Argentinos 2 – Banfield 0

By: Scott | September 13th, 2007

Victory once again is ours. The result is nice, but the method was not exactly what could be hoped for. 75 minutes of agony looked like they were going to extend to a full 90. The crowd was growing restless and the players were desperate. It was exactly the sort of moment where a HERO appears, refuses to accept what is happening, and ensures victory on his own. And a hero did, in fact, appear in the 75th minute……and his name is Néstor Ortigoza the bumbling oaf of a defensive midfielder lithely moved his way through three defenders 25 meters from the goal before deftly laying off a perfect pass to Gonzalo Abán along the side of the box. Gonzalo ran onto it, sent a cross high across the goal mouth and it kept going…going…going. Anguish once again set in as it appeared that a decent setup would not find the necessary outcome. Even the keeper and the other Banfield defenders relaxed a bit as the ball reached the second post. Then Alvaro Pereira (Man of the Match, by far) flew in Matrix-style to send the ball into its rightful place in the back of the net. Celebration music, please.

The second goal arrived via a counterattack. Abán took the ball about 40 meters from the Argentinos goal along the right edge, then laid a perfect long ball right on the feet of Martin Cabrera, who managed to get the ball into the net, though that was far from a professional finish. Victory, drive safely.

Everyone basically played pretty well. Banfield’s at times potent attack was held in check, Cabrera is serviceable on the right side, though he occasionally did make the wrong decision and destroyed a few attacks.

Alejandro Delorte has now become a conundrum. He started again at forward and generated very little offense. It’s difficult to describe his presence on the field. Imagine a big player who moves as little as possible, waiting for a long pass from the back, and then allowing the defender to win the 50-50 ball. No fluidity to the game, and the pass he generates often does not connect with his partner in attack. He was taken off at around the 70th minute for Abán.

I haven’t taken any time or space in the blog to talk about Abán. He is a pure enigma. I would compare him to Bo Jackson in the sense that he looks like an athlete. He is big, strong, fast…everything needed to play any of the professional sports. He played for the Under-21 team a couple of years ago (I believe he is 23 years old), but his actual soccer skills do not match his natural athletic ability. Plenty of potential, but his performances on the field (mostly as a substitute up to this point in his career) are disappointing: lots of running, lots of kicking, very little display of soccer aptitude, combination plays, etc. THAT is why his performance on Tuesday was so special. He made a great run to be on the receiving end of Ortigoza’s pass and made two tremendous passes (the second was at least 40 meters and it landed on Cabrera’s feet) to set up the goals.

I noticed that after both goals he RAN to the bench to celebrate with someone. I would like to think it’s Gorosito. I would like to think that the ex-playmaker has instilled confidence in Abán and the space to just run out and play. This could be the start of something good. Or it could be a big flash of not much at all, much like Delorte’s performance against Boca.

Time will tell…