Boca dominated the first half. Palermo had a few headers that were well saved and Riquelme almost scored a gol olimpico. Still, Argentinos came to the field with purpose and organization – the entire team defended and closed down Boca’s midfield, in part aprovechando and in part causing a lack of cohesion in the Boca attacks.

With the second half winding down, Argentinos made a few changes and went for the kill. With minutes remaining, a huge gaffe by the Boca keeper gifted an inviting rebound (not for the last time), and in the most dramatic fashion possible, Argentinos scored, stealing three points and leaving the Bombonera callada.

This was a massive victory both in terms of history and momentum for this season. Argentinos showed collective strength at the back and pressed well for the winning goal. While a run at the championship may be a bridge too far, a climb up the table while we’re enrachados looks more and more probable. Enjoy the highlights….

So two early gifts for Christmas from the Boca keeper and we’re back on the winning track! (Video via Hasta El Gol Siempre)

A diagonal slide-rule pass. A perfectly timed run. A cruzado far post finish. What’s not to love?

Well, the win has given breathing room to Troglio, the current manager who currently had spoken about resigning. The weight of winning last season’s tournament seems to be crushing his shoulders, when the reality is that the team overachieved. By a boatload. Fans should keep in mind that a top four finish is an anomaly, a top six finish awesome, and a top half finish respectable.

The Club President made the right call by refusing to accept Troglio’s resignation: despite the ups and downs this year, the defensive organization has been consistent. And the next game, away to Boca Jrs, poses a perplexing dilemma: on the one hand, Boca is a wounded giant and having a bad season. On the other, they are still Boca. Should we expect a win? Probably not. But I wouldn’t rule it out either…..

This was a classic game of two halves – the first half Argentinos was Dr. Jekyll. We looked organized at the back, defended with cohesion and grit, closed down space well, and got numbers behind the ball. The goal was a serious purple patch – Racing’s keeper should have caught the ball, the rebound luckily bounced off the post, etc. etc. Still, to be 1-0 up at the half, at Racing, was a major accomplishment.

And the second half? Well, Argentinos turned into Mr. Hyde.

The first Racing goal came from a dangerous setpiece. I can’t criticize the goalie or the wall too much – the shot was inch perfect. However, if you look a little upstream, you realize the old parable – dangerous fouls lead to dangerous free kicks. Conceding a restart so close to goal is never a good idea.

The second Racing goal was a beautiful play – the pantalla or cortina (dummy) at the top of the box fooled everyone. However, where was the right back? Also, why didn’t the center back play the ball, not the man? And, of course, the Racing midfield had too much space and time on the ball to zip in such a lovely and precise pass.

Still, I see plenty of positives – the game was by no means a blow-out. However, this is the fourth time this season that Argentinos has blown a lead. The team needs to strike a balance between absorbing pressure and pushing numbers forward on counters – at this level no team can defend a one goal lead for forty five straight minutes.

So, what can we expect?
Last week’s 0-0 draw showed encouraging signs of defensive stability – despite Godoy’s attacking flair, we held them to 0 goals and very few chances. The ability to grind out games is crucial to amassing points, and I expect a defensive formation as we pack the box while sniffing for counters.

On the other hand, Ortigoza had a few moments of brilliance last game and can always split open the opposition defense at any moment with a pase entrelineas. As his fitness goes, so will the team’s offense. If he can go the full 90, the last ten minutes of a 0-0 game could tilt our way.

Arriba Argentinos Jrs!

As Juan Carlos Fraschini of La Nacion pointed out, this game held lets of promise – Argentinos Jrs had turned things around, grabbing points in the last three fixtures after a dreadful start. Meanwhile, Godoy Cruz had displayed an attacking mindset with futbol puro to match for most of the season. Still, the end result was a match full of physicality but devoid of drama. The one clear chance of the game, a point blank shot by Niell, was palmed away by a helpless goalkeeper.

Still, a point is a point is a point, especially after the dreadful start to the season. The crack in midfield, Nestro Ortigoza, is back from his injury and will improve with each match. Argentinos has creeped up to 15th place, further from relegation, and has a winnable game vs. 13th place All Boys. Morant, the new coach, seems to have finally found a rumbo for this team, even if not every game will be a gol fest like the victory over Gimnasia.

Things are finally looking up….

All of the matches in Italy, Spain, and England will have concluded by that time, so I fully expect your eyes to be on this match, and cheering wherever you are for Argentinos. In all objective honesty, they are the team to root for: little recent success, decent men on the field, many of whom are home-grown. I need to cut myself short here in order to leave to attend the match, but I could go on and on and on…

Watch it here: http://www.apurogol.com/

And, as always, Azul will now lead us in song.

It all changed too quickly for us to truly appreciate what had happened. All we knew is that we are still alive for the championship and that’s what we celebrated. But what happened will be brought up again and again over the coming years. It was the second week in a row that Argentinos scored a last-minute goal to steal points. It continued Independiente’s slide after at one point they were in complete control of the tournament.

Yes, part of the reason they were at one point top of the table by a good margin can be seen in the video. They should have honestly scored five goals and made the comeback futile and pointless. Yet, and the popular refrain is that sports both build and reflect your character, character was reflected. Argentinos has no real idea how it was going to score the goals, it just knew that that was what it had to do. So, two of the central defenders (Sabia and Curuzzo) hung around and waited for their turn. Independiente had no idea of how to control the tide of the match once it swung against them, as the slow, controlled passing between the midfielders right before the last goal clearly demonstrates. The were so out of sorts that they didn’t even realize that clearing the ball would have guaranteed them a draw.

Needless to say, the minutiae of the match matter to me not at all. It was a day of glory and victory and euphoria. One match left and another star may be added to the crest…until then, one more image that captures how emotional everything was.

One point separates them and two weeks remain…so many possibilities are going to be wheedled down to one reality and so much emotion is going to be experienced that the mind reels at the thought of…having to summarize it in one brief blog post.

Chuco Sosa will not be able to play tomorrow. Independiente owns his contract (again, he is on loan at Argentinos) and they have the right to not allow him to face his parent club. Doing so, however, just shows that they are little women. It hurts Argentinos, but more importantly it hurts Sosa. Much has been said recently about Chuco’s future, and all of it screams “I DON’T WANT TO GO BACK TO AVELLANEDA (though their bingo hall is one of the finest in the country)”. And it would thus appear that Independiente is better at holding a grudge than they are at playing soccer-style sports (1 win and 1 draw in their last 5 matches to plummet from title contention) and they just like fucking with other clubs. Screw you, Independiente. We don’t need him, we just really dig his Flash-y style.

To replace Sosa, we will call on the ever reliable heading skills of Nicolas “El Buitre” Pavolvich. At 32, his better days are far behind him, but with 4 goals thus far in the campaign he remains a threat when playing regularly. He’s big and not as fast as Sosa, though I don’t think I would necessarily call him slow. And his main function on the field when playing is to sit in the middle of the penalty box and wait for centers to float in, and then head them home. So, we’ll see what he can do there. Ironically enough, none of his four goals this year have been headers. Go sit in the corner and think about that for a while.

And now we come to the man, the myth, Jose Calderon. I misspoke the other day when I said he was 40. That was foolish and I hope I didn’t give you the wrong impression. He’s 39. Big difference. By the way, just to make you feel young, his professional career started in THE EIGHTIES! Borghi literally (LITERALLY) convinced him to come out of retirement for one tournament, and I said, “Great…solid guy off of the bench who will create some interesting situations every once in a while.” Here’s a reality check for my predicting skills: he has started every match and plays the full 90 minutes almost every single time. His intelligence is astounding, and he is able to influence a level of calm over the team at key points in the match on a regular basis. He’s also in ridiculous physical shape and can move with the best of them. A true phenomenon and there’s still a chance he will stick around with the club for the Apertura tournament/Copa Sudamericana kicking off in August.

I have taken up so much time and I haven’t even gotten around to our version of Scylla and Charybdis, Mercier and Ortigoza. I have talked onandonandonandon about them in the past. The key to this and every match: if they play up to their level, Argentinos will win. It is seriously that simple. When they play up to their level, the opponent cannot generate offense because those two are there sucking the ball away from the center. When they play up to their level, we score at least one goal because they are at the back, playing the ball in to guys who finish or set up the finish of the play. The good thing is that they are also the most reliable players we have.

The defenders who will line up are Matias Caruzzo, Juan Sabia, and Santiago Gentilleti.Sabia is returning from a three-week injury absence and is a welcome sight. He’s a strange story, since he has long been a backup and deservedly so. Yet, something clicked in this tournament and at the moment (pre-injury layoff, of course) he is a solid, solid defender. He is a large man who has figured out how to snuff out an attack early in the process, amping up the level of effectiveness of the unit. Gentilleti was the last signing of the January break and is a breakout star. He’s a lefty and was immediately impressive both in his marking skills and going forward. As easy as it is to say that every player is very important when your team has played its best tournament in the club’s history, it is actually very true for him. The left defender position was a struggle for a long time and he made it his from the first match, both in defending and in going forward. Since he took over as the regular starter, they have only allowed more than one goal twice (14 matches, by my count). The last five players I mentioned are the absolute backbone of the club and function like clockwork.

The rest of the squad is the dependable Gonzalo Prosperi and the mercurial Gustavo Oberman, playing on the flanks and responsible for the entire wide part of the field on their respective side (which they alternate during the match) and Nicolas Peric…a true madman in goal. Seriously, he’s nuts and has fucked up too much to really have the attitude and arrogance that he has shown. But he’s our keeper and we have no choice but to stand by him.

I’m not going to waste my time talking about Independiente. For a match like this, it doesn’t matter if the opponent is Xerez or Real Madrid…YOU have to go out and win; YOU have to dictate play and make them react; YOU have to show them and the world that you deserve the championship.

Ugh, enough of my babbling, amirite? Again, tomorrow (Sunday, May 9) at 1:15 Eastern in the States and 6:15 in the UK. All matches in Argentina can be streamed here: www.apurogol.com. Otherwise it makes no sense to have read this much.