Partidazo: Vélez Sársfield 1-0 Húracan, Clausura 2009

Part of the Partidozo series

Security staff at the game use their riot shields to shelter from the first half hailstorm.

On 5 July 2009, fans at the Estadio Amalfitani were witness to one of the most epic and controversial games in the history of Argentine club football. The match was the very last game of the Clausura 2009 tournament which had fatefully matched the top two sides in an end of season decider.

The hosts Vélez Sársfield were in 2nd place with 37 points having only lost one game all season. Their visitors Huracán were top of the league with 38 points,  and therefore only needed to record a draw to take their first championship title since 1973.

First Half




Ángel Cappa's Huracán team were the neutral's favourites, having played mesmerising football throughout the tournament featuring the teenage talents of Matías De Federico and Javier Pastore.

Huracán had dominated the opening exchanges, having had a goal from Eduardo Domínguez wrongly disallowed for offside. The first extraordinary event started around 19 minutes into the game when referee Gabriel Brazenas made the decision to withdraw the teams from the field when a severe hailstorm covered the pitch in large hailstones. During the interruption the Vélez ground staff used air blowers to clear the penalty areas and the teams returned to the field after a 28 minute delay, with the majority of the pitch still covered in large chunks of ice.

The TV clocks had carried on rolling through the stoppage and the game resumed on 47 minutes, with the assistant referee displaying 26 minutes stoppage time on the board. In the 52nd minute of the first half Vélez were awarded a penalty for a foul on Maxi Moralez but Uruguayan striker Hernan López's strike was saved by Huracán goalkeeper Gaston Monzón.

In the 67th minute of the first half Eduardo Domínguez came agonisingly close to opening the scoring for Huracán but his header hit the crossbar and Defederico could not follow it in. The referee finally brought an end to the first half after 73 minutes.

Second Half





In the second half Vélez continued trying for the goal they needed while Huracán launched quick fire counter attacks. The managers signaled their intentions, Vélez Manager Ricardo Gareca sacrificed a defender to bring on striker Joaquín Larrivey then Cappa removed a midfielder to bring on an additional defender to protect the point they needed to take the championship.

Late in the 2nd half the referee ignored a professional foul by Huracán defender Carlos Arano on Luis Cubero and Cubero's violent reaction, both players should have been sent off and from this point the game descended into farce with long stoppages and appeals against every one of Brazenas' poor decisions.

On 83 minutes Larrivey dived in to a challenge with the Huracán goalkeeper getting nowhere near the ball, leaving both players injured in the penalty area. A clear free kick to the defending team, yet Brazenas let the play continue, with Maxi Morales firing into the unguarded net.

As Morales raced off in celebration, the Huracán players surrounded Brazenas appealing against the goal. Brazenas was unmoved and the only action he took was to give goalscorer Moralez his 2nd yellow card of the game for removing his shirt during his celebration.

At the end of the 90 minutes the assistant put up the board for 13 minutes of additional time, due to all of the stoppages and injuries. As the 13 minutes expired several players got involved in a brawl, Brazenas again failed to take action against the offenders and after 60 minutes of 2nd half action he blew the final whistle to cue wild celebrations at Vélez Sársfield's 7th league championship.

Aftermath

As is often the case Huracán sold their two teenage talismans as well as key midfielder Mario Bolatti in the summer transfer window, De Federico departing to Corinthians of Brazil and Pastore joining Palermo of Italy. Cappa stayed on as Huracán manager but resigned due to poor results the following season. In 2010 he was chosen to take on the hugely important task of saving giants River Plate from relegation.

For more great games involving South American teams, check out the rest of the Partidazo series.

Relegation Playoffs Argentina 2010-11

Overview

Due to the complexities of the Argentine relegation system a number of playoffs were needed to determine which of the teams finishing between 17th and 19th in the 2010-11 relegation table would suffer relegation.

The first game was between Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata and Huracán who finished on identical points averages either side of the automatic relegation line. The losers would be automatically relegated while the winners would face a two legged playoff against San Martín de San Juan who finished 3rd in Primera B Nacional.

The other two legged playoff would feature never previously relegated River Plate who finished 17th in the relegation table against Belgrano de Córdoba who finished 4th in B Nacional.

Results

Disempate

22-06-11
Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP)	2-0	Huracán
Winner: Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP)

The disempate was played at Boca Juniors Bombonera stadium and as expected Huracán continued their dismal run of form with a 2-0 defeat meaning that they suffered automatic relegation while Gimnasia found themselves facing their 3rd relegation playoff in three seasons. In 2009 and 2010 they survived epic encounters with Atlético Rafaela, who ascended to the Primera as champions of Primera B Nacional in 2011.

Promoción

22-06-11
Belgrano de Córdoba	2-0	River Plate
26-06-11
River Plate	1-1	Belgrano de Córdoba
Winner: Belgrano de Córdoba (River Plate relegated)

Belgrano left River Plate on the brink of their first ever relegation with a 2-0 home win in the first leg meaning that River would need a two goal margain of victory in the return leg in order to remain in the Primera Division. Cesar Mansanelli put the hosts ahead with a first half penalty and Cesar Pereyra put them a step closer to the Primera División with a goal early in the second half prompting a pitch invasion from the River Plate fans who berrated their own players. Belgrano held on for the two goal win and had AFA handed out a similar punishment to those they had to other teams for pitch invasions and violence from fans this season, River could have ended up playing the return leg behind closed doors. Predictably the Argentine football autorities decided to ignore the pitch invasion and allow the River Plate fans to support their team in the most important league match in their history.

River needed to win the second leg by two clear goals in order to stay in the Primera División and they got off to the perfect start with a goal from Mariano Pavone after only five minutes. Belgrano got the ball into River's net in the first half however it was correctly disallowed for offside. River were the more composed side for the remainder of the first half and created the better goalscoring chances however they couldn't find the vital second goal before half time.

In the second half Belgrano striker Cesár Pereyra misser a one-on-one with River goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo but some shambolic defending from the home team gifted an equaliser to Guillermo Farré. Mariano Pavone had a chance to pull one back from the penalty spot but he chose power instead of accuracy and his shot was easily saved by Belgrano goalkeeper Juan Olave. River never really got close to finding the two goals they needed and with a few minutes to go referee Sergio Pezzota was forced to abandon the game due to rioting amongst the River Plate fans. It seems that the rioting fans were completely unaware of what happened in Gimnasia's playoff two years ago when they were playing 9 vs 11 and found the two goals they needed to survive in the dying minutes.

After the referee abandoned the match a large number of River Plate hooligans set about attacking the police and destroying their own stadium, while innocent River Plate fans and Belgrano supporters found themselves trapped inside the stadium waiting for the situation to calm down.

26-06-11
San Martín (SJ)	1-0	Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP)
30-06-11
Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP)	1-1	San Martín (SJ)
Winner: San Martín SJ (Gimnasia relegated)

San Martín won the first leg 1-0 with after Oliver Paz Benítez deflected a shot from San Martín's Brazilian striker Roberval into his own net. Considering Gimnasia's amazing escape against Atlético Rafaela two years ago few San Martín players could have been fully confident that a one goal advantage would be enough however Sebastian Penco calmed their nerves with a goal in the early minutes of the second leg to open up a two goal advantage.  Things got worse for the home side midway through the second half when Milton Casco got himself sent off but José Vizcarra gave them a lifeline with a goal one minute later. Sebastián Penco was sent off with around a quarter of an hour remaining setting up a tense finale however San Martín held on for a famous aggregate win to return to the Primera División for the first time since 2008.

This result meant that the Primera División lost 4 teams from Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires Province and all of their replacements came from the interior, welcome diversification of the Argentine top flight. On the down side it meant that the Primera lost three of it's big derby games (Superclásico, San Lorenzo/Hurcán and Clásico Platense) and will only feature two big derby games next year (Clásico Avellaneda & Clásico Santafesino).

After the final whistle there were a few tears amongst the Gimnasia players and fans however they generally conducted themselves with dignity and scenes like the rampage after River's relegation at the weekend were avoided. There were two main factors in this, Gimnasia have been flirting with relegation for three years and in their hearts most Gimnasia fans must recognise that their team simply hasn't been good enough to deserve to survive a 3rd consecutive relegation playoff and the other factor is that they all witnessed what happened at River at the weekend and what a shitstorm of criticism it provoked and wished to avoid dragging the image of their club through the mud too.

Leonel Núñez golazo contra Huracán, Clausura 2011

On 18 June 2011 Huracán faced a tough looking trip to Avellaneda to play Independiente knowing that a win would allow them to avoid automatic relegation. The game did not go well for the visitors who had their goalkeeper sent off, missed a penalty and found themselves 4-1 down going into the last minute when Leonel Núñez scored this cracking individual goal to add a fifth for Independiente. As the final whistle went the Huracán fans were in mourning as their relegation rivals were winning 2-1 against Boca Juniors and about to leapfrog Huracán out of the automatic relegation zone however Cristian Cellay scored a late equaliser for Boca to set up a playoff between Huracán and Gimnasia to determine which of them ends up automatically relegated and which will face Union de Santa Fe in the promotion/relgation playoff.

Part of the Golazo series.

Huracán 0-3 Estudiantes, Clausura 2011

Highlights of the suspended Huracán vs Estudiantes game from the Clausura 2011 tournament.

Preview

Preview & Predictions

Match reports

The 15th round tie between Huracán and Estudiantes was suspended after 32 minutes because of rioting amongst the Huracán fans after their side went 0-2 behind. The suspension of the match cost Estudiantes their first win in 13 games and following another defeat in round 16 their manager Eduardo Berizzo resigned.

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.

Results

28-05-11
Huracán	0-3	Estudiantes

Positions

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Vélez Sársfield	16	9	3	4	30	16	+14	30
2	Lanús	16	8	5	3	24	12	+12	29
3	Godoy Cruz	16	8	4	4	29	24	+5	28
4	Olimpo	16	7	5	4	26	20	+6	26
5	Independiente	16	6	7	3	24	17	+7	25
6	Argentinos Juniors	16	6	7	3	14	10	+4	25
7	Boca Juniors	16	7	4	5	19	17	+2	25
8	River Plate	16	6	6	4	12	11	+1	24
9	Tigre	16	6	5	5	22	22	0	23
10	Racing Club	16	7	1	8	22	21	+1	22
11	Estudiantes	16	6	4	6	17	17	0	22
12	Banfield	16	6	4	6	19	21	−2	22
13	All Boys	16	6	4	6	12	15	−3	22
14	San Lorenzo	16	5	6	5	18	14	+4	21
15	Colón	16	6	2	8	19	24	−5	20
16	Arsenal	16	3	7	6	21	22	−1	16
17	Quilmes	16	4	4	8	20	24	−4	16
18	Gimnasia (La Plata)	16	3	7	6	17	22	−5	16
19	Newell's Old Boys	16	3	2	11	14	31	−17	11
20	Huracán	16	2	5	9	14	33	−19	11

Huracán - Estudiantes suspendido, Clausura 2011

On 21 May 2011 two teams suffering terrible rins of form met in the 15th round of the Clausura 2011 tournament in Argentina. The hosts Huracán had slipped into the automatic relegation places after a run of five consecutive defeats and the visitors, defending champions Estudiantes had gone 12 games without a victory. After a dreadful goalkeeping error from Pedro Monzón and a free header from hernán Rodrigo López had gifted Estudiantes a 0-2 lead within half an hour the Huracán fans started a riot and succeeded in getting the game abandoned.

Most Argentine commentators seem to agree that Huracán should be severely punished in order to demonstrate that violence will not be tolerated.

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.

Emanuel Tripodi blooper vs Huracán, Clausura 2011

On 14 March 2011 Under new manager Ricardo Caruso Lombardi Argentine side Quilmes played in a classic relegation six-pointer against Huracán in the fifth round of the Clausura. Both sides were in the relegation zone, Quilmes hopelessly adrift at the bottom of the promedios relegation table and bottom of the Clausura 2011 table having lost all of their first four games. The game did not go well for Quilmes, they conceded two sloppy goals and lost the game 2-1. Veteral goalkeeper Emanuel Tripodi was badly at fault for the first one.

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.

Gimnasia Jujuy 3-4 Huracán - Partidazo

In the fifth round of matches in Apertura 2008 two of the likely looking relegation candidates met in a crucial encounter. The hosts Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy took a 2-1 lead but the visitors but Huracán scored twice to lead 3-2. The home team rallied late in the game and secured the win with spectacular goals from Jorge Luna and Fabio Peters.

The game marked the end of Claudio Ubeda's reign as Huracán manager and he was eventually replaced by Ángel Cappa who led them to within touching distance of the Clausura 2009 championship only to be denied by a very debatable goal in a crazy last game of the season decider against Vélez. Gimnasia were relegated at the end of the 2008-09 season at the foot of the promedios relegation table.

For more great games involving South American teams, check out the rest of the Partidazo series.

Golazo: Erik Lamela vs Huracán, Clausura 2011

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On 20 February 2011 River Plate faced Huracán in the 2nd round of the Clausura 2011 tournament in a game that was a vitally important relegation battle. River were just outside the relegation places and Huracán were four points and one place behind them. A win for Huracán would have closed the gap to just a single point however River Plate won the game with a magnificent second half performance which featured this stunning team goal, finished off by teenage midfield sensation Erik Lamela with a cheeky dink over the goalkeeper.

This goal was very reminiscent of another brilliant team goal finished off by Lamela scored against Colón in the Apertura 2010 tournament.

Part of the Golazo series.

Golazo: Leopoldo Luque vs Huracán

In 1979 Leopoldo Luque scored a famous goal for River Plate against Huracán. The much travelled striker was an idol for River Plate and part of the Argentina squad that had just won the 1978 World Cup.

Part of the Golazo series.

What ever happened to? Claudio Marangoni

Marangoni was one of four Argentinians to play in England
in the early 1980s. Osvaldo Ardiles, Marangoni, Alex Sabella
& Ricardo Villa (left to right).

In 1979 Sunderland AFC signed Argentine midfielder Claudio Marangoni from San Lorenzo for £380,000.

Marangoni who was born on 11 November 1954 was a trainee at local club Rosario Central but never played for the first team. He made his professional debut for Chacarita Juniors in 1974 aged 19 and in 1976 he joined San Lorenzo where he played 135 league games before his move to England.

In the late 1970s Marangoni was courted by Ipswich Town and Chelsea before eventually signing for Sunderland. He only played one season at Roker Park, scoring 3 goals in 20 league games. Marangoni has claimed that he couldn't get along with the man management style of then manager Ken Knighton, who demanded absolute subservience from his players. He also found it hard to adapt to the foreign lifestyle and the different mentality of his team mates. In one example he claimed that he messed about with an unnamed Sunderland team mates' car for a practical joke, but the owner of the car got so angry that he had to be restrained from attacking him for it.

In 1980 he returned to Argentina where he played for San Lorenzo's fiercest rivals Húracan between 1980 and 1981 without much success.

In 1982 he joined Independiente who had not won a trophy since 1978 when their blistering run of successes in the 1970s had come to an end. He fitted straight into the first team alongside great players such as Jorge Burruchara, Enzo Trossero, Ricardo Giusti and Ricardo Bochini (who he regards as the 2nd greatest Aregntine footballer of all time).

Under manager José Pastoriza the team revived their fortunes, finishing as runners up in Metropolitano 1982 behind the Estudiantes de La Plata  team containing Alejandro Sabella who also had a spell in English football with Leeds and Sheffield United. Independiente were again runners up in Nacional 1983, losing to Estudiantes in the final.

They eventually won the Metropolitano championship of 1983 by beating their fierce local rivals Racing Club 2-0 in the last game of the season to clinch the championship one point above Marangoni's former club San Lorenzo and in beating Racing Club they consigned them to relegation for the first time in their history.

In 1984 Marangoni featured in the Independiente team that won their 7th Copa Libertadores championship, a record that stands to this day. this success qualified them to play against Liverpool FC in the intercontinental Cup which was the first meeting between an English and Argentine team since the Falklands War, Independiente felt that they were playing the game on behalf of their nation in what was more than just a sports encounter.

Independiente won the game 1-0 with a goal from José Percudani and after the game the players did not celebrate in the dressing room because they felt it would be disrespectful to all of the dead and injured in the Falklands War to celebrate over a game of football.

Around that time Marangoni had been offered the chance to return to England to play for Southampton. he claims that after the Intercontinental Cup final he told Kenny Dalglish that he was coming back to England and Dalglish told him "Claudio, stay in Argentina at least you have some sunshine there".

it was during this successful period that Marangoni made his 9 appearances for the Argentina national team, he was part of the Copa América 1983 squad however he fell out with manager Carlos Bilardo in 1985 and was not selected for the 1986 World Cup squad.

Marangoni played for Independiente until 1988, making 237 league appearances and scoring 25 league goals for the club.

On 27 August 1988 Marangoni joined Argentine giants Boca Juniors where he was part of the team that won the Supercopa Sudamericana in 1989 to end an 8 year trophy drought at the club, he scored the first goal in their 2-0 win in the semi final against Brazilian side Grêmio, before they beat his former side Independiente on penalties in the final.

In 1990 he was in the Boca Juniors team that won the Recopa Sudamericana. He made 93 appearances for Boca Juniors in all competitions between 1988 and his retirement in 1990, scoring 7 goals.

Throughout his playing career Marangoni pursued other interests, he qualified as a physiotherapist, obtained his coaching qualifications, attended college to learn English and in 1984 he established the Escuela Modelo de Fútbol y Deportes, a sporting academy which he still runs today. 


Marangoni did try his hand at football management with Banfield, but he fell out with the directors because they kept trying to interfere with team affairs. he has since claimed that being a football manager is easier than being the director of 40 football academies, but he doesn't do it because there is no job security in football management. 


In Argetnina Marangoni is considered as a great number 5 (centre half back) what would be called a defensive or holding midfielder in modern parlance. The fact that he has played for three of the big five teams in Argentina (San Lorenzo, Independiente & Boca Juniors), represented the Argentina national team and owns a reasonably large medal collection could be used as supporting evidence.

When asked Marangoni said that the best number 5s he has ever seen were Gérson, Franz Beckenbaur, Fernando Redondo and Roberto Telch. When asked about modern football he avoided the urge to get nostalgic about the past as many other ex-pros would be unable to, saying that modern football is better and that if all the Aregntinians currently playing abroad were to return to Argentina, they would have the best league in the world.

Marangoni is fondly remembered by Argentine football fans, however in England he was selected in 39th position by the Times in their list of the 50 Worst players ever to play in the English top flight. On closer inspection their argument for inclusion is somewhat diminished by their claim that he was a striker with a poor strike rate of 3 goals in 20 games, when he was actually a number 5. A modern equivalent would be trying to argue that Javier Mascherano was Liverpool's worst ever player because 1 goal in 94 league games is a dreadful goalscoring record for a striker.

It is clear from the fact that he only stayed one season, that Marangoni did not settle in English football, however ever since leaving Sunderland in 1980 he has enjoyed success.  These successes show that he was a quality player that just didn't adapt to the English game and lifestyle rather than an absolute flop of the Nicolás Medina calibre.

Part of the What ever happened to? series.

Golazo: Jonathan Cristaldo chilena

27 September 2009: Vélez Sársfield and Huracán who were the top two teams from the previous season met in the 6th round of the Apertura 2009 tournament. The game finished 2-0 in favour of Vélez thanks to two goals from their talented midfielder Jonathan Cristaldo. The second one was a "chilena" (overhead kick) from well outside the opposition penalty area It was not quite spectacular enough to better Mauro Bressan's effort against Barcelona in 2000, but it is definitely worthy of a spot in the Golazo series.

Aftermath

Shortly afterwards the Huracan manager Ángel Cappa quit because his squad shorn of their best players were failing to get good results. They eventually finished in 19th place, 18 places lower than the previous season. Vélez fared better but failed to retain their title, finishing in 5th place 7 points behind Banfield who won the championship for the first time in their history.

Part of the Golazo series.