A bigger man than myself would extend some sympathy to the current plight of River Plate. Fresh off the heels of their latest championship, their inability to mesh their egos has led them to their worst season ever. Poor guys. Oh, wait, they can suck it. No sympathy to be found here. I did mention that they just won the title, right? Yeah, poor guys. By the way, the only name I have heard to replace Simeone as permanent coach is…Pipo Gorosito. Huh. Interesting. Take him. In my opinion, the team has done well in spite of his tinkering, not because of it. Take him, compensate us, and we’ll take Gallego. Please let that happen. But perhaps he could leave his pretty hair.

Regarding the title of the post, Argentinos walked into the Monumental and took away 3 points for the first time since 1993, which means that if you have fond memories of playing Doom, then they all happened since that infamous date. I don’t know what the circumstances were behind that victory, i.e. if River was bad, if there was a fake penalty called, etc., but it’s history. Milestones, people…milestones. The best thing about the whole affair was that the first half was even (Radamel Falcao headed the home side to the lead in the 15th minute, after Escudero and Hauche had both blown pretty clear chances to start Argentinos off in the lead) and then the second half was pretty much dominated by Argentinos. After a few hapless attempts at goal, Juan Sabia sidled up from his central defensive position to head a free kick home in a crafty move (That’s his first goal in the first division, so…hat’s off, big guy).

Then the boys in red pushed forward and went for the kill. The young and fresh legs of Andrés “Paco” Romero, Rafael Viotti, and Franco Quiroga linked together in a grand attempt to slip the ball past Daniel Vega to sneak away with three points. And just when it looked like they would fall just short, Paco did the silliest little play I have seen in a while by kicking the ball forward in an attempt to outrun everyone and receive it with no angle to shoot. Instead of fulfilling that fantasy, he instead saw the opportunity to leap over a sliding Daniel Vega in a desperate appeal for a last-minute penalty. Oh wait…here’s the best part, dashy little Rafael Viotti was making a pointless run to nowhere and happened to be in the basically the same place and ALSO dived. Penalty awarded, I believe due to the disbelief on the part of the ref that synchronized diving could be pulled off so effortlessly. Quite the thing of beauty.

Our beloved hunchback Nestor Ortigoza strode up the spot and deftly deposited the ball in the top right corner to move the score to the 2-1 final. And the feat had been accomplished, improbable though it had seemed. Hot dammit, I will take it.

A few additional thoughts:

River is playing scared. Salcedo and, more interestingly, Buonanotte were both taken out when River was clinging to a 1-0 lead. Go for the jugular! Now, don’t get me wrong, the talent scales were still greatly tilted in their favor, but there were twenty minutes left when Buonanotte stepped off. A lot can happen, and a lot did. CARP has not won at home since Week 2 and were desperately hoping to field a side that could hold Argentinos out of the net, instead of focusing on keeping their own flow of the game.

Nestor Ortigoza was the best player on the field. I am again struck speechless by his evolution as a player. My pride swells as if he were my own son. I now believe, as he is no older than 24, that he will soon be moving on to bigger pastures. And he will try to eat the grass in that pasture, too. He looks like a donkey…that’s the joke. But he will manage a game and move between offense and defense like nobody’s business.

Gabriel Hauche needs some time to himself. He disappeared last Thursday against Estudiantes and blew 3 (3!!!!!!!!!!!!!) one-on-one or one-on-NONE chances yesterday. Sit this one out, kid…you’ve scored two goals in the tournament (in addition to two wonderful and very important goals in the Sudamericana), but your impact and influence on the flow of the offense (i.e. breaking down a defender on the side to create a good centering chance, making the good center after the initial move, or poaching a goal from a weird bounce in the area) have not been existent…and it has limited this team greatly. I still love ya, kid, but…figure this out.

Just for fun, South Americans have decided they don’t know how to organize something. The Copa Libertadores is evidently going to have three additional spots open because Peru’s teams will not be able to participate. You will be missed. Now, no one knows who will replace them. Talk includes: Independiente and Santos, due to their history; the champion of the Sudamericana (dammit); or one additional spot in certain countries, including Argentina. Guess who occupies that spot currently? You guessed it…Tigre. BUT, guess who is only 4 points behind Tigre with 3 matches to play…Argentinos. A lot would need to happen in order for the boys to be distracted by a mid-week fixture again next year, including winning at least 2 (most likely 3) of their remaining matches and rooting for teams to beat Tigre, which this week means rooting for…River Plate. Life, have I told you lately that I love you?

Here go the highlights, to reward those that have made it this far:

Now, I will make another post to fill you in on what has transpired in the league thus far (bad), but right now let’s focus on Thursday. Yes, Thursday. A midweek match. Mauro has been doing a great job previewing and summarizing the goings on in the Copa Sudamericana, but I know deep down you have been aching to know my take on the affairs, which include the meteoric and impossible to predict rise of the beloved bicho from “luckily and reluctantly invited because we couldn’t find a loophole to get Vélez to qualify” to “semifinalist that all lame American journalists now discover is the first club for Maradona and subsequently write an article on it” (Note: I have not found any article matching the second description because I don’t read American soccer journalism, but I just get the feeling that there is some genius finally putting it all together). Continue below and discover the magic.

Bullet point warning! Here are the most important aspect of this mini-run.

1. The Copa Sudamericana is NOT the same thing as the UEFA Cup. If someone says it, tell them to stop reducing everything to overly generalized analogies. If you think it…please stop. The Sudamericana is not concurrent with the Libertadores, meaning that the same team could win both in the same year (Boca barely missed out on this distinction by losing to Once Caldas on penalties in the final of the Libertadores in 2004 before winning the Sudamericana later in the year, though, interestingly enough, they would have won had South America utilized the away goals rule at that time).

2. Sergio Escudero is nuts. Dangerous, even. Sure “hot-headed Latin” is an overused cliché, but there are times in this world when it applies, and Escudero has converted himself into the stereotypical “see ankle, kick ankle” defender. He has 5 yellow cards thus far in the tournament…the team has played 7 matches. Oh, by the way, he is currently suspended for three matches in the league due to his 4 red cards over the past 2 years. Whatever it takes, I guess.

3. The team has played the best when it mattered most, and that means that they have won or done enough on the road to get this far. I cannot stress how important or stupefying this is. The round-by-round breakdown is like this:

vs. San Lorenzo: 0-0 first leg at home, 2-0 victory on the road. The first real WTF moment this year. Pavlovich, aka the Vulture, aka Everything We Were Looking For, aka This Is Why I Complained So Much About Delorte, set the tone and the defense held firm. Amazing.

vs. San Luis: 1-2 first leg on the road, 2-0 victory at home. Pavlovich again. He just got bored, burned 3 defenders, and scored on his own in Mexico to give the team the kick in the ass that they needed and some hope for the return leg. Then he helped finish the deal.

vs. Palmeiras: 1-0 on the road, 2-0 at home. This one isn’t even worth writing about. Escudero brought his reputation to an international level when Denilson (the old one) claimed that Sergio said he would “end his career”. Yeah, we’re basically a bad biker club who kicks a ball around…

As you can see, the troubles away from home that I documented ad nauseum last year (and continue this year…) were magically solved in this tournament. What the hell is that about? I have no answers, so I will just stop writing about it.

So, where do you stand now? Argentinos needs to score at least one goal. That much we know. I, as always, know very little more. AAAJ hasn’t beaten Estudiantes in La Plata since the Clausura 2005, before Verón returned from Italy, so that means little. The hill is steep, the odds are against them…and right now that doesn’t seem to mean anything to them.

More to come…

The match on Thursday night against San Lorenzo was my greatest moment as an Argentinos fan. I will post the summary below, but the first goal shows how much promise was wasted last year, in spite of the fifth place finish and the qualification into the Copa Sudamericana: Nicolás Pavlovich, as the striker whose job is to take the ball and score with it, simply made the right run and a subtle touch that made its way past Orion to the back of the net. Alejandro Delorte, though he produced goals when they counted and was a key piece of the equation in certain matches, could not fill the role of the player who could add that particular spark at any moment…and he wasted numerous opportunities in the process. Let it go, Scott, seriously…

There is so much that could be said about the proceedings in Bajo Flores; the defense, especially Juan Mercier and Nestor Ortigoza as the central defensive midfielders, was fantastic. Much can be written and said about the three defensemen Andrés Scotti, Matías Caruzzo, and Juan Sabia, as well as the essential contributions from Gonzalo Prósperi and Sergio Escudero as the wingbacks/fifth defenders. The seven players mentioned above suffocated any semblance of attack from a formidable side and, as the first leg finished 0 to 0, keeping the opponent from scoring assured decision by penalty kicks, at the very least. Alas, penalties were not needed, as Pavlovich and Hauche put the ball in the net in two of the few chances that the team generated, but that’s all they needed. With all of the struggles these men have had on the road, the result was both surprising and wonderful. They now face a tough challenge in either San Luis from Mexico or Quito from Ecuador. Qualifying was an accomplishment itself and it is nothing short of wonderful to watch them progress.

Tomorrow (Sunday) night, they sqaure off after a short turnaround in Tucuman against San Martin de Tucuman…a team that four years ago was fighting three divisions lower and has slowly made its way up the rankings to now be squaring up against the big boys (and Argentinos). I am sure the Disney movie is in production now. They have won one match (at home) this far and they will be a tough matchup, especially when you consider the fact that the team had such an emotional match only three days before. A draw will be seen as an accomplishment.

Copa Sudamericana -

The new squad debuted at home against San Lorenzo in the quest to top this conglomeration of South and Central American clubs. As Arsenal proved last year, any team can get hot and come out champions. However, no team can accomplish it by looking the way Argentinos did on August 6th. They had 1 (one) shot on goal, which was saved brilliantly by Agustín Orion as he auditions for a payday in Europe. Jonathan Botinelli was spectacular in saving two one-on-one situations before moving on to Sampdoria after the match. I am trying to think of “cute” or “funny” or “interesting” things to say about the match. I can’t. It was cold and boring and depressing, since all San Lorenzo has to do is win at home tonight (tune in live on Fox Sports en Español at 8pm Eastern!!!) to advance. I am happy, however, that they did not go out and embarrass themselves and I am hopeful that they will do the same tonight: play well enough so that I can come to the office tomorrow without being verbally abused to the point of tears. Unfortunately, I cry easily so…possible sick day alert!

If you recall, last year’s 61 points were a big deal for two reasons: 1) the most successful campaign since they were champions of the Libertadores in 1985 and 2) qualification for the Sudamericana, which works to lend legitimacy to the team and assets to the club’s coffers. However, with another uninspired and impotent outing tonight, all of that will turn into an unspectacular wash. The analogy here would be the kid who gets invited to his first high school dance by the girl he likes, but only as part of her “group”, not an actual date setup, and then watch her make out with the guy she really likes, who just also happens to be the kid that verbally mocks him every day in trigonometry class with verbals assaults on his senses of fashion and hygiene and has turned his nights from peaceful slumber to turbulent sessions of teeth gnashing and tears…in other words, it would suck.

Torneo Apertura 2008 -

There have been two matches thus far, and they are night and day. If you’ve never been to Sarandí, then a description of the smell in the town is impossible. I thought I had seen everything, but the location of the stadium is right at the meeting point of what seems like 10,000 dumpsters and sewers, all of which has been slowly roasted and then pissed on by 10,000 horses. Truly stomach-wrenching. Unfortunately enough, that wasn’t the only disgusting aspect of the Argentinos-Arsenal match played three days after the match against San Lorenzo. Arsenal is riding high on the signing of Facundo Sava, who left Racing recently but will never lose his ability to score that goal that beats your team. Sure enough, 3 minutes into his debut for his new club, he headed one over Matías Caruzzo and past Torrico for the first goal of the season. It only got worse from there. I will spare you (read:myself) the details, but the final was 3-0 and it wasn’t that close.

If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice that Argentinos had played two full matches without scoring a goal…those are rough waters. Velez Sarsfield was next on the schedule and the first 45 minutes still showed no signs of hope. We had depended so strongly on homefield advantage, yet they were pathetic. The 3-5-2 formation had holes in the defense and no punch in the offense. Juan Fernandez, substitute wingback on the left and right, was abused in both matches and was absolutely shown to be someone with next to 0 footballing talent. The starters, Gonzalo Prosperi and Sergio Escudero, can NOT take a week off….ever. Anyway, the second half whistle blew, and we “dealt with a miracle”. An unexpected cast of characters delivered on the goals: Andrés Scotti towered over the defense on a deflected free kick and knocked it home to open the floodgates; Ortigoza pounded a penalty after Tobio kicked the crap out of Hauche in the area with the ball 50 yards away; Mercier played a beautiful 1-2 with Pavlovich and finished with the left foot; and Prosperi centered one that Aban nailed home for the 4-1 victory.

I have talked before about how Hauche is a player who has some talents, but whose principal attributes stand in the fact that he will take every advantage he can out there to find position, win the ball, draw a foul, etc. He has a reputation of a questionable player, it is obvious now, as he doesn’t draw many fouls and is called for a lot. However, in the Velez match, it all played to our favor and played a big part in the result. With a 1-0 lead in the 55th minute, he was tugging and pushing in a fight to get the ball against two defenders. He lost and the ball was cleared. One of the defenders, Tobio, a real young-looking guy, had been fighting with Gabriel the entire afternoon. He had obviously had had enough, as he kicked the crap out of Hauche in the area…dumb, dumb dumb. Red card and penalty and the entire match changed.

What do we know

Nothing, as always. Rodrigo “Rengo” Diaz, the big signing, has played well, but nothing to make you think that he’s truly going to lead this team to a finish better than the 5th place from last year. The loss of our hero Alvaro Pereira has led Gorosito to opt for a much more defensive posture, with a 3-5-2, and at times Diaz, Peñalba, and Hauche are stranded up top. They haven’t learned how to make goals out of nothing and the support from the wings, which was so vital last year, is non-existent. They STILL looked horrible away from home and weak on set pieces–the SAME problems that haunted them last year. Their defense looks really solid (ignore the Arsenal match) and that is good enough for me. Onward to San Lorenzo tonight…

Summary of what has happened recently:

River Plate 4 – Argentinos Juniors 2.  Both teams came to play on this day, which is a pleasant surprise for us at AAAJ central.  Diego Buonanotte owned the afternoon, scoring two goals and moving in and around defenders at will, something which he should be doing around the world for the next ten or so years. The big deal here is that our boy Hauche had a one-on-one with Carrizo when the match was still 3-2…and choked–kicked it right at the keeper’s hands. His body language told you he was scared from the moment he touched the ball; he didn’t want it. All in all, considering the fact that River has conceded only 6 goals in 8 matches at home, scoring 2 is a good thing for this offense that is normally toothless when away from its home. Hauche’s miss was the most disappointing thing about the afternoon. Well, that and the fact that I am now 0-2 in blog matches.

Argentinos Juniors 2 – Estudiantes de La Plata 1.    And this, folks, is what kills me about supporting this club. Though Juan Verón did not play and it was obvious that they were focusing on their match for the Copa Libertadores later in the week, this powerhouse and probable champion this year was overmatched for 90 minutes and failed to threaten until late in the match when they were already down 2-0. The goals for Argentinos came on two ugly plays that were happy accidents from the misadventures of Alejandro Delorte. They aren’t even worth summarizing here. The good news is that the club brought plenty of passion and and endless supply of energy, which Estudiantes could not match.

Racing 1 – Argentinos 1. Nooooooooooo! We gave up a point to Racing Club de Avellaneda. This storied team has exactly one victory this season and finds amazing ways to lose any lead they have. It is well on its way to having to play a series against a second division club just for the right to play first division football. Add to that a fifth-minute strike from the unlikeliest source, one Nestor Ortigoza, and all signs seemed to point to only the second victory on foreign turf for Argentinos. Then Racing squeaked one past Torrico and Argentinos activated the “all defense” mode, waiting for the tie and the solitary point that it brings. Oh well, at least we’re not playing for our first division lives.

Argentinos 2 – Velez Sarsfield 0.  In what is the biggest rivalry for Argentinos until Platense manages to brush themselves off and return to real football, the bicho went out and played some of its finest football of the year.  Quick, assertive, and dominant in midfiel…all changes of dynamic for this bunch of low-hanging fruit. Sergio Escudero notched his first professional goal on a set piece (!!!!!!), when the other team managed to leave him alone two feet in front of the net. I still thought he would find a way to fuck it up. Alas, a second half opening goal was procured and the boys held their ground for the final half hour, w¡th my former man-crush Alvaro Pereira notching his second goal later on a fine little play with Pablo Barzola.

And down the stretch we come:

Four matches remain: visiting Arsenal de Sarandí, receiving Lanús, visiting Tigre, receiving Rosario Central. It’s difficult to ask for an easier scenario. The only team that is “fighting” for a position at this point of the season is Rosario (Tigre’s cup chances are slimmer and I just don’t want to consider them gaining that spot from behind; besides they lost 4-1 at home last night…I can’t help but think of them as a bottom-of-the-table team), who has distanced themselves significantly from relegation recently and should be safe by the last match. What is at stake for Argentinos? A place in an international tournament…at press time, Argentinos has 52 points in the 34 matches it has played thus far, meaning that they WOULD BE playing in the coming edition of the Copa Sudamericana, which is cool, but not THAT cool. Ideally, they could leapfrog Velez, River, and Independiente (who have 54, 54, and 55, respectively) to land what I think is the final Libertadores spot. Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is HUGE. They have twelve possible points, all of them within reason of being achieved, and River is the only one who has an easy schedule, so ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. We do NOT want to be the lame horse being put down at the end, which is what will certainly happen to Boca, given recent history…more developments as they transpire.

First off, I need to acknowledge the fact that I ran away like a little girl after the past few defeats. Here’s what took place:

Banfield 3 – Argentinos 2. The post was called “Divergence Point” and that’s exactly what it was; win there and confidence grows with more relegation fodder on tap OR lose there and realize that you don’t have what it takes, falling further behind teams who have just as much talent as you…well, they lost. They were dominated by a far superior midfield, led by the Colombian Magician (not an official nickname, but feel free to use it) Jairo Patiño and a claptrap defense (is that dirty?). Later, Gorosito inserted both Alejandro Delorte and Nico Gianni to provide some sort of spark, which is about the same as putting Dan Aykroyd and Rosie O’Donnell together hoping for box office magic (tell me…when was the last time you read a reference to East of Eden Exit to Eden (sticklers)?); magically, the only goal they were able to muster was Andres Scotti’s header from a corner. The loss was painful and embarrassing, affecting morale instantly…watch the hit they took:

Argentinos 1 – Gimnasia de Jujuy 1. What the f@#k? Truth be told, I don’t remember much from this match. I was there, but there was something a bit off from the start. There was no teamwork, no drive, no fun to be had on the field. Gonzalo Abán started in place of Delorte, which made a child happy somewhere in the world, but he couldn’t put the biscuit in the basket, as the kids say. Delorte was brought on, promptly hurled himself in a direction favorable to the team and assisted Hauche on a goal. All seemed to be right in the world until little Jorge Luna netted a perfect free kick and the lobos from the west took home a deserved point..mostly because the boys in red spent a lot of time dicking around (sorry ladies). Disappointing, aggravating, et al.

Newell’s Old Boys 2 – Argentinos 0. Congrats to Jeremy and co. They won the battle of the blogs and the battle of the Scottis. Domination in midfield (sense a trend?) and taking advantage of Argentinos’ weak-ass set piece defending make the 3 points a piece of cake for Caruso Lombardi. (I am not even going to get into the controversy Andrés Scotti started with him…not worth anyone’s time…just move along).

And then…Argentinos 2 – San Lorenzo 1. Even with all of the above being true, the absolute low point of the season took place two minutes into injury time of the first half yesterday afternoon; Mirosevic took a free kick on the far left side of the field with Ortigoza (already given a yellow for diving) and Barzola defending against the counter attack against Menseguez…well, he got the ball and bad things happened, namely Hauche, in a desperate attempt to get back and save the 9 other guys who messed up, dragged him down and gave San Lorenzo a free chance at goal, of which they took advantage. 1-0 into the locker rooms.

That was the low point. 1 point from the past three matches, very few signs of life in the first half, and a gifted goal for the visitors. Dreams of international tournaments or at the very least PRIDE IN THE WAY YOUR TEAM PLAYS were out the window…despair and anticipating the winter signings to regroup for next tournament were our only concerns. Then, something happened. Some kid came in…I still don’t know who he is, really. He wears #15 and his last name is Romero, but the official website links to Andres Romero (#23 and bad)’s information…so, anyway, he came in and he is GOOD. He runs quick, he made cheeky passes, he almost scored twice. AND HE BROUGHT LIFE BACK TO THE TEAM AND THE CROWD. Alvaro Pereira woke up from his 10 match nap, Gorosito put Peñalba in, and passes were crisp, runs were made, shots were taken until finally…penalty and conversion. Then, three minutes from time, Gabriel Perez knocked in Orion’s inexplicable rebound in the middle of the area to assure victory and renewed hope and spirit. It was the most celebrated victory since River walked out with their tails between their legs last September. A good amount of justified rejoicing was had and now we only have to wait for….a trip to La Monumental to play the same River Plate, who should kick our ass like we kicked theirs. It’s only fair, really.

I’ll be honest with you–I know nothing about this “Jerez” character. The players on Banfield who scare me are Jairo Patiño, a wily veteran who has learned how to appear at just the right moment to do just the right thing to mess up your life, and Dario Cvitanich, an effective striker who has the chance to represent Croatia some day.

The last time these teams met, Gonzalo Abán saved the day and salvaged a 2-0 victory at home, but the last time they faced off in Banfield, the home team took the three points. Gorosito still can’t be satisfied with playing the same lineup two matches in a row. Now that the talented Alvaro Pereira has returned for his two-match suspension, Pipo will stick with his 3 defender, 5 midfielder, 2 striker formation that leaves no room for him, though he will be on the bench and WILL BE substituted in. Tactics supercede talent, evidently. The new formation, as mentioned in the last post, has resulted in two victories that are always welcome. But, Banfield is far from as bad as Colón or Olimpo, so it will be put to the test…

Delorte will have to watch this match from the comfort of his customized bed because Pipo has finally seen the light, answered my prayers, etc. He’s not even on the bench!!! We don’t even have to anguish in the dying minutes, wondering if he will be substituted in just to fulfill some sort of “quotient of bad” that isn’t quite fulfilled by any of the other players on the field. It looks like Ortigoza fulfills that quotient on his own, though, so that’s one positive for him.

The formation looks like this, then: Carrera; Fleitas, Caruzzo, Scotti; Barzola, Mercier, Ortigoza, Escudero, Peñalba; Abán, Hauche.

Barzola and Hauche have been playing better than they have at any other point; Mercier has done a solid job filling in, and the three defenders have worked hard to snuff out attacks quickly and effectively. Abán just runs around aimlessly a lot and Ortigoza kicks opposing players in the shin and will draw at least one yellow card today.

I don’t like making guarantees, but I know it will not end 0-0…the teams play way too open.

Juan Mercier, after 28 years on the planet and 8+ of professional soccering, finally scored his first goal in Primera División. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehoooooooooooooooo. About damn time is what I say. Still, my hat’s off to you, ya big lug. He’s played well and has won a spot over Roberto Battión in the starting lineup as a gritty ball-winning midfielder.
Alejandro Delorte is officially banished and the difference on the field is notable. I am withholding my anger and the club not selling the six months remaining on his contract for the duration of the “salad days”, but not having him take up space on the field is a relief for the fans and the players; Gabriel Hauche is cementing his place as an extremely talented young Argentine who will be sold to a richer European club in the coming months.

Gorosito has stuck with a backline of three defenders for two matches in a row, initially due to the suspension of Alvaro Pereira and the fact that he has no replacement (in so many senses). The ball has been moved much more freely as a result with no negative reprecussions, namely no goals scored against.

It’s strange to read these two paragraphs and think that the team eeked out two 1-0 victories. There is no real reason for my enthusiasm; none at all. They beat two bad teams 1-0…bu, as always, the truth lies in unmeasurable things: the team has looked stronger, more confident, and more aggressive. It’s great for them to gain confidence against these weaker teams (coming up: Banfield and Gimnasia de Jujuy…) in order to have a sense of working together when they travel to play River.

Let’s talk tournaments!

The sad reality of being a fan of Argentinos Juniors is that the four stars on their jersey represents glories from at least 20 years ago…they aren’t much of a threat domestically this year and they haven’t qualified for an international tournament in God knows how long. That could all change. Yeah, let’s definitely qualify that statement heavily.

The breakdown of qualification for the Copa Libertadores (the richest and most storied club competition on the continent whose winner flies to Japan to compete in the Club World Cup), goes something like this:

Boca will qualify because they won the damn thing (again) last year. Comment all you like…I still hate their (much-deserved) success. Lanús and the champion of the Clausura will qualify for winning a short tournament. Now, this is where it gets tricky and confusing: I think that two other teams will qualify based on the number of points earned over the course of the Apertura and Clausura. Or maybe three…Regardless, if Boca (15 points) or Lanús (7) is champion of the Clausura, then another team would move into an automatic qualifying spot. Or something.

There’s another tourney to be played: the Copa Sudamericana! It’s played at a different time (August-Decemberish) and isn’t as lucrative, but it still counts, dammit! Boca and River are always invited (which renders it sort of a goofy and semi-invalid tournament in my eyes), Arsenal will be invited as champions of the tournament, and Lanús as champions of the Apertura as well as the champion of the Clausura, if it is different from those listed above. Then two or three more teams are added based on points.  Or something like that. Seriously, if ANYONE can clear this up, give me a hand…I’m dying.

Ultimately, the goal is to end up in the top 5 in points between the Apertura and Clausura (which, of course, doesn’t guarantee qualification…) and right now, things are heating up:

Tigre 47; Boca 46; Estudiantes 46 (I am giving them the three points for the suspended match against Racing…there’s no way they or anyone else can drop points against Racing any time soon); Lanús 45; Argentinos 41; Huracán 40; Vélez 40; Banfield 39; San Lorenzo 38; Independiente 38; Newell’s 38; River Plate 38; Arsenal 35; No one else matters.

So, Argentinos currently finds itself in an uncomfortable fifth place, with River in 12th, only 3 points behind. IF the team jells, IF they can continue to take points on the road, IF Delorte keeps his chromosome-lacking ass on the bench…I might have to make more midweek posts in the near future. I will keep you posted, dear reader.

They did it!It had been 11 painful and embarrassing matches over the course of more than 6 months, but Argentinos finally walked onto foreign turf and walked away with all 3 points. I wish the match had been a little more memorable than the anxious and plodding 90 minutes that it turned out to be. Regardless, this is like watching your eight-year-old child finally use the toilet on his own; the ends are more important than the means and all will be forgiven as long as the behavior continues, otherwise I will rub their face in it.

As mentioned in the (abridged, kinda fake) preview post, Gorosito opened with a new formation: he played with three central defenders instead of two; he moved the offensively-minded corner defenders into the midfield; he had Peñalba show his stuff as the playmaking midfielder; and most importantly, he built (I can only assume) a bench large enough for Delorte to rest his weary bones for the entire duration of the match (cue fanfare and confetti…). The idea was to compensate for the absence of the two outside midfielders (Mirosevic, injured, and Pereira, suspended–I know that Pereira will have to miss this week’s match against Olimpo de Bahía Blanca and I am not sure about Mirosevic’s status) and push play forward more than in the past.

It worked for the first thirty minutes or so. Everything eventually paid off in the 15th minute when Ortigoza played a cheeky ball forward to Peñalba, who cheekily turned and immediately passed it up to Hauche, who was making a cheeky run of his own. The pint-sized wonderboy then nudged the ball over the keeper and into the back of the net quite similarly to his goal last year against River. The celebration was intense (it was the first road goal of the year and the fourth in the six matches…I feel so stupid writing that) and they didn’t let down for the next few minutes, maintaining pressure and moving it around well until Sergio Escudero inevitably f@#%!d the whole thing up somehow.

Colón came back much stronger toward the end of the first half and the second half by bringing in three offensive midfielders, but never truly threatened. After 90 minutes, the whistle blew and the champagne corks popped. The road losing streak was a huge monkey on the backs of the players and coaches and now that the stigma has been removed, they can focus on gaining more points there now. The coming weeks brings in a lot of relegation fodder (Olimpo, Gimnasia de Jujuy, Racing (*chuckle*)) and hopefully some much needed momentum.

Tidbits:

Andrés Scotti and Escudero both received their fifth yellow, which will bring about even more changes to the lineup next week. With both Pereira and Escudero forced to sit out, the left side of the field will be something awful, most likely involving a little Ariel Seltzer and a lot of praying.

Leandro Fleitas (who I don’t think has been seen since his sending off against San Lorenzo last year in one of the most painful matches in recent memory), Juan Mercier, and Matías Caruzzo shut the Colón attack down regularly. Tremendous output, especially on the part of Fleitas and Mercier who do not receive a lot of playing time.

Nicolás Gianni is done, done, done…no speed, no vision, no effectiveness. It’s a sad story, since he is a product of the club and was reasonably good before his knee injury in September 2006. He has never returned to the same level of movement and creativity and it would simply be better for everyone if he were able to move on and start over somewhere else. Most likely it would be in Ecuador or the Second Division here. Sad but necessary.

I did not recommend “shooting” Gianni because I respect him and his pain and frustration are visible. I will recommend shooting Delorte. Shooting him and then selling him. See? You didn’t expect that, did ya? I propose taking him “out back”, shooting him in the head, and then SELLING HIM FOR PARTS!!! I was so satisfied with myself when I finally figured how best to get rid of him. He has so much “flesh”, “muscle”, “bone”, etc. that is so in demand these days…”kidneys”…that his components could bring a pretty penny. Recommending cutting him or sitting him until his contract runs out would a) not bring in additional revenue and b) inflict some other team’s fans to the incomparably pathetic displays he puts on whenever he steps on the field. So shoot him, cut him up, sell him. That’s it. Don’t let him back on the field.

Gabriel Hauché scored perhaps the greatest goal of his life in the fifth minute and then proceeded to make tricky passes and nifty runs for the duration of his time on the pitch in what was another match to add to his highlight reel when he is sold to a French team this summer. Write it down…unless Olympiakos decides to add another in their large stable of Argentines.

Huracán was able to run in and around the defense and set themselves up nicely many times, but was only able to hit the back of the net once. Well, they actually might have done it twice; they scored on a deflection from a corner kick, celebrated, ran back to kick off, and then had it disallowed for something that I think was an offside call. I don’t know, but it was one of the more confusing and chaotic scenes I have seen on a pitch in a while. Welcome to Argentina.

Mirosevic limped off injured in the 20th minute to add another chapter to his tenure at La Paternal. He’s shown himself to be effective and important for the squad when he’s on the field, but now he needs to find a way to stay there.

Delorte looked terrible and was booed off the field by the fans. Yet he played exactly as he has for the better part of the past eight months. And I am sure he will be on the field starting as soon as possible. An absolute disgrace.

Alvaro Pereira lifted his foot and planted it in an opponents leg in the 75th minute and was rightfully shown a red card. In the 4 matches he has played so far, he has been solid, but not as spectacular and dangerous as he was last year. His lack of effectiveness is noticeable.

It should be noted that this team’s spirit and hopes are lower than they have been since before Caruso Lombardi took charge in January 2007. There is almost no hope for them to qualify for either of the two big tournaments, they can’t win on the road, they have scored 3 goals in 5 matches (from which they have gathered a whopping total of 4 points)…there is very little to be excited about.

Pereira’s suspension combined with Mirosevic’s injury and Battión’s suspension means that Gorosito’s hand has been pushed and he will debut a rather risky formation against Colón de Santa Fé, which will look like this, according to reports:

Carrera; Fleitas, Scotti, Caruzzo; Barzola, Mercier, Ortigoza (nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!! (c) Darth Vader), Escudero; Peñalba; Hauchá and Abán.

That looks like a lot of fun to watch. Barzola and Escudero are defenders in name only who love nothing more than to run forward and put pressure on the opposition’s defense, so sliding them further up the field and allowing them to play around a bit more offensivelycould reap benefits. Or it could also easily put a lot more pressure on the three remaining defenders. Either way, funfunfun.

Here is the only highlight package of the match against Huracán, which does not include the hotly contested disallowed goal, unfortunately.