Velez join Estudiantes at summit
Reuters - Monday 15 November 2010, 02:27
BUENOS AIRES, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Midfielder Ricky Alvarez
scored a brilliant goal to give Velez Sarsfield a 1-0 win over
Lanus that put them level with Estudiantes at the top of the
Argentina Apertura championship on Sunday.
Estudiantes, equal with Velez on 30 points with five
matches to go, went down 2-1 away to modest Tigre on Saturday.
Velez worked hard to break down a stubborn Lanus defence
which finally succumbed on the hour when Alvarez stepped inside
his marker to unleash a left-footed shot from outside the box
on the right that beat goalkeeper Mauricio Caranta at the far
post.
Caranta had made two good saves before that. He denied
playmaker Maxi Moralez in the first half and in the second made
a double save from forward Juan Manuel Martinez, parrying his
first shot then turning away his bicycle kick from the rebound.
Arsenal are third five points behind after being held 0-0
at home by All Boys on Saturday.
At the foot of the table, Quilmes ended a run of 20 matches
without victory, including six in the Nacional B division from
which they were promoted, with a 2-1 home win over Godoy Cruz.
Midfielder Miguel Caneo scored Quilmes's winner in added
time.
The weekend programme concludes on Tuesday night with the
"superclasico", one of the world's great derbies, between River
Plate and Boca Juniors at the Monumental.
So often in the past a title-decider, this clash finds both
teams in the bottom half of the standings and River threatened
with relegation for the first time.
However, the match is still one of the great talking points
of the season with River under caretaker coach JJ Lopez after
Angel Cappa was sacked a week ago while Boca's Claudio Borghi
could resign if his team lose.