Easy Living

By: Scott | August 23rd, 2008

I am simply not giving up on the Rahsaan Roland Kirk dedication…but please do try and stop me; I would love some comments, by the way. Here’s a sad commentary on my life: my fianceé is living it up at her bachelor party and I am here romancing a bottle of wine and thinking about the future of Argentinos Juniors. If you have made it this far into the post, then I know you and I have something in common.

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.