On the day they got a new president, Vélez Sársfield lost 2-0 at home to Gimnasia La Plata, a result which significantly slims their chances of fighting for the Apertura title. A little later in La Plata, Estudiantes won thanks to a first half goal from Mauro Boselli, and make it four matches without a win for Independiente.
Former vice-president Fernando Raffaini is the new number one at Vélez, having beaten Gabriel Fernández into second place in the club’s elections. On the pitch, he didn’t enjoy the best start to his spell at the top of the club, as two goals early on (Roberto Sosa after eight minutes and Franco Niell in the seventeenth) gave Gimnasia three vital points (or rather a couple of vital fractions of a percent on their Promedio) towards the fight for survival. If San Lorenzo win on Sunday against Gimnasia de Jujuy, Vélez will be nine points behind the leaders with fifteen to play for.
Estudiantes’ victory, Boselli scoring in the 22nd minute, means they go into the midweek match against Argentinos Juniors in the Copa Sudamericana semi-final in a good frame of mind. Their opponents drew away to Godoy Cruz (who missed good chances right at the start and right at the end), but won’t be unduly worried; Argentinos rested most of the first-teamers for the match.
Elsewhere Banfield defeated Newell’s 2-1 on Friday night in an entertaining match which opens things up a little bit at the top of the table. Tigre seemed determined not to make it too open, though, and drew 2-2 away to Colón on Saturday. The weekend’s other result so far was a 2-1 away win for Lanús over Central, which leaves Luis Zubeldía’s side fourth in the table.
Soccer Blogs
The Football Directory
