No one is posting.
Anyway here the scores of matchday 2.
Lanús vs. Banfield
2-1
Belgrano Cba. vs. Independiente
0-0
Newell's Old Boys vs. River Plate
1-2
Arsenal FC vs. Godoy Cruz
2-1
Colón Sta. Fe vs. San Lorenzo
1-1
Gimnasia J. vs. Estudiantes LP
0-0
Quilmes AC vs. Gimnasia LP
2-2
Argentinos Juniors vs. Nueva Chicago
3-0
Boca Juniors vs. Rosario Central
1-1
Racing Club vs. Vélez Sarsfield
2-2
Also during this week the pending match of Apertura was played.
Racing Club vs. San Lorenzo
0-1
Matchday 3 scores.
Nueva Chicago vs. Arsenal FC
0-4
Estudiantes LP vs. Colón Sta. Fe
2-2
Rosario Central vs. Banfield
1-1
Independiente vs. Boca Juniors
1-3
Vélez Sarsfield vs. Argentinos Juniors
0-2
Lanús vs. Newell's Old Boys
3-2
Godoy Cruz vs. Quilmes AC
3-0
Gimnasia LP vs. Gimnasia J.
2-0
River Plate vs. Racing Club
4-2 :boohoo:
San Lorenzo vs. Belgrano Cba.
1-0
And finally matchday 4 scores.
Colón Sta. Fe vs. Gimnasia LP
1-2
Racing Club vs. Newell's Old Boys
0-1
Banfield vs. Independiente
2-1
Belgrano Cba. vs. Estudiantes LP
1-2
Arsenal FC vs. Vélez Sarsfield
3-1
Boca Juniors vs. San Lorenzo
0-3
Gimnasia J. vs. Godoy Cruz
2-1
Quilmes AC vs. Nueva Chicago
1-0
Rosario Central vs. Lanús
2-3
Argentinos Juniors vs. River Plate
2-1
The table.
1- Arsenal FC 12
2- San Lorenzo 10
3- Argentinos Juniors 9 +4
4- River Plate 9 +3
5- Lanús 9 +2
6- Estudiantes LP 8
7- Boca Juniors 7 +3
8- Gimnasia LP 7 +1
9- Godoy Cruz 6
10- Colón Sta. Fe 5 +1
11- Rosario Central 5 0
12- Vélez Sarsfield 4 -2(5-7)
13- Gimnasia J. 4 -2(3-5)
14- Banfield 4 -4(4-8)
15- Quilmes AC 4 -4(3-7)
16- Newell's Old Boys* 3
17- Racing Club 2
18- Belgrano Cba. 1 -3
19- Independiente 1 -5
20- Nueva Chicago 1 -8
Average table(bottom).
13/14- Newell's Old Boys*/Racing Club 1.313 130/99
15/16- Argentinos Juniors/Colón Sta. Fe 1.232 123/99
17- Belgrano Cba. 1.043 24/23
18/19- Godoy Cruz/Nueva Chicago** 1 23/23
20- Quilmes AC 0.969 96/99
*: Newell's could get a point deduction.
**: In case they finish tied in the average, they should play a tie breaker to see who gets relegated and who plays the play-off.
Matchday 5 schedule.
Friday 9/3
Nueva Chicago vs. Gimnasia J.
Independiente vs. Rosario Central
Saturday 10/3
Vélez Sarsfield vs. Quilmes AC
Estudiantes LP vs. Boca Juniors - A match to watch.
Sunday 11/3
River Plate vs. Arsenal FC - Also a match to watch.
Godoy Cruz vs. Colón Sta. Fe
Gimnasia LP vs. Belgrano Cba.
San Lorenzo vs. Banfield
Newell's Old Boys vs. Argentinos Juniors
Lanús vs. Racing Club
About Independiente's current situation. Well as against Colón we deserved to lose as we played pretty bad, probably would be the same with Banfield after the very poor performance on the second half, however in the other side that Independiente is finding "the team". Still Independiente showed a lack of atittude in the second half against Banfield, contrary to the matches against Belgrano and Boca were Independiente deserved to win(maybe against Boca just deserved a draw, but still) however even with that Independiente would just have 4 points, if it all depended on deserving, so it's clear that Independiente needs better performances soon or else once again we'll be out of the cups. To be honest i lost faith in Denis and Moreno in my opinion it'd be the same that we played with less players when they are on the pitch they hardly do anything, if we had a "scoring forwards"(say a Silvera, a Lavezzi, a Ruben, a Silva, or even a Calderon) we wouldn't have so many problems to score, other than the defense i think there's our main problem. As usual when a club is in a negative situation the main target of the blame is the coach, apparently if we get a bad result against Central, Burruchaga would resign, then Santoro would take the place until the end of the season, but who will come after? Some sources say that there's a chance that Carlos Bianchi would come, please no!!!
Others say another option is the return of Gallego and that a third option could be Astrada. Please if Burruchaga has to go put anyone in charge but
NOT BIANCHI, PLEASE NO!
A little overview of other teams.
-San Lorenzo: Finally they got their revenge after the shameful 7-1 on the Aperutra, in top of that they are 2 points behind the leader. Probably some weren't giving too much for them since they didn't do any singing really, just got Gastón "la gata" Fernandez on loan, but still San Lorenzo will fight for the top.
-Newell's Old Boys: It takes them a lot of work to get victory this season, and finally they got one in the Apertura after 2 defeats, however they are still in troubles, they could get a
9 points deduction for the incidents between the "supporters" in the match against River. This complicates Newell's even more, because with that
Newell's will have to fight to avoid relegation.
-Lanús: They are confident after getting 3 victories in a row, but even though Lanús is somewhat an engimatic team, in the last 2 matches they were losing they had a comeback with 2 3-2 victories against the 2 teams of Rosario. Still they seem confident that they can fight for the top too, as Cabrero's youngsters group looks solid just like in these past 2 seasons, and after some years of being above average, their supporters are expecting to get some silverware.
-Belgrano Cba. & Nueva Chicago: Both are in the same situation, both got promoted this season and looked solid and that they would have no troubles to stay in the first division, but in the Clausura they don't seem to be as fit as they were in the Apertura, for different reasons these teams are having different problems to earn points, which they really need, still got to see if they can get up before it's too late.
-Quilmes AC: Complicated situation if there is one. They are almost relegated but they are working hard for a miracle, everything would seem lost but they are trying hard, let's see if they are ready for the difficult challenge that they will face.
-Gimnasia LP: After the well-known bad events they facted in the Apertura, "the wolf" seems to have forgotten about that, and they are looking forward, what they are expecting to get may seem unknown to the eyes of the rest. Personally i don't know what they are expecting of themselves. However it would seem that they gave up on the Libertadores and will try to get as much points as possible to start over.
-Racing Club: Although they are 1 point above in the table of us, their situation isn't any better, they are still in bad place of the table, rumours of fights and discussions inside the team are the common topic of their gossip these days, hardly there's any talk about other stuff. A tense atmosphere surrounds Racing, maybe as a result of the recent bad matches and defeats.
-Rosario Central: They know that they could and should be better than what they are know, they have good players, it can be seen that they are working hard to be placed high, but it would seem that they also are out of luck, maybe they can get up and fight for important stuff.
-Colón Sta. Fe: Colón had a good start but fell down quickly, they were expected to get some good results but, as usual with them
, they didn't, it would seem that on the end Colón will have another mediocre-average season if they don't settle down.
-Vélez Sarsfield: Similar to Colón, however Vélez looked even more solid, it would seem that this season, either with Russo or La Volpe, isn't as solid as it used to be in the recent seasons. What's wrong with Vélez?
-Gimnasia J. & Godoy Cruz: These are underdogs and more likely their main priority is to avoid relegation, however they seem to be up the challenge, no teams can get an easy score from them, and they seem to become stronger with each match they play at home, kudos to them, these guys could cause an upset to any big contendant, regardless that they situation could be worse.
-Argentinos Juniors: Their main priority is to avoid relegation and play-off, which they know well, however that worry would seem like a thing of the past, leaded by their coach Ricardo Carusso Lombardi, a very smart tactician, Argentinos Juniors plays pretty well, and promises a lot for the future, regardless of what could happen in the Clausura. They may not admit it but being only 3 points away from the top, they are surely dreaming about the championship. But in reality What's Argentinos up to?
-Boca Juniors: Their loss with San Lorenzo, for a team like Boca means complete chaos, althought it was just 1 match lost, they aren't as solid as they expected and they don't seem to be able to handle both the Clausura and the Libertadores with the same players, rotation of players for them will be a must, or else things could get worse. Probably they are paying for the overhype before the competitions started.
-River Plate: Although after their recent loss with Argentinos Juniors they lost a good chance to share the top, and they admitted that Argentinos deserved to win that match, they don't seem to be worried about the present and they seem confident that they can win something, however they know that they must do better. Just like Boca but with somewhat better scores, they realized that they need rotation to be fit for both sides, the Clausura and the Libertadores.
-Estudiantes LP: Just like in their championship, they had a so-so start but the "mystic" of the Apertura remains, they are 4 points behind the top, which at this point isn't a lot, they want to show that they are able to defend their title, hopefully if they win again or not they will show as good football as they did in the Apertura, at any rate they still keep their undefeated streak.
-Arsenal FC: Of the 20 teams in the first division, Arsenal is probably the one with the shortest tradition on the top league, and also the fact this Arsenal is third team of Avelleneda(a city with 2 big guys like Independiente and Racing), Arsenal doesn't seem to care and they do what they must. Arsenal at times looks unstoppable, Arsenal looked solid last year but now they look even better and they are one of the 3 teams that remain undefeated on the Clausura(The other two being San Lorenzo and Estudiantes), also Arsenal won their 4 matches so far, and the next one is against none other than the somewhat "wounded lion", River. Arsenal already wrote a new chapter in their history since for the points they have so far this is their best season in the first division. Will Arsenal end up this chapter with a championship?
Basile, coach of the national team called up 21 players from the domestic clubs, so they could train with him 2 days a week. Here's the list:
Keepers
Juan Pablo Carrizo (River Plate)
Oscar Ustari (Independiente)
Defenders
Hugo Ibarra (Boca Juniors)
Daniel Diaz (Boca Juniors)
Paulo Ferrari (River Plate)
Eduardo Tuzzio (River Plate)
Hernán Pellerano (Vélez Sarsfield)
Germán Re (Newell's Old Boys)
Jonathan Bottinelli (San Lorenzo)
Midfielders
Leonardo Ponzio (River Plate)
Fernando Belluschi (River Plate)
José Sosa (Estudiantes LP)
Juan Sebastián Verón (Estudiantes LP)
Christian Ledesma (San Lorenzo)
Neri Cardozo (Boca Juniors)
Agustín Pelletieri (Lanús)
Forwards
Daniel Montenegro (Independiente)
Mariano Pavone (Estudiantes LP)
Ezequiel Lavezzi (San Lorenzo)
Rodrigo Palacio (Boca Juniors)
Mauro Zárate (Vélez Sarsfield)
In my opinion other players that should be called too, or instead of some of the list, Andujar, Gioda, Angeleri, Bolatti, Archubi and Hauche.
Probably the starting line-up with these guys would be like this.
------------Ustari
-
------Pellerano-----Tuzzio
----Ibarra----------------Re
-
--Belluschi---Pelletieri---Cardozo
--------------Verón
-
----Montenegro-----Pavone/Zárate
Even if the team isn't like that a team with these guys looks promising i can't wait to see them in action.
Apparently Basile wants to revolt with a "back to the origins" calling up players of the domestic teams and training with them weekly, also that others may join later in place of some of these if they consider that it's needed, Basile said that he's watching at least 40 players as possible call-ups. Apparently the team for the Copa América wouldn't be of just domestic players but that there could still be players from Europe, however he said that he isn't sure about the amount. Argentina will visit Switzerland on June 2nd and Australia on June 6th, also almost confirmed later this year Norway, and England at Wembley, some are hoping for a rematch against Brazil and also Italy, these friendlies were confirmed, however Basile asked AFA to find a rival to play on March 24th and 28th, he wants to play with the guys he called for the training in Argentina(FINALLY!) and preferably outside of Buenos Aires(Oh well, but if it's in Rosario or La Plata count with me
), also but with much of a slim chance, they want to make a friendly before the Copa América with the U20, just like they did before the world cup. Basile said that he doesn't really care about who they could play on the possible coming friendlies in March.
This plan is good because it means that now it's important for the players from the argentina clubs to play well on the week-ends so they can have a chance to get called up for the national team again, in the recent years it looked like you have to be the best player of Argentina or be in an above average european club to be called up. Also if the majority of the players are playing in Argentina, others will have to watch our football to meet them.
