Argie Bargy : Indepentiente, Argentina

Argentinos' amazing comeback keeps title hopes alive

Joel Richards — Mon, 10 May 2010 15:28:00 GMT

“Muerde,” says the 40-something up in the stands at the Argentinos Juniors game on Sunday afternoon.

“Put him under” would be the rough translation of what he wanted his team’s player to do, but the literal translation would simply be ’bite.’

Two seats along, granddad could see that his granddaughter, sat in between him and his 40 something son, was a bit bored and not too happy. The abuelo leant over, and in her ear let go a quiet ’woof’.

She managed a smile. Things weren’t going to plan for Argentinos, and light-hearted jokes from the older generation - who have seen things not go to plan for over two decades - were needed.

Even though Argentinos had packed out their stadium, there was silence in the stands. No singing and no jumping, just some nail-biting. Opposite, several thousand Independiente supporters were basking in the sun and basking in their glory.

The Rojo were 3-1 up, ruining their opponent’s chances of winning the title and were still in with a chance of winning the championship themselves.

What happened next quickly surpassed by any of the other stories of the weekend. Not even River Plate’s Gabriel Funes Mori hitting his first goal of the season after not finding the net in 14 matches (and then hitting two more for a 23-minute hattrick) would steal the limelight.

Nor would Hernan Lopez hitting a 28-minute hattrick of headers against Chacarita, only to then find a fourth in the second half. Huracán beating Boca at the Bombonera for the first time in 30 years would also fail to take front page.

Not even Newell’s thrashing Gimnasia 6-0 - going top of the 2009/10 table on Saturday night – and becoming the best side in the land would be the weekend’s top story. Sunday’s events at Argentinos would trump them all.

Diego Maradona took his seat in the stands and was sat next to his son, who the Argentinos stadium is now named after. So while the two Diego’s watched on, Estudiantes were taking on Central. The title race had come down to a two-horse race between Argentinos and Estudiantes, and both played at the same time on Sunday.

Despite taking the lead, things soon looked grim for Argentinos.

Lionel Núñez took the corner for Independiente, and saw his cross swing all the way round and over substitute keeper Ojeda and into the top corner. Núñez appeared to be apologising for his fluke, but was in fact apologising for scoring against the club he started out at.

After a goal from Darío Gandín, Núñez then repeated his hands-together head-bowed gesture after hitting his second, which took Independiente to a 3-1 lead.

Estudiantes may have had Juan Sebastián Verón sent off and were struggling with a 0-0 draw, but the dream of the title seemed over for the Bicho. Up in the stands, a grandfather woofed.

Núñez was soon taken off as Independiente looked to tighten up at the back and win all three points. He trudged off with his now-familiar hands-together head-down apology to the home fans, which was lucky because if he had held his head high, the full bottle of water that hurtled towards him from the stands would probably have knocked him unconscious.

Núñez survived, but Independiente did not. Tolo Gallego’s plan to shut up shop and defend a 3-1 lead chronically back-fired.

Argentinos bombarded the Rojo’s area, and pulled back a goal. Independiente wasted two remarkable chances to kill the game off, but then, two minutes from time, amidst the rubble of fallen bodies in the 6-yard area, the ball fell for defender Juan Sabia to blast in the equaliser.

Argentinos would go into the final day of the season a point behind Estudiantes, who had ended their game with Central 0-0.

That was until the 93rd minute, when Independiente ridiculously tried to pass the ball out of defence, only to lose it and allow Argentinos to grab the winner via a deflected shot from captain Matías Caruzzo.

The pile-on that ensued included one of the photographers stood nearby, who missed his best photo opportunity in 25 years of covering Argentinos.

Maybe he, and the team, will keep their composure next weekend and get the shot of Argentinos lifting the league trophy.

RESULTS Vélez 4-1 Chacarita, Newell’s 6-0 Gimnasia, Racing 0-3 River Plate, Argentinos Juniors 4-3 Independiente, Estudiantes 0-0 Central, Tigre 1-2 Banfield, Boca Juniors 1-2 Huracán, Atlético Tucumán 1-1 Arsenal

The gutter-chucking, hose-tugging weekend round-up

Joel Richards — Tue, 04 May 2010 09:12:00 GMT

Much like rules and any window in the vicinity of a school playground, records are there to be broken, and round 17 of the Clausura saw two new records established.

First up were Boca and Independiente, who resumed play for the second half of their clásico a lazy 24 minutes after the first half had ended.

While this particular record can perhaps be blamed on absent-mindedness, the 20 (yes, twenty) minutes time added on in the Chacarita-Estudiantes clash – also another record - cannot.

And given the way in which it took place, it is not just another stat for the anoraks amongst us, but the weekend’s main talking point.

Everything else - from Racing’s fourth consecutive win to (almost) guarantee safety, to Martin Palermo’s impossible header, to Mouche’s ridiculous goal-and-red-card after coming on as a sub, to Banfield-Huracán kicking off at 11 on Sunday morning, to Pablo Migliore trying to break Ismael Sosa’s legs outside the box and then recriminating the striker for celebrating after scoring to keep Argentinos in the title race, to Central derailing Godoy Cruz’s title challenge in time added on – was by the bye.

Rather than extended bouts of time-wasting, feigning injury, prolonged substitutions and arguing with the ref, there was a different reason altogether that the second half between the Undertakers and the Students lasted over an hour.

That reason was a hose pipe.

Lisandro López (Chacarita’s 20 year old centre-back, not Lyon’s free-scoring striker) was given his marching orders on the half hour mark. Despite his best efforts to move his arm out of the ball’s way and watch Gastón ‘The Cat’ Fernández’s shot go wide, there was contact. The match referee awarded a penalty, ignoring the word ‘deliberate’ in Law 12, and sent López off to boot.

“It showed that Estudiantes had to win this game,” said the conspiratorially-minded defender afterwards.

López would soon be joined in his suspicions by Estudiantes old boy and legend José Luis Calderón. Just a few months shy of his 40th birthday, Calderón should be thinking about putting his feet up without a pair of boots in sight, but instead he is still doing the business up front for Argentinos Juniors – the side who happen to be the only team within spitting distance of Estudiantes in the title run in. ‘If they keep giving Estudiantes penalties,’ said Calderón, ‘they’ll be champions.’

Back to Sunday’s game, the penalty allowed the Students to draw level and ultimately take the win, but the spot kick unleashed the fury of the most furious set of fans around.

The first half stopped for eight minutes after ‘supporters’ threw various objects at hand onto the pitch. One such object looked suspiciously like a metre length of guttering.

These scenes, which usually provoke justified censure in the media, then veered from outright violence to comedy in the second half.

Somehow the Chacarita fans managed to get a hold of the fire brigade’s hose.

An almighty tug of war ensued – the ‘fans’ versus the firemen – but within seconds it was clear that it wasn’t going to be the men in yellow hats’ day. The hose ended up in the custody of the ‘supporters’.

Having had their cake, they then proceeded to eat it, opening the valve and spraying the police and the firemen in front of them. The hose, that at first had been pointed at the cheated and angry ‘fans’ to ‘cool down’ the atmosphere after the penalty decision, was now directed back at them.

By this stage, there were several red faces under the yellow hats.

The absurd situation and tug of war dominated the news from the weekend. This blog had hoped to analyse the merits of both camps in a battle that sprung up between Juan Sebastián Verón and River’s coach Ángel Cappa from the previous weekend. The old Menotti vs Bilardo, purist vs. resultadista argument was up and running again.

Estudiantes had scored a ‘lucky’ goal and played bad football against River, said Cappa, a man who should be quiet, according to Verón, as ‘he has won nothing.’

The argument between Verón and Cappa delved into the arena of a personal attack. But after seeing River beat Vélez at the weekend with such flair, comparing Cappa’s style with Estudiantes table-topping football seemed a fair subject to write about.

The Undertakers put paid to that. The circus took over. Analyzing the Pincha on a game in which the fire brigade were robbed and where they played an hour against a side, already relegated, with ten men, is impossible.

Given that Estudiantes are marching confidently on to win their fifth league title win, hopefully there’ll be the opportunity to talk about football, rather than hose pipes, in a week or two’s time.

Results
Arsenal 0-2 Newell’s
Gimnasia 0-0 Lanús
Tigre 1-2 Racing
Central 1-0 Godoy Cruz
River 2-1 Vélez
Banfield 1-0 Huracán
Colón 0-0 Atlético Tucumán
San Lorenzo 1-2 Argentinos
Chacaritca 1-2 Estudiantes
Indpendiente 2-3 Boca

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Home is where the points are as Ortega loses his cool

Joel Richards — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:13:00 GMT

If there was any weekend when you wanted to be playing at home rather than away, it was matchday 16.

Eight home sides won, and the other two hosts ended up sharing the points. It was a bad day for an away day.

In the case of Chacarita/Palermo Dead, this was very bad news. They travelled to Mendoza, lost to Godoy Cruz, and were the first side relegated this season.

In the case of Atlético Tucumán, it was also pretty bad news, because although they were at home, they were one of the sides that drew, a result which also condemned the northerners to life in the second division next season.

For Boca it was great news. They won the clásico with San Lorenzo 2-0 with the second goal from Martín Palermo - a goal that virtually guarantees his place at the World Cup and also brought on a photo opportunity with Riquelme - suggesting that all is well in the state of La Boca, but proving that pictures can tell a thousand lies.

For Lanús and Newell's, it was great news. Thumping home wins moved them closer to qualifying for the Sudamericana and brushed over disappointing seasons.

For Argentinos it was fantastic news, as Bichi Borghi's smooth passing side also took all three points and stayed in the title hunt.

For Independiente it wasnt such good news as they were away, and dropped two points at Huracán as their dip continues.

For Estudiantes, however, it was the best possible news.

The 1-0 win over River Plate was a modest scoreline for the country mile that separates these two clubs right now. One of River's defenders putting the ball past his own keeper also doesn't quite tell the story.

Unfortunately, the main story to come from the game was the battle between Leandro Desábato and Ariel Ortega. Some classic chest puffing, pushing and growling between the two was followed by insults.

The Estudiantes centre back called Ortega a drunk. The River Plate forward then called Desábato a cuckold. Only the first was caught by the cameras.

The following incident - a knee-high stamp by Ortega - was caught by several cameras, several thousand people in the stadium, and several tens of thousands of TV viewers, but not the lineman, stood three metres away, nor the refereee.

Ortega escaped Villalva and Cabral's fate, leaving River with nine players on the pitch at the end of the 90 minutes rather than eight, but the damage was done. The weekend's scandal was dished up the second Ortega wasn't given his marching orders.

In the aftermath, we have been reminded that Desábato spent a night in jail in Brazil after calling the striker Grafite a 'monkey.' Ortega, meanwhile, crashed his car in the small hours of Sunday night.. Perhaps the incident shouldn't have surprised us that much.

The real story, however, beyond the insults and horror challenges, is that Estudiantes are on for a historic double. They are top of the table in Argentina, and as the current Libertadores champions, are feared across the continent in the week that the South American Champions League enters the knock out phase.

Whispers had it that the Pincha would be focusing on challenging for a repeat of last years Libertadores win. Vélez are said to have the best squad. Independiente started strongly.

Yet Vélez have not got going in the league, which may or may not have to do with external factors. The Rojo, meanwhile, have suffered a major dip in form.

And while Godoy Cruz and Argentinos quietly go about their business staying within spitting distance of the top spot, everyone agrees that the best starting XI in the country is the one that Alejandro Sabella picks for Estudiantes.

Yet for the first leg against San Luis de Potosí in Mexico this week, Sabella has left six of those first teamers in Argentina. Juan Sebasián Verón, Mauro Boselli, Rodrigo Braña, Marcos Angeleri, José Sosa and Leandro Desábato have all stayed at home, to rest for next weeks league game with Chacarita/Palermo Dead.

It is hard to imagine Inter travelling to a vital Champions League game without Diego Milito, Sammy Eto'o, Wesley Sneijder, Esteban Cambiasso, Lucio and Maicon, but it is also hard to imagine José Mourinho opting to fly 14 hours in tourist class to allow his players to go first class and rest.

This, however, is exactly what Sabella has done. Leaving so many first teamers at home is a calculated risk. The Libertadores final will be played after, that's right, after the World Cup.

Estudiantes can focus on home matters first, and as long as they keep afloat in the Libertadores, can set themselves up to win a historic back-to-back Libertadores trophy, and an even more historic league and Libertadores double.

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The luckless, mother-insulting, ball-busting weekend preview

Joel Richards — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:45:00 GMT

STOP PRESS: Literally moments after sending this to HQ, Abel Alves quit as Boca coach. His record as Boca coach is P13 W2 D5 L6 F18 A27. He leaves them 19th. That's adiós, not hasta luego...

‘Look how happy you all are!’ beamed Tolo Gallego after his Independiente side lost to Gimnasia. ‘Who was the lucky one, then? Look, the luck’s over, so don’t bust my balls about it anymore.’

If you listen to the local media, Independiente topping the charts in Argentina is a fluke.

Everyone has been saying, writing, shouting and dissecting evidence to prove just how lucky the Reds coach is.

Look how many trophies he’s won! Both as a player and a coach! Look at how many saves his keeper made last weekend! Look how his team rides its luck! He’s blessed from upon high!

Eduardo Coudet, one of Tolo’s players from his days at River, eloquently phrased the general feeling with the following charm. ‘When your A-hole opens up, Tolo, there’s nothing to give it to you with.’

Coming from a man who plays for Colón, that’s a bit rich. The literal translation of what the midfielder said to his former boss, is, however, a back handed compliment. Apparently.

For those believing that Señora Suerte is smiling on Tolo, Godoy Cruz somehow failed to beat Racing, and failed to draw level at the top of the table.

There is one slight hitch to all this championship talk - the sponsor.

The last two runners up in the league – Huracán and Newell’s – were sponsored by Motomel, the largest motorbike manufacturers in the country. Worryingly for the rojo fans, this year it’s Independiente they are paying to promote their mopeds and quads.

Next up to test their luck levels is San Lorenzo, whose coach Sebastián Méndez debuted in midweek with a defeat to the side he captained to the title just three months ago. The merry-go-round continues…

River and Boca crisis watch

While Independiente’s fate may be written in the stars, River Plate’s destiny is starting to become clearer and clearer with every passing game, after the fourth defeat in a row.

A falling-back scraped toe-poke of a shot from Achucarro (‘qué orto!!!!’ – again, it was lucky) won the game for Newell’s on Wednesday. The win rewarded Roberto Sensini with some breathing space, but it makes this weekend’s trip up north to Tucumán do or die for River coach Leo Astrada.

Going down, going down, going down!

In the meantime, the seat-kicking red-faced mother-insulting River Plate fans took to abusing their own players, only letting off Ariel Ortega, who was playing his first game in two months.

River being relegated (in a year’s time) is now a reality rather than a possibility, yet apparently berating their 19 and 18 year old strikers is the answer. It is clearly their fault that the most successful club in Argentine league history is facing the drop, therefore the burden of rescuing the club must weigh down on their teenage shoulders.

Bad luck didn’t really have too much to do with Boca ending their midweeker against Colón with ten men – the Colombian centre back Breyna Bonilla’s two-footed lunge was, in common parlance, criminal.

Neither was there any bad luck in Boca losing again, this time to a modest three goal difference.

Simple footballing concepts such as passing, running, and counter attacking were all that Colón needed to open up a 2-0 scoreline at half time, a lead which they were never in any danger of letting go of.

Also down on their luck were Chacarita when they faced Lanús on Wednesday. 1-0 with six minutes remaining, mired in the relegation zone, you’d think that you were looking at three vital points to avoid the drop. You were wrong. In two minutes – the 89th and the 90th to be precise - Gonzalo Castillejos hit two for Zubeldía’s men.

Chacarita’s naughty fans, the barra brava, thought that all the players needed afterwards was a clear threat of violence to turn things around.

Mauro Navas, who took over the Undertakers an Alex Ferguson-esque 11 days ago, threatened to quit because of the intimidation.

Chacarita now need to win all their games till the end of the season to have any chance of staying up. With four wins from 13, it is perhaps time to start writing the will.

Weekend fixtures
Newell’s v Chacarita
Huracán v Gimnasia
Independiente v San Lorenzo
Lanús v Central
Vélez v Banfield
Atlético Tucumán v River Plate
Godoy Cruz v Tigre
Estudiantes v Racing
Boca v Arsenal
Argentinos v Cólon