This will go online a few hours after I write it, because the news about Diego Maradona’s impending appointment to the national team job merits some space at the top of the page for a little while, but there was some other stuff going on on Tuesday – Primera A matches, in fact. Vélez bounced back with a 2-0 home win over San Martín de Tucumán, Godoy Cruz featured in another high-scoring thriller, and Estudiantes edged out Lanús. Tigre, however, top the table – until San Lorenzo play on Wednesday, at least – thanks to a 1-0 win over Independiente.
Carlos Luna bagged the winner for Tigre in El Monumental de Victoria one minute into stoppage time, just fourteen minutes after he’d taken to the pitch to replace Sebastián Rosano. The match had seen Independiente just edge it for the quality of their approach play, but El Rojo failed to take advantage of their opportunities – Leonel Núñez was particularly guilty – and the hosts made them pay when Luna finished after fellow sub Néstor Ayala had brought down a high ball for him.
Godoy Cruz must be wondering what they’ve got to do right now; they’ve scored five goals in two matches, and got precisely no points out of it. Having lost a brilliant match 4-3 to Lanús at the weekend, they hosted Huracán (whose promotion a couple of season ago was earned at Godoy’s expense) and lost 3-2. Leandro Caruso and Martín Aguirre made it 1-0 and then 2-2 for the hosts, both in the first half, whilst Huracán’s goals came from Pablo Goltz and Hernán Barcos in the first half, and César González in the second.
In La Plata, Mauro Boselli scored again for Estudiantes in the 53rd minute to make it four matches without defeat since the 2-1 loss to Racing one month ago. And in Liniers, there were two goals in quick succession early in the second half: Emiliano Papa and Jonathan Cristaldo gave Vélez the points to put an end to a run of four matches without a win – and extend San Martín’s winless run away from home to four matches.
Hasta El Gol Siempre 