Argentina: Apertura 2007, 14th Week

Tigre - Arsenal 2:0
Martin Morel, Sebastian Rusculleda
Tigre is seriously dreaming of title, which characterizes very well this strange Aperura.

Lanus - San Martin 2:0
Diego Valeri, Sebastian Blanco
Lanus is first now in the APertura's table.

Olimpo - Banfield 1:1
Sebastian Gonzalez - Christian Lucchetti (pen.)

Colon - Gimnasia de Jujuy 0:1
Gabriel Loeschbor

Rosario Central - Velez Sarsfield 0:2
Pablo Lima, Lionel Rios
Central is unlikely to leave the last position in the table.

Argentinos Juniors - Racing 1:0
Gabriel Peñalba
Argentinos lack only four points to be the first.

Gimnasia de La PLata - River Plate 0:2
Diego Buonanotte, Radamel Falcao Garcia

Huracan - Newell's Old Boys 3:1
Franco Mendoza, Andres Franzoia, Rolando Schiavi (pen.) - Rolando Schiavi (o.g.)

Boca Juniors - Estudiantes 1:1
Martin Palermo - Pablo Piatti
Boca did not manage to beat one of the weakest teams of the tournament.

Independiente - San Lorenzo 1:2
German Denis - Adrian Gonzalez (pen.), Jorge Ortiz
The main candidate for the title lost in principal match, but did not lose the chances to triumph. Denis scores his 16th goal in 14 games.

Superclasico

River Plate: Juan Pablo Carrizo - Paulo Ferrari, Nicolas Sanchez, Eduardo Tuzzio - Leonardo Ponzio, Oscar Ahumada, Fernando Belluschi, Augusto Fernandez (Matias Abelairas), Ariel Ortega (Andres Rios), Diego Buonanotte (Mauro Rosales) - Radamel Falcao Garcia

Boca Juniors: Mauricio Caranta - Hugo Ibarra, Gabriel Paletta, Jonathan Maidana, Claudio Morel Rodriguez - Ever Banega, Pablo Ledesma, Neri Cardozo, Leandro Gracian (Sebastian Battaglia) - Martin Palermo, Rodrigo Palacio (Alvaro Gonzalez)

Goals: Radamel Falcao Garica, Ariel Ortega (pen.)

At the end of the first half Even Banega was sent off.

Superclasico turned out to be interesting only in the first half, where all the events took place. Garcia scored a golazo after a great assist of Belluschi. Then Ortega twice shot from the penalty spot, after Caranta moved before Ortega touched the ball. Young Buonanotte who is rapidly becoming a star before our eyes, dribbled a lot, very fancily and very effectively. That was him who was marked illegally by Paletta and earned the penalty. What put an end to the game still in the first half was sending off Boca's best player as of now, Ever Banega, who received his second yellow card.
Boca's loss was stipulated by the absense of activity and constructivism in the midfield. Neither Gracian, nor Cardozo, nor Ledesma managed to fulfill playmaking functions, hence the superpair of forwards ran idle for most of time. While Passarella this time cleverly decided not to make stupid things, and as a result enjoyed a great win. It's hard to believe that with such a bright squad River is in the misddle of the table with half of the points lost.

Argentina: Apertura 2007, 13th Week

Gimnasia de Jujuy - Huracan 2:0
Pablo Goltz (o.g.), Osvaldo Miranda

Banfield - Colon 3:1
Jerónimo Barrales (3) - Germán Rivarola

Olimpo - San Martin 2:1
Josemir Lujambio, Mauro Olivi - Luis Tonelotto

Velez Sarsfield - Tigre 1:1
Víctor Zapata - Sebastián Ereros

Racing - Rosario Central 2:2
Facundo Sava (2) - Emiliano Papa, José Luis Vizcarra
Central again let the victory escape at the very end of the game, and has been falling down in descenso table.

San Lorenzo - Gimnasia de La Plata 1:1
Jorge Ortiz - Ignacio Piatti
Despite colorless performance Ramon Diaz is sure that the team will fight for thr title.

River Plate - Boca Juniors 2:0
Radamel Falcao Garcia, Ariel Ortega (pen.)
Boca didn't have a single trump for the Superclasico.

Newell's Old Boys - Independiemte 2:1
Damián Steinert, Santiago Salcedo - Daniel Montenegro
Second triumph of Ricardo Carruso Lombardi in his second game as Newell's coach. For now he's been the main candidate for Best Apertura's Coach laurels.

Arsenal - Lanus 0:1
José Sand
Lanus officially announced that they are going for the title.

Estudiantes - Argenntinos Juniors 3:0
Juan Sebastián Verón (2, 1 - pen.), Ezequiel Maggiolo
Recovered Veron somewhat cleaned the reputation of the main Apertura's loser.

Argentina: Apertura 2007, 12th Week

Colon - Olimpo 3:0
Darío Gandín, Fernando Merlo, Luis Quinteros

Independiente - Gimnasia de Jujuy 3:0
Germán Denis (2, 1 - pen.), Carlos Matheu
German Denis scored his 15th goal in 12 matches. The record of Martin Palermo (20 goals) has been clearly threatened.

Huracan - Banfield 1:0
Walter Coyette

Argentinos Juniors - River Plate 4:1
Gabriel Hauche, Alejandro Delorte, Franco Niell, Roberto Battión - Marco Ruben
The worst River's performance in years. The hinchada is counting days till Passarella's sacking.

Lanus - Velez Sarsfield 2:1
José Sand (2, 1 - pen.) - Facundo Coria
After this loss La Volpe's days as Velez's coach are numbered too.

Boca Juniors - San Lorenzo 2:0
Martín Palermo, Sebastián Méndez (o.g.)

Rosario Central - Estudiantes 2:2
José Vizcarra (2) - Iván Moreno y Fabianesi (pen.), Pablo Lugüercio
Central deserved a win, but allowed a goal at the end of the game.

San Martin - Arsenal 1:1
Gabriel Roth - Andrés San Martín

Tigre - Racing 3:2
Néstor Ayala, Leandro Lázzaro, Guillermo Suárez - Facundo Sava, Franco Sosa
Usual outsiders and newcomers look sensational this season.

Gimnasia de La Plata - Newell's Old Boys
Postponed for October 26th

Argentina: Apertura 2007, 11th Week

Olimpo - Huracan 3:1
Josemir Lujambio, Mariano Martínez, Mauro Olivi (pen.) - Franco Mendoza

Estudiantes - Tigre 2:2
Agustín Alayes, Ezequiel Maggiolo - Néstor Ayala, Juan Carlos Blengio

Gimnasia de Jujuy - Gimnasia de La Plata 4:0
Marcelo Berza, Osvaldo Miranda, César Carranza, Marcelo Quinteros

Colon - San Martin 1:1
Darío Gandín (pen.) - Sebastián Brusco

Velez Sarfield - Arsenal 0:0

Banfield - Independiente 2:0
Jerónimo Barrales, Cristian Lucchetti

River Plate - Rosario Central 3:3
Andrés Ríos, Diego Buonanotte, Radamel Falcao Garcia - Martín García, Damián Díaz, Ronald Raldes

Racing - Lanus 1:1
Martín Romagnoli - José Sand
Racing stopped it's streak of three wins, but still managed not to lose.

San Lorenzo - Argentinos Juniors 2:1
Andrés Silvera, Osmar Ferreyra (pen.) - Néstor Ortigoza (pen.)

Newell's Old Boys - Boca Juniors 1:0
Santiago Salcedo
Carruso Lombardi coudn't imagine a better start as a coach than to defeat Boca Juniors.

Argentina: Apertura 2007, Week 10

Arsenal de Sarandí - Racing Club 0:1
Sava

Lanús - Estudiantes La Plata 1:0
Jimenez
Estudiantes turned out to be completely unprepared for the tournament.

Huracán - Colón de Santa Fe 2:2
Mendoza, Nieto - Romero, Gandin

Rosario Central - San Lorenzo 1:3
Silvera, Mendez, Hirsig - Vizcarra

Gimnasia La Plata - Banfield 0:1
Cvitanich

San Martín San Juan - Vélez Sarsfield 3:2
Brusco (pen.), Tonelotto, Herrera - Silva, Balvorin (pen.)
An excellent win of modest provincial club. La Volpe's days at Velez are numbered.

Argentinos Juniors - Newell´s Old Boys 4:0
Hauche, Pereira (3)
An unexpected hat-trick of Uruguayan Pereira resulted in sacking of Newell's head coach.

Independiente - Olimpo Bahía Blanca 3:0
Montenegro, Denis (2)
Denis scored twice again and has now 13 goals in 10 games. An outstanding pace.

Tigre - River Plate 4:1
Martinez, Gimenez, Ayala (2) - Ruben
After that game Passarella started showing the signs of being prepared for defection to Monterrey. A wonderful win of small club over the giant does not seem that bright in light of severe injury of Alexis Sanchez who will be out of action for next three months.

Boca Juniors - Gimnasia de Jujuy 2:2
Boselli, Paletta - Miranda, Berza
Boca was sleeping by the end of the game and allowed a goal in injury time.

Argentina: Apertura 2007, 9th Week

Gimnasia de Jujuy - Argentinos Juniors 1:1
Héctor Silva - Álvaro Pereira

Colon - Independiente 1:3
Guillermo Rodríguez (o.g.) - Carlos Matheu, German Denis (2)
German Denis is a leading scorer with 11 goals in 9 matches.

Olimpo - Gimnasia de La Plata 0:0

Estudiantes - Arsenal 1:1
Leandro Benítez - Leonardo Ulloa

Huracan - San Martin 2:1
Luciano Varaldo, Cristian Sánchez Prette - Sebastián Brusco (pen.)

Racing - Velez Sarsfield 1:0
Erwin Abalos
Velez continues its crazy win-and-lose swing.

Newell's Old Boys - Rosario Central 0:1
Martín Arzuaga (pen.)
A superclasico was won by Central. Both Rosario teams are extremely low in the descenso table.

San Lorenzo - Tigre 2:1
Santiago Hirsig, Andrés Silvera - Leandro Lázzaro (pen.)

River Plate - Lanus 3:1
Fernando Belluschi (2), Alexis Sánchez - José Sand
Fernando Belluschi scored five goals in two last matches and has been singlehandedly saving Passarella's reputation.

Banfield - Boca Juniors 0:6
Martín Palermo (4, 1 - pen.), Leandro Gracián, Pablo Ledesma (pen.)
A poker from great Martin Palermo.

Argentina: forecast for the upcoming week-end

Only the following pairs are more or less predictable:

Banfield - Rosario Central
Central's players went on strike for being not paid with their salaries. Under such circumstances, as a rule, people don't play well.

Olimpo - Argentinos Juniors
Argentinos have changes a coach for unknowm reasons, that may result in worsening of their output.

Independiente - San Martin
It's possible that San Martin went a bit out of gas after three wins. In their turn, Independiente are eager to compensate the lack of luck in two last games.

In the rest of pairs, which are:
Gimnasia de Jujuy - Tigre
Huracan - Gimnasia de La Plata
Newell's Old Boys - Lanus
Estudiantes - Racing
San Lorenzo - Arsenal
Colon - Boca Juniors
River Plate - Velez Sarsfield
no one can be sure of anything.

Argentina: Apertura 2007, 6th Week

Boca Juniors - Huracán 1:0
Ledesma (pen.)
Despite a loss on Bombonera, Huracan looked solid. The penalty was questionable enough for Huracan's coach Mohamed to be sent off for protesting against it. Boca has gone the riquelmeless period in the best possible manner having collected virtually the maximum of points. With Riquelme they are about only to improve.

Tigre - Banfield 1:0
Lazzaro
Tigre's second straight win, this time against a strong Banfield. Looks like Diego Cagna knows how to build a competitive team out of nothing.

Rosario Central - Olimpo 1:1
Arzuaga - Lujambio
Rosario managed not to lose, thanks to the first Arzuaga's goal of the tournament. Olimpo should not be considered as a weak opponent, so for the Central it's an achievement after the series of losses.

Arsenal de Sarandí - Newell´s Old Boys 1:0
Ulloa
Arsenal has improved its miserable situation too having beaten unpredictable Newell's. The teams in this Apertura go unprecedently even.

Argentinos Juniors - Colón de Santa Fe 2:1
Ortigoza (pen.), Chitzoff (o.g.) - Cardetti
Argentinos broke their streak of two losses, while Colon broke their streak of three wins.

Lanús - Gimnasia de Jujuy 2:0
Aguirre, Valeri (pen.)
Lanus too contributed to the evenness of Argentinean league this autumn, having outplayed the Jujenos. The games become less and less predictable.

Gimnasia La Plata 1:0 Independiente
Salvatierra
The loudest El Lobo's week's win over Independiente that had been looking invincible. Julio Cesar Falcioni confirms his reputation of one of Argentina's best coaches.

San Martín San Juan - Estudiantes La Plata 1:0
Tonelotto
Jointly with Rosario Central Estudiantes seems the weakest Apertura's team as of now. San Martin has already turned into a considerable power to be taken into account by everyone.

Vélez Sarsfield - San Lorenzo 2:0
Zapata, Silva
Velez keeps strictly its 50% win/loss rate. This time La Volpe explained the victory by mystic forces.

Racing Club - River Plate 1:1
Sava (pen.) - Lussenhoff
River played without Belluschi and should be extremely content with the result. Racing severely lacks points.

Argentina, Apertura 2007, 5th Week

On the 5th week the games were played on Tuesday and Wednesday. The overall Apertura's tendency shows that there are no clear outsiders as of now. Everybody knows playing and winning.

Newell´s Old Boys - Vélez Sarsfield 2:0
Da Silva, Seri
Velez lost again, having proved that his previous win didn't mean much. Newell's wins look very intriguing, because no one knows the players of the team.

Gimnasia La Plata - San Martín San Juan 2:0
Leguizamon, Salvatierra
San Martin took a break after beating River and lost to El Lobo. Gimnasia shows clear signs of recovering under Falcioni's guidance.

Banfield - Lanús 1:2
Lucchetti (pen.) - Sand (2)
Two very good teams produced some great football. Sand has been turning into one of Apertura's main scorers.

Colón de Santa Fe - Rosario Central 2:0
Gandin, Romero
Colon won again, Gandin scored again. Let's see what they will be capable of against the grandees. Central seems to have too young players for showing something serious in this Apertura.

Olimpo Bahía Blanca - Tigre 0:1
Lazaro
The first win of Tigre, especially valuable because it's an away win.

San Lorenzo - Racing Club 4:3
Silvera (2), Romeo (2) - Yacob, Avalos, Pellerano
Absolutely crazy match, in which San Lorenzo managed to score four goals after losing 0:3. Racing keeps on being the most unlucky team, while San Lorenzo gradually loses stability too.

Gimnasia de Jujuy - Arsenal de Sarandí 1:0
Miranda
Jujenos won too, having defeated Arsenal, which slowly turns into a loser.

River Plate - Estudiantes La Plata 4:2
Belluschi, Ruben, Sanchez, Falcao - Benitez, Salgueiro
Finally Millionarios managed to triumph, although against a weak Estudiantes. The key to win, as it was expected, turned out to be Alexis Sanchez. The win cost to River the second Belluschi's expulsion in three games.

Huracán - Argentinos Juniors 3:2
Mendoza, Nieto, Sanchez - Hauche, Cabrera
Huracan has remained the only unbeaten team of Apertura, having achieved a classy win over Argentinos.

Independiente - Boca Juniors 2:3
Denis, Matheu - Rodriguez (o.g.), Palermo, Gracian
A in a clash of the week Independiente lost its first points, but anyway showed great football. The win may mean much for Boca's stabilization.

Pedro Troglio & Independiente

It's cool to witness wise decisions of clever coaches. Pedro Troglio decided not to break a marvelous tandem of Daniel Montenegro and Rodrigo Diaz, and opted to sacrifice young forward Ismael Sosa. Now Independiente is able to face Boca Juniors as strong as possible (and Sosa will still be able to perform his functions excellently as a substitute). Russo needs now to undertake similarly clever and cardinal measures, if he wants to oppose to El Rojo something serious.

Argentina: Apertura 2007, 4th Week

Vélez Sarsfield - Gimnasia de Jujuy 4:2
Uglessich, Sena, Balvorin, Sena - Uglessich (o.g.), Silva
Velez has been altenating good and bad games. This one looks like a good one, although against a very mediocre opponent. Could be that the reason for a win was in letting Fernandez Francou play all 90 minutes. After this win La Volpe was very quick to promise to fight for the title.

Tigre - Colón de Santa Fe 0:2
Gandin, Gonzalez
Colon can boast with the second consecutive win. Dario Gandin scored again and looks like the talented ex-xeneise is becoming a team's leader.

Racing Club - Newell´s Old Boys 2:0
Sava (pen.), Lopez
The Academicians let their hinchada take a breath by beating unpredictable Newell's. Both goals were scored by veterans. Racing still has a long and hard way ahead.

Rosario Central - Huracán 0:1
Mendoza
The first win of El Globo, which hasn't lost a single game as of now. Central has been sleeping.

Arsenal de Sarandí - Banfield 0:4
Herner, Lucchetti, Cvitanich (2)
...while Banfield has definitely been not! Great away win against dangerous Arsenal, Dario Cvitanich has opened an account of his own in Apertura.

Lanús - Olimpo Bahía Blanca 2:1
Sand (pen.), Villavicencio (o.g.) - Gonzalez
Very difficult win for Lanus. Olimpo struggled hard, but they have too many problems in all the lines.

Argentinos Juniors - Independiente 0:1
Denis
Very valuable victory for Independiente, which has won all four starting games. German Denis has gained an unprecedent level.

Estudiantes La Plata - San Lorenzo 1:1
Moreno y Fabianesi - Aguirre
A draw against a champion should be considered a great achievement by La Pincharrata, especially in light of Veron's injury. San Lorenzo has somewhat stalled, which may be caused by Ramon Diaz's thinking over the offer from Qatar Al-Sadd.

San Martín San Juan - River Plate 1:0
Brusco
A shameful disaster! No one in the world can explain why Passarella has still not been sacked. Already a year ago it was clear that he was about to ruin a marvelous team. Ovations for modest San Martin which honestly fought against all three grandees and finally has been awarded.

Boca Juniors - Gimnasia La Plata 2:1
Palacio, Ledesma (pen.) - Dominguez
An agonizing victory. No game, no class, no genuine Boca. Sending in neither Datolo as a titular, nor Gracian as a substitute did not help. This Boca will play only with Riquelme, or Tevez, or Chelo Delgado brought home. While Gimnasia shows signs of resurrection. Falcioni is knowledgeable enough to make his good squad shine.

Argentina: Apertura 2007, Forecast

It's much more interesting watching Apertura when you know what to expect from the upcoming week-end...

Tigre - Colon
Both teams played well their previous matches, and will do their best to consolidate the successes. More weighty Colon has more chances for that.

Racing - Newell's Old Boys
Racing is drowning, and its chiefs will be trying to convince everybody that acquired Arrieta and Navia can compensate the sale of Morales (which is unlikely). In its turn, Newell's which started the Apertura very well despite all the expectations, will feel comfortably in terms of psychology against a nervous opponent and is quite likely to return home with three points more.

Arsenal - Banfield
Banfield has clearly been accelerating. And they have lots of unused trumps yet, like Nicolas Pavlovich, who was promised to be a titular in this match. Arsenal started a bit worse, but will fight definitely. Will be a good match.

Rosario Central - Huracan
Finally Central may count on its main hope, Colombian Martin Arzuaga, who completed the disqualification. Without him the team looked faded. Huracan after three draws in first three matches will be seeking desperately for three points in Rosario. Will be a battle.

Lanus - Olimpo
Lanus is upset with the loss from Colon, and will be trying to rehabilitate in front of their hinchada. Olimpo has been on the rise after the win in the previous match. Frankly speaking, Lanus is obliged to win, but Olimpo has a too fancy squad, so that everything can happen.

Argentinos Juniors - Independiente
Two best as of now teams of Apertura will be sorting their relationships. Independiente is, of course, way stronger, and is obliged to win, but Argentinos have the best for this moment Apertura's forward, Alejandro Delorte, who can win the game on his own. Pedro Troglio has a hard dilemma: to send in recovered Montenegro, or leave absolutely outstanding Rodrigo Diaz. Actually, they should both play.

Estudiantes - San Lorenzo
Estudiantes is out of tune completely. San Lorenzo should win easily.

San Martin - River Plate
If River does not bring three points from San Juan, Passarella should resign immediately. River's squad does not impress at all, especially when Belluschi is disqualified. The bench depresses especially, having no trumps on it. The last Passarella's hope is if the superacquisition Alexis Sanchez explodes. San Martin must collect all its forces, because they have a clear chance.

Boca Juniors - Gimnasia de La Plata
Boca, probably, will fortify the defense (Paletta), and midfield (Gracian). But it's quite likely that it won't reflect on greyish playing of Xeneise. Although, Gimnasia, which has just traded the coach, is not able to compete today with any Boca.

Velez Sarsfield - Gimnasia de Jujuy
Velez Sarsfield under the guidance of La Volpe has no reasons to hope for the better. The squad is inexpressive, no trumps. Maybe only Damian Escudero. Everything would depend upon his mood. In it's turn, modest Gimnasia, inspired by the draw against River, will be lead by very bright playmaker Cesar Carranza. Gimnasia can win this match.

Mexico: Apertura 2007, 3rd Week

Atlante - UAG 2:1
Maldonado, González - Leaño (o.g.)

Monterrey - Chiapas 0:0

Cruz Azul - San Luis Potosi 1:3
Delgado - Moreno (3)

Toluca - Tigres de Nueva León 1:0
Gimenez

Pachuca - Atlas 1:0
Giménez

America - UNAM 1:1
Cabañas - Palencia

Puebla - Necaxa 1:2
Noriega - Giménez Silvera, Acosta

Veracruz - Santos Laguna 0:2
Vuoso, Benitez

Guadalajara - Morelia 0:1
Romero

Mexico: Apertura 2007, 2nd Week

Atlas - Veracruz 1:2
Olivera - Mancilla, Restrepo

Tigres de Nueva León - Cruz Azul 0:1
Rivas (og)

Puebla - Monterrey 0:2
Suazo, Ochoa

Necaxa - San Luis Potosi 2:3
Giménez Silvera, Rodallega - Moreno (2), Coudet

Tecos de UAG. - Guadalajara 0:0

Morelia - Pachuca 1:3
Romero - Cacho (2), Alvarez

UNAM - Atlante 0:1
Nkong

Santos Laguna - Toluca 3:2
Benitez, Rodríguez, Ludueña - Rosada, Esquivel

Chiapas - America 1:6
Rojas - Cabañas (2), López (2), Insua, Davino

Uruguay: Apertura 2007, 1st Week

Nacional did not manage to beat Fenix away; Nacho Gonzalez managed to score in a new season before his departure for Europe; Defensor Sporting and Danubio predictably won their games.

Defensor Sporting - Rampla Jrs. 2:1
Mauro Vila, Alvaro Navarro - Jorge Cazulo

Wanderers - Tacuarembó 1:1
Danilo Peinado - Nicolas Nikolay (pen.)

River Plate - Liverpool 3:2
Richard Porta (2), Fabricio Nunez - Juan Manuel Diaz (2)

Juventud - Danubio 0:1
Ignacio Gonzalez

Bella Vista - Cerro 0:3
Raul Molina, Jorge Delgado, Pablo Caballero

Miramar M. - Progreso 1:0
Marcelo Mansilla

Fénix - Nacional 1:1
Maximiliano Perez - Bruno Fontaroli

Peñarol - Central Español
to be played on 28/08/07

Argentina: Apertura 2007, 3rd Week

At last River managed to start, and gained valuable for him today one point against the champion, having paid for that with Belluschi's sending off.

Boca hardly managed to beat a newcomer who unexpectedly (or expectedly) fought hard against the grandee.

A powerful pace has been gained by Independiente and Argentinos Juniors. The heroes for the latter again have been Delorte and Battion.

Newell's and Estudiantes go on surprising, evoking opposite emotions though. The ex-champion has been simply drowning for now.

Colon suddenly defeated Lanus with two excellent free kicks. As well as Banfield as unexpectedly has beaten Velez, while Olimpo did the same to Arsenal Sarandi.

And finally desorineted Racing, who sold Morales and lost to everyone on a reinforcemnet market, lost in Jujuy.

Boca Juniors - San Martín San Juan 1:0
Ledesma

Gimnasia La Plata - Argentinos Juniors 0:2
Delorte, Battion

Independiente - Rosario Central 1:0
Denis

Huracán - Tigre 0:0

Colón de Santa Fe - Lanús 2:1
Gandin, Centurion - Sand

Olimpo Bahía Blanca - Arsenal de Sarandí 1:0
Torales

Banfield - Vélez Sarsfield 1:0
Devaca

Gimnasia de Jujuy - Racing Club 2:1
Carranza, Desvaux - Sava

San Lorenzo - River Plate 1:1
Silvera - Ortega (pen.)

Newell´s Old Boys - Estudiantes La Plata 2:1
Donnet, Steinert - Badell

Argentina: Last Transfers

Among the last transfers of Argentinean clubs there are some interesting and some loud. The loudest is a transfer of Chilean potential megastar Alexis Sanchez to River, who has robbed Racing of a promising Chilean. Boca decided to inscribe Riquelme and wait what it will end with. Parallely Leandro Gracian is signed too to conduct Boca's game if Riquelme decides to leave. Quite funny was to see famous Uruguayan Bueno among the Boca's new signees. And let's hope that Boca's condition is not as bad as to demand recruiting children like 16-years old Quilmes' Quitana. As for Paletta, we already told about his transfer. There are reasons now to hope that Boca's third match will be way more fun. Arsenal has strengthened seriously by bringing home Biaggini - from Spain, "Chupa" Lopez - from Mexico, and Bardaro - from Uruguay. Colon signed a once best Argentina's striker Cardetti. Central brought home from Greece a good playmaker Mariano Messera. Besides Sanchez River signed another promising youngster - Archubi from Lanus. While Racing failed to compensate the departure of Morales, despite bringing home it's legend Maxi "Hormiga Brava" Estevez, champion of 2002. Finally Gimnasia's leading scorer Silva has made an unexpected jump to Velez after having already scored for El Lobo in this Apertura.

Argentinos Juniors: Rafael Viotti (Uruguay)
Arsenal: Leonardo Monje (Chile), Leonardo Biagini, Pablo Zeballos (Paraguay), Ariel López y Cristian Bardaro
Boca Juniors: Juan Román Riquelme, Leandro Gracián, Carlos Bueno (Francia), Gabriel Paletta y Matías Quintana
Colón de Santa Fe: Martín Cardetti
Estudiantes de La Plata: Jeremías Caggiano, Álvaro Navarro Bica (Uruguay)
Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy: Diego Mateo Alustiza (Uruguay)
Huracán: Javier Dussan Prada (Colombia) y Sebastián Díaz (Uruguay)
Newell's Old Boys: Diego Barreto (Paraguay)
Olimpo: Sebastián Dubarbier
Racing Club: Darío Bottinelli, Sebastián Arrieta, Maximiliano Estévez
River Plate: Rodrigo Archubi, Alexis Sánchez (Chile), Marcelo Larrondo (Uruguay)
Rosario Central: Eduardo Martínez (Uruguay), Mariano Messera, Mauricio Ferradas
San Lorenzo: Juan Menseguez, Lautaro Fórmica, Jerónimo Morales Neumann
San Martín de San Juan: Pablo Cuba
Vélez Sársfield: Germán Montoya, Santiago Silva (Uruguay)

Argentina: Apertura 2007

River, as we already told, missed both starting games, Although, everone who watched Peace Cup matches, knows team's miserable condition.

It became clear that last year's Boca's triumph is connected solely with Riquelme. In leader's absence the team looked helpless against mediocre Argentinos Juniors, first of all tactically. Russo sent in eberyone but those who would be taking decisions. Ledesma, Cardozo and Battaglia were shifting responsibility for plot's development one on another. As a result, the game was conducted by young Ever Banega from very deep, if not from too deep. He did it very skillfully, for what was incomplrehensibly substituted. The histerical sending in of Datolo and Bosselli did not result in anything. Finally, Boca was pinned down by Alejandro Delorte alone, who produced an incredible game - golazo (a long cross header from 20 meters) and two assists. Eight points, if not more.

In other game a team, which looks like the main claimant to a title, appeared in its full beauty. In two starting games Independiente scored already eight goals. But what's more important, the guys are showing playing in the best Argentinean traditions. The absence of wonderful Daniel Montenegro (the best player in the first game) did not change anything. The game was conducted by fantastic Rodrigo Diaz, who should definitely play today in Argentinean national team. On the left wing Lucas Mareque was shinig in his best possible manner by splashing the superfootball over the edges. To get rid of him was the most stupid thing made by River recently. Another one to undoubtedly be in the national team. German Denis produced a great game too, including his superpass to Diaz, after return of which Denis himself scored his second goal. Today Denis is better than Palacio, so could be invited by Basile too. As for the next loudest transfer, it will surely bear a name of Ismael Sosa. Another ex-Riverer, Matias Oyola was as good. The defense was extremely solid thanks to one of the best South American defensemen, quite underestimated though, Uruguayan "Guille" Rodriguez. Poor Tigre intended to struggle with the efforts of Sebastian Ereros and interesting lanky enganche Roman Martinez, but failed. To put it in brief, Independiente stunned. The most important now is not to allow a coach to break a game, which already occured a year ago under Burruchaga.

Huracan again did not lose, this time to strong Lanus, which is good news for the supporters of a respectful team.

The champion vindicated itself by beating a newcomer. Ramon Diaz praised his team. Bilos is still waiting for permission to play for San Lorenzo.

Velez Sarfield defeated Olimpo, which turned out to have a great squad. Estudiantes colorlessly won against peripherial Gimnasia. Central and El Lobo go on playing the role of dark horses.

Racing received a double slap on the face. First, from Banfield, which won at Avellaneda, then from hinchada of their own, which organized an obstruction for selling Maxi Moralez. Without its genius the Academy turned out not to know what to do. The same story as with Riquelme in Boca.


Argentinos Juniors - Boca Juniors 3:2
Delorte, Battion (2) - Ledesma (2)

River Plate - Newell´s Old Boys postponed

Arsenal Sarandi - Colon 2:0
Calderon, Ulloa

San Martín San Juan - San Lorenzo 1:2
Tonelotto - Bottinelli, Fernandez

Rosario Central - Gimnasia La Plata 2:2
Diaz, Vizcarra - Silva, Batalla

Vélez Sarsfield - Olimpo 3:0
Escudero, Zapata, Sena

Racing - Banfield 0:1
Civelli

Estudiantes - Gimnasia de Jujuy 1:0
Braña

Lanús - Huracán 1:1
Valeri - Mendoza

Tigre - Independiente 0:3
Sosa, Denis (2)

Argentina: Apertura 2007

I plan to post a second week's review tomorrow. I managed to watch a couple of games, but want to watch today highlights too. Aguante!