Six sent off in Argentinos Juniors foul-fest
Reuters - Monday 18 June 2012, 01:21
Six players were sent off in a
foul-ridden match as Argentinos Juniors ended the title hopes of
All Boys with a 1-0 win in Argentina's Clausura championship on
Sunday.
Boca Juniors' hopes of retaining the title hang in the
balance after their shock 3-0 home defeat by Arsenal and the
Libertadores Cup semi-finallists need a win at All Boys next
Sunday to have any chance of overhauling the leaders.
Arsenal joined Tigre, 1-0 winners away to Velez Sarsfield on
Saturday, on 35 points at the top of the standings, two points
ahead of Boca with one round of matches to go.
Emilio Zelaya stunned the packed Bombonera by heading
Arsenal into the lead in the second minute from Colombian winger
Carlos Carbonero's cross and fellow striker Luciano Leguizamon
added two more goals either side of halftime.
Angry Boca fans threw objects at the match officials as they
came off at halftime with one hitting linesman Sergio Viola in
the face.
Boca coach Julio Cesar Falcioni, whose side are also chasing
the Libertadores Cup and Copa Argentina, was sent to the stands
for dissent at half-time and defender Franco Sosa was shown the
red card six minutes from the end for elbowing an opponent.
If two or three of the trio of teams still in the race
finish equal on points next Sunday, the title will be decided by
playoffs as goal difference is not taken into account.
"We must work on the squad's recovery to try to reach the [Libertadores Cup] final," said Falcioni. His team visit
Universidad de Chile on Thursday leading 2-0 from the first leg
of their semi-final.
"We're feeling the strain of the semester but we're in the
final straight and have to make a maximum effort," he told
reporters.
'CARD SHOW'
All Boys, five points adrift of the leaders, had four
players sent off, three with direct red cards, in a chaotic
match at Argentinos' Diego Armando Maradona stadium.
Referee Saul Laverni began what the sports daily Ole called "the card show" by sending off defender
Jonathan Ferrari in the 16th minute.
After a player from each side had been sent off early in the
second half, midfielder Juan Jose Morales scored the only goal
in the 73rd minute.
Morales was the next player sent off. He was booked for
taking his shirt off to celebrate his goal by showing a "happy
father's day" message to his dad and he earned a second yellow
card for a tackle from behind two minutes later.
All Boys had two more players sent off in the last nine
minutes.
Newell's Old Boys, beaten 2-1 at lowly San Martin on Friday,
and Velez Sarsfield, Clausura champions a year ago, also fell
out of the title race.
Estudiantes fans gave Juan Sebastian Veron a rousing
farewell in his last home match before retirement. Estudiantes
are away to Union next weekend in the 37-year-old Veron's last
match.
A colourful occasion at a packed Ciudad de La Plata stadium
on Saturday was marred only by a very poor match settled at a
corner delivered by Veron and headed home by defender Gabriel
Mercado for a 1-0 victory over Olimpo.