's Old Boys | 1-0 | Boca Juniors |
| Independiente | 1-2 | Estudiantes |
| River Plate | 1-0 | Olimpo |
| 29-11-10 |
| Huracán | 1-2 | Lanús |
| Argentinos Juniors | 3-0 | Colón |
| 30-11-10 |
| Vélez Sársfield | 2-1 | Tigre |
For more South American football highlights, including the Brazilian league, the pick of the rest and international tournaments:
