The sixth match of the Apertura was the date preordained by River Plate manager Diego Simeone as the day his first-choice side would finally come to life. Oh dear oh dear. River lost at home to Vélez on Wednesday and, one third of the way through the campaign, surely can’t afford any more slip-ups if they’re going to (somehow) succeed in defending their title. Another side in need of a win had better luck, Central dismantling Arsenal in Rosario, and Boca’s drab draw with Argentinos in La Paternal means San Lorenzo, who won on Tuesday, remain top on points. Special mention to Independiente forward Leonel Núñez; he got a hat-trick against Gimnasia de Jujuy. The midweek round saw a managerial casualty, as well: Roberto Sensini quit Estudiantes, announcing that ‘things aren’t working’, following his side’s draw against San Martín. For all the details, step this way…
Primera División A Torneo Apertura 2008, sixth round:
Colón de Santa Fe (E. Fuertes 35; R. Ramírez 54; L. Valdemarín 88) 3 – 3 Lanús (M. Fritzler 19; J. Sand 64; S. Blanco 87)
Tigre (M. Morel 66, 74; J. Blanco 68) 3 – 1 Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata (J. San Román OG 5)
Banfield (N. Bertolo 52) 1 – 3 San Lorenzo de Almagro (N. Silvera 22; P. Barrientos 41; S. Solari 89)
Huracán (C. González 46) 1 – 1 Newell’s Old Boys (R. Schiavi 30)
Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba (V. Figueroa 89) 1 – 0 Racing Club
Estudiantes de La Plata (M. Boselli 44) 1 – 1 San Martín de Tucumán (R. Leone 87)
River Plate (A. Ríos 72) 1 – 2 Vélez Sársfield (J. Cristaldo 37; H. López 81)
Rosario Central (E. Zelaya 10; D. Braghieri 46; O. Zarif 86) 3 – 0 Arsenal Fútbol Club
Independiente (L. Núñez 4, 41, 54) 3 – 2 Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy (C. Fileppi 49; R. Gómez 86; D. Ramasco OFF 73)
Argentinos Juniors 0 – 0 Boca Juniors
For the goals from this round, check back on Thursday evening.
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I was at the Monumental tonight, surprisingly empty by the way. May be because of the somewhat strange kick off time making it difficult for all those that´s working.
Anyway, River were really poor tonight. Don´t know how many passes they just threw away to Velez but they were many. Velez on the other hand played well during the entire game and won deservingly.
Just to add to the misery at River Falcao went of injured in the first half. It looked as if he torn his hamstring so he´ll probably be sidelined for a while.
By the way, is this blog gonna be updated for the copa sudamericana as well?
‘Things aren’t working’, you bet things aren’t working. I thought Racing had turned the corner with the Independiente and Argentinos results, but I have just watched another disaster to rank with the worst of last season. We can’t keep saying we are unlucky, or the oppostion keepr played well, because it is happening week after week. We have *no* strikers, I suspect we could have played all night and not scored.
I’m gonna say something really radical. I don’t think Simeone has ever been truly accepted at River, especially now results have turned, I think the new regime at Racing should go down on their knees and beg him to come back. He was treated terribly last time, because he had took a rag-bag of a side that was crumbling and motivated them into a team that could get such results as beating River. But the people who sacked him in favour of Merlo aren’t there now, Simeone is a Racing fan, it should be done!
I’ve had enough of Llop now, no progress is being made, and I think he’s getting to a point where he can no longer motivate the side. We’re in serious trouble now, because I can see Jujuy putting a run together and possibly overtaking us if we keep losing.
If we can’t get Simeone, maybe Caruso Lombardi has he battling qualitied needed. But I lost faith in Llop last night, terrible result, we should have buried them within an hour.
As you may have spotted, Im not very happy.
Johan, there’s a search function just underneath the title bar (on the right hand side) if you want to search back to the Sudamericana progress so far.
Interesting point, Matthew. I’m not sure whether he’s really not been accepted (although given what River’s fans are like, it’s distinctly possible) but Simeone would be great for Racing at the moment. Whether River will really let him go, and whether it’ll actually happen, is another matter…