Babysteps (Colón de Santa Fe 0 - Argentinos 1)
By: Scott | March 17th, 2008
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.
Category: Summary
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