The fourth round of games was strewn with drawn matches with six of the ten games resulting in ties. Bottom club Avaí picked up their first points of the season with a 2-2 home draw against América and Atlético Paranaense fount their first point and goal of the tournament in a 1-1 home draw with unbeaten Flamengo.
The bottom four stayed exactly the same as the other two clubs also drew their games Bahia managed a 1-1 draw against Atlético Mineiro andCruzeiro who have not won in 4 games will be disappointed with with a 1-1 draw against Santos having conceded a last minute equaliser against their 10 man opponents.
Vasco da Gama recovered from their mauling in round 3 with a 1-1 draw against Figuirense and Internacional and Palmeiras shared the spoils after an entertaining 2-2 draw.
The top two sides were two of the four sides to win their games. São Paulo kept their 100% record with a 3-1 win against Grêmio while Corinthians kept up the chase with a 2-0 win against Fluminense.
Botafogo climbed seven places with their 3-1 win against Coritiba and Atlético Goianense came back from a goal behind to record a resounding 4-1 win against Ceará.
Legendary Boca Juniors striker Martín Palermo was given an emotional
sendoff after his final home game at the Bombonera.
On Friday night Olimpo missed their chance to move out of the relegation playoff places after they could only manage a 1-1 draw with bottom of the table Newell's Old Boys. Martín Rolle put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot early in the second half but Ignacio Fideleff found an equaliser for Newell's on 64 minutes to leave Olimpo needing a win in their final game against Quilmes to have any hope of avoiding the dreaded relegation playoffs.
In the early kick off on Saturday Arsenal (the team with the 3rd worst away record) faced a trip to Santa Fe to play Colón (the team with the worst home record). Arsenal managed to bag the win they needed in order to secure Primera División survival through a solitary goal from Gustavo Blanco in first half stoppage time.
In the next game Quilmes secured the win at San Lorenzo that they needed in order to keep alive their slim chances of surviving automatic relegation. The main advantage they had was that they were highly motivated to get the result while San Lorenzo have been drifting aimlessly towards the end of the season. Francisco Cerro put the visitors ahead early in the first half and Martín Cuateruccio scored a second late in the game to give Quilmes a vital 0-2 win. However it will all be in vain if either Gimnasia or Huracán manage to win any of their remaining games.
All Boys are sure to be playing Primera División football next season unlike their opponents Gimnaisa y Esgrima de La Plata who remain in the automatic relegation zone after a 1-0 defeat at All Boys. Emmanuel Giggliotti scored the only goal of the game to leave Gimnasia hoping that Huracán don't win either of their remaining games and needing to beat Boca Juniors in their final game.
Tigre are one of the three remaining teams in the fight to avoid the last relegation playoff position after they could only manage a 0-0 draw against Independiente.
In the early kick-off on Sunday Vélez Sarsfield took a step closer to the Clausura 2011 championship with a 0-2 away win at relegation threatened Huracán. Santiago Silva put Vélez ahead early in the second half, both sides had a player sent off with a quarter of an hour to go and Davíd Ramírez scored an injury time penalty to polish the scoreline.
The win for Vélez meant that Lanús needed to avoid defeat at home against Argentinos Juniors in order to take the championship race into the final round of games however they contrived to lose 0-1 to hand the title to Vélez. It was an anticlimactic end to the championship race but nobody could claim that Vélez do not deserve to win the championship.
River Plate are still embroiled in the fight to avoid finishing in the last relegation playoff position after they could only manage a 1-1 draw against an Estudiantes side that have now gone 8 home games without a win. Pablo Ferarri put River ahead early in the second half but Matías Sarulyte equalised for the home team a few minutes later.
The late game on Sunday was an emotional occasion for Boca Juniors' legendary striker Martín Palermo and the fans as the all time topscorer for the club played his final home game at the Bombonera. Unfortunately he did not manage to bag a goal and visitors Banfield came away with a point after a 1-1 draw. The fans stayed after the game to give Palermo a grand sendoff with fireworks and a lap of honour in front of a packed Bombonera. Palermo has taken a lot of bitter criticism from opposition fans for his robust playing style however the fact that so many of them are now openly celebrating his retirement illustrate the fact that in reality they view the man with fear rather than contempt.
The last game of the round was an entertaining encounter between Racing Club and Godoy Cruz at "el coliseo". Teó Gutíerrez scored twice in the opening half hour to give Racing a comfortable two goal advantage and to move into pole position in the Clausura 2011 top scorers chart with 11 but Mariano Donda pulled one back for Godoy Cruz before half time. In the second half Ariel Rojas baffled his way through the Racing defence and crossed to provide an unmissable opportunity for Rúben Ramírez to equalise and then late in the game a catastrophic mmisunderstanding between Racing goalkeeper Roberto Fernández and defender Iván Pillud presented Mariano Donda with a penalty which he scored to give "el tomba" a 2-3 victory and their first ever primera División away win against Racing.
Last week I broke my long run of not predicting any correct scores with a remarkable 5 correct scores out of 9 games, with another correct result my score of 16 points is by far my best attempt yet.
The first game of the round will be bottom of the table Newell's Old Boys visit to Olimpo. The outcome could have huge consequences in the relegation table, especially if Olimpo manage to win. The stats seem to support the case for a home win with Newell's having only won 1 of their last 18 away games in all competitions and their record in Bahía Blanca is nothing to write home about either having recorded just one victory in their six previous attempts.
The first of Saturday's games features the team with the worst home record in the division facing the team with the 3rd worst away record. Arsenal have only won one of their 8 previous Primera División games against Colón in Santa Fe but Colón have only managed one win and one draw in their last 8 home games. I have a gut feeling that Colón's legendary striker Esteban Fuertes to bag the decisive goal in this game.
The next game is the decisive encounter for Quilmes, without an away win against San Lorenzo they will be relegated from the Primera División. Although Quilmes have lost their last 2 away games the omens are actually quite good for the visitors; San Lorenzo have not won in four games and Quilmes have a surprisingly good recent record at "el nuevo gasométro" having won 2 of their last 4 Primera División games there. It seems foolish to back a side that are so close to relegation but I just feel that they have everything to play for and their manager Ricardo Caruso Lombardi has instilled some discipline in the side while San Lorenzo are in turmoil and have nothing to play for apart from a mid-table finish. I imagine that a late winner for Quilmes is on the cards.
The next game will also have implications for the relegation zone. All Boys could already be safe from relegation if Olimpo fail to win their game but assuming that they don't All Boys will still need another point to secure their survival. their visitors Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata are stuck in the automatic relegation places a single point behind Huracán. A draw in this game could actually suit both sides assuming that Huracán don't get anything from their game against the league leaders later in the weekend.
The last game on Saturday features Tigre and Independiente, two sides that still face the possibility of finishing in the relegation playoff positions. A draw for visitors Independiente would secure their safety and they have a good record in Victoria having won two of their three Primera División games there since Tigre's return to the top flight in 2007. Neither of these sides have had problems scoring goals however they find themselves in mid-table positions due to their often shambolic defending. I fancy this one to be a high scoring game.
The early kick-off on Sunday features relegation threatened Huracán and league leaders Vélez Sársfield. It is remarkable to think that these two teams played an incredible final game title decider less than two years ago which Vélez won courtesy of a highly dubious goal. Since then Vélez have remained one of the strongest sides in the Primera División while Huracán have struggled badly failing to average a point a game since that dramatic game in July 2009. I can only see one winner in this encounter and the only question for Huracán is whether Javier Cámpora can find a goal to improve his chances of finishing as the league's top scorer.
Last time Estudiantes played River Plate they humped them 0-4 at El Monumental on their way to winning the Apertura 2010 championship. That game seems a long time ago now, especially as Estudiantes have only won 1 of their last 14 games and have not experienced a win at home since March. River Plate are without a win in five games and have not scored more than one away goal since a 1-4 win at Lanús back in 2010 11 games ago and they have not won away against Estudiantes since an astonishing 0-6 result back in 2002. River could be starting this game in the relegation zone depending on whether Olimpo had managed to beat bottom of the table Newell's on Friday. Both sides have struggled to score goals in recent months so I fancy this one to be a low scoring game.
Lanús will almost certainly need to win their game against Argentinos Juniors in order to keep their championship hopes alive. This fixture has provided a couple of cracking games in the last few years, the last time it was played Argentinos recorded an astonishing 3-6 away win to avenge their 4-2 defeat the time before. I reckon there is no way they are going to record a hat-trick of high scoring games, especially given that Argentinos Juniors games have featured the fewest goals so far in the Clausura tournament with only 24 goals (for & against) in their 17 games.
Last time Banfield visited the Bombonera to play Boca Juniors they came away with a 2-3 win however their manager in that game; Julio Cesár Falcioni is now the Boca Juniors boss and he has really begun to turn things around after their poor start to the season. Boca have become one of the league's form teams with a run of 8 games without defeat ans their veteran striker Martín Palermo has bagged 6 goals in his last 7 games prompting the Boca faithful to beg him not to retire at the end of the season, but as things stand this could be his last competitive home game for the club. Banfield Have been one of the most inconsistent sides in the Clausura having experienced 3 runs of 4 games or more without a win so far but they have won both of their previous games.
The last game of the round on Monday night features two of the leagues most entertaining sides. The hosts Racing Club have played some quality football in the Clausura but have also been the most inconsistent side since their promising start to the season imploded in unexpected defeats and training ground bust-ups. In all probability their visitors Godoy Cruz will already be out of the title race by the time they take to the field, they have been one of the best away teams in the league and could close in on their second ever 3rd place finish with a decent result in this game however they have not won any of their four previous Primera División games against Racing at "el cilindro".
Predictions
As the results come in I will fill in the actual scores and colour code the predicted scores, green for exact score, yellow for correct result and red for completely wrong. Each green score gets three points, each yellow score gets one point and red scores get nothing. If you fancy playing along fill out your predictions in the comments below to see if you can beat mine.
Avaí stayed bottom and pointless after their third thrashing 3-1 away at Santos. Atlético Paranaense are the only other team with no points and they also have yet to score a goal after they lost 1-0 away at Palmeiras who moved up into 3rd place.
São Paulo are the only team with a 100% record after they managed a 0-1 away win against Altético Miniero.
Aside from Palmeiras and São Paulo, Flamengo and Corinthians remained the only other unbeaten teams after they played out a 2-2 draw. Ceará and Botofogo also played out a 2-2 draw. Fluminense recovered from their poor start to their championship defence with a 2-1 win against Cruzeiro, who were still struggling and slipped into the relegation zone.
The surprise result of the round was Coritiba's 5-1 thrashing of Vasco da Gama.
On 5 June 2011 Argentine giants Boca Juniors found themselves two goals down to relegation favourites Quilmes in the 17th round of the Clausura 2011 tournament. Their iconic all time top scorer Martín Palermo bagged his 6th goal in 7 games with this stunning strike to pull one back and Cristian Chávez equalised four minutes later to earn the 2-2 draw. Palermo's goal made him the joint 4th highest goalscorers in the Argentine Primera División since the professionalisation of the game back in 1931 with 227 league goals.
Juan Manuel Martínez scored the first goal
in Vélez Sársfield's crucial 2-0 win against Godoy Cruz.
Olimpo fell back into the relegation playoff positions after a 2-0 away defeat at Arsenal. Mauro Obolo and Lisandro Lopez bagged the goals that shifted Arsenal a bit closer to safety.
All Boys missed the chance to make their Primera División survival absolutely certain going down to a 3-1 away defeat at Banfield. The teams traded a goal apiece in the first seven minutes but Banfield had to wait until late in the second half to secure the win with strikes from Marcelo Bustamante and Gabriel Mendez.
The Newell's Old Boys vs San Lorenzo clash was suspended after the Newell's barras reportedly fired gunshots at the Rosario police.
Quilmes only retain the slightest possibility of avoiding automatic relegation after they played out an entertaining 2-2 draw with Boca Juniors. The home side were two goals ahead looking good at half time after an own goal from Matías Caruzzo and a dismal defensive error gifted former River player Danilo Gerlo the second but Martín Palermo hit a stunning long range strike on 63 minutes, his 6th goal in 7 games and Cristian Chávez equalised four minutes later with another cracking goal. The draw left Quilmes needing to win both of their remaining games to avoid relegation and also utterly dependent on poor results from Gimnasia and Huracán.
Gimnasia seemed to edge slightly closer to avoiding automatic relegation with a 0-0 draw against Racing Club but in the following game Huracán recorded their first victory in 10 games with a 3-2 win against Tigre to leapfrog Gimnasia and move out of the automatic relegation places. The game was played behind closed doors after the disgraceful antics from the Huracán fans in their last home game. Javier Cámpora bagged a couple of goals to move into joint first position in the topscorers table alongside Tigre's Denis Straqualursi.
River Plate could only manage a 1-1 draw with Colón meaning that they are one place above the relegation places and the most likely to drop into the relegation zone if Olimpo manage to win their next fixture. Esteban Fuertes scored the opening goal for Colón on 57 minutes and River had to wait until 8 minutes from time for Leandro Caruso to score the equaliser.
Monday night's "entertainment" kicked off with a 0-0 draw between Argentinos Juniors and Estudiantes. The featured few good goalscoring opportunitie and was of a surprisingly poor standard considering both of these sides are hoping to represent Argentina in the Copa Sudamericana later this year.
Vélez Sársfield kept the leadership of the Clausura with a 2-0 home win against Godoy Cruz, a result which just about eliminates the Mendoza outfit from the title race. The leaders had to wait until well into the second half before Juan Manuel Martínez put them in front with a blistering strike. The game remained finely balanced until Davíd Ramírez secured the win with an injury time second aginst his former club.
Lanús kept themselves within one point of the leaders with a hard fought 1-2 away win at Independiente and are now the only realistic title rivals for Vélez.Diego Valeri put the visitors ahead early in the first half but Lanús had to wait until the 74th minute for substitute Mario Reguiero to score their vital second goal. Independiente rallied with an 80th minute strike from Maxi Velazquez but Lanús hung on for the win.
Last week I got 3/10 results correct but still failed to predict any correct scorelines.
Olimpo will need to win at Arsenal to avoid slipping back into the relegation places but they have never even scored a goal there in their 5 previous Primera División games there. Arsenal are also precariously close to the relegation places and a loss here could concievably leave them in the last relegation place by the end of the weekend.
All Boys have only lost 1 of their previous 9 games however they face a tough tie away at Banfield on Saturday. Banfield are one of the most inconsistent sides in the Clausura but they are capable of beating any side on their day.
Newell's Old Boys are off the bottom of the table for the first time since fecha 9 after Huracán took over at the bottom of the pile. Although they have not managed a home win against San Lorenzo since 2007 I still fancy Newell's to win this tie.
With only three games of the season remaining Quilmes need to win at least 2 of their remaining games to have the slightest chance of avoiding automatic relegation. On Sunday they face a Boca Juniors side that have recovered impressively from their poor start to the season with a seven game unbeaten run in which Martín Palermo has bagged six goals. Quilmes' home record against Boca is pretty poor, they have only won 1 of their last 11 in this fixture.
Gimnasia look set to face yet another relegation playoff but they may still need a few more points to ensure that they avoid automatic relegation at the expense of Huracán. This weekend they face Racing Club who have gradually slipped down the table after an impressive start to the season. Ever since 1998 this fixture has been evenly balanced with 5 wins apieca and 3 draws. Both sides have plenty of motivation, Gimnasia's provided by their fight to avoid automatic relegation and Racing Club are still hoping to qualify for Copa Sudamericana 2011.
Huracán are back in the automatic relegation places after Estudiantes completed their thrashing in midweek and they face a visit from a Tigre side that have clambered away from the relegation zone thanks to only one defeat in their previous seven games. Huracán have lost seven consecutive games and have not experienced victory since a 2-0 win against relegation rivals Gimnasia way back in fecha 7.
River Plate start the weekend in the relegation zone but they should be looking forward to the visit of a Colón side that have lost 4 of their last 5 games however River's recent home record against Colón does not make inspirational reading having drawn 3 and lost 1 in the last 4 times this fixture has been played.
Independiente have made good progress since finishing bottom of the Apertura and look certain to record a decent mid-table finish at the worst. On Monday evening they host Lanús who need the win in order to pile the pressure on title rivals Vélez and Godoy Cruz by establishing a two point lead at the top. Lanús are the form team in the Cluasura having a ten game unbeaten run however Independiente are also enjoying a decent run having won 3 in a row and avoided defeat in their last 6.
Estudiantes won their first game in 13 attempts in midweek however they have not experienced victory in ""la paternal" since 2004. Argentinos Juniors have won their last 3 league games against Estudiantes and need a win in this fixture in order to keep up their chase for a Copa Sudamericana berth.
The last game of the fecha is also the most important with league leaders Vélez Sársfield hosting third placed Godoy Cruz. Vélez have won all of their three previous Primera División games against Godoy Cruz without conceding a single goal but this season Godoy Cruz are one of the best away sides in the league having only lost 1 of their 8 away games so far.
Predictions
As the results come in I will fill in the actual scores and colour code the predicted scores, green for exact score, yellow for correct result and red for completely wrong. Each green score gets three points, each yellow score gets one point and red scores get nothing. If you fancy playing along fill out your predictions in the comments below to see if you can beat mine.
The game was rescheduled to be played behind closed doors with Estudiantes keeping their 0-2 advantage and the game having two short halves of 29 minutes. Matias Sarulyte scored a third goal for Estudiantes early in the game and they hald on to record a 0-3 win, their first victory in 14 matches. Huracán dropped into the automatic relegation places and to the very bottom of the Clausura 2011 table.
On 2 June 2011 Vélez Sársfield hosted Peñarol in the semi-finals of the 2011 Copa Libertadores. The visitors were 1-0 up from the first leg and scored early in the game meaning that Vélez needed three goals to win the tie. Fernando Tobio and Santiago Silva scored a couple of goals to get them back into the game and in the 75th minute Silva had the opportunity to get the vital 3rd goal from the penalty spot but somehow managed to spoon in over the bar. Peñarol managed to survive the remainder of the match and went through to the final on the away goals rule.
On 29 May 2011 Rafael Santos scored this unfortunate own goal to give Grêmio a 0-1 win against his side Atlético Paranaense in the 2nd round of the Brasileirão Série A 2011.
