It’s getting closer to the end now. There’s a clásico which will prove important at both ends of the table(s) in La Bombonera on Sunday, which will be the second derby of the weekend in the stadium: Huracán aren’t allowed to use the Tomás Ducó after all following the death of Rodrigo Silva on Sunday (even though he was actually shot four weeks ago…). Other title contenders: Lanús host Arsenal, and Tigre are at home to a River side apparently determined to win even though around a third of their fans want them to lose this one – so as to try and throw a spanner in the works of Boca’s championship hopes.
All kick off times are local. Add two hours for Greenwich Mean Time, except in the case of the match in Jujuy which is three hours behind (i.e. Gimnasia de Jujuy will kick off at the same time as Lanús).
Primera División A Torneo Apertura 2008, seventeenth round:
Independiente vs. Banfield (Fri, 19:00)
Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata vs. Colón de Santa Fe (Fri, 21:15)
Huracán vs. San Lorenzo de Almagro (Sat, 17:10)
Lanús vs. Arsenal Fútbol Club (Sat, 21:30)
Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy vs. San Martín de Tucumán (Sat, 21:30)
Tigre vs. River Plate (Sun, 17:20)
Argentinos Juniors vs. Rosario Central (Sun, 17:20)
Boca Juniors vs. Racing Club (Sun, 19:40)
Newell’s Old Boys vs. Vélez Sársfield (Sun, 19:40)
Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba vs. Estudiantes de La Plata postponed due to Estudiantes’ participation in the Copa Sudamericana final. The match will be played at a time yet to be decided on Wednesday, 10th December.
I’m in Manchester for most of the weekend, but will be back on Sunday evening – so no immediate write-ups of Friday or Saturday evening’s matches for this round. Enjoy your weekend!
Hasta El Gol Siempre 
do u think river will deliberately lose this one??
Murt-given River’s recent performances, how could you tell if they were tanking or not !? ;)
i know but tigre are evens in the bookies and although i know it would be a crime to back against your own team but money talks
And anything to stop boca winning it.
Boca News-in addition to Jesus Datolo being eligible for the Racing match, Mauricio Caranta will be on the bench as the second keeper. Still no word as to what exactly prompted his lengthy punishment, but he is no longer in the underground doghouse.
Don’t be surprised if Boca v. Racing doesn’t happen.
Huracán were leading San Lorenzo in the first half of their clásico at La Bombonera but the match had to be stopped due to a very heavy rain.
I’ve seen some images of the pitch and it looks like a swimming pool. Not sure what will happen now, but this rain is scary!
I’ve just been watching this, it looks like horrible weather in Buenos Aires. Here in Manchester, I can’t see anything out of my window because of fog. (A few matches were abandoned here because of the weather).
Presumably, though, this match will now re-start at 16 minutes with 11 against 10? That always seems to happen in Argentina (I remember a Racing-Independiente game that was abandoned because of floodlight failure re-started exactly where it had been stopped).
Here in England, anything that has happened in the match previous to it being abandoned is wiped out, and they start from scratch – really unfair. In the FA Cup, a semi-professional team took the lead away at a league club, but the match was abandoned at half time and that goal will now be wiped out : (
Mind you, I think Huracan might be happy to lose their goal rather than play an hour 11 against 10?
BTW Sam, hope you’re having a good weekend up here!
Could’ve bought you a pint tonight, I’m at a loose end now with no football to watch, ha ha : (
I’m sure Seba can update this, but I’m assuming Lanus-Arsenal won’t happen. But maybe the game in Jujuy will be played, so I’ll probably stay up till 1130 to see if there’s anything to watch.
The rain is slacking off a little now, but my roof is still leaking.
Oh no. Are you collecting the water in a bucket?
BTW, why is Datolo available to play, did he win an appeal or something?
I live 15 minutes walk from La Bombonera and I have certainly never seen any worse weather then this. Horrible.
Matthew-there is some rule allowing Datolo to play-I posted about it under another heading. You see it used every now and then. Caranta is back as well-on the bench.
Johan and I must live pretty close to one another. I’m about a 15 minute walk from the Bombonera as well.
My roof always leaks in a heavy rain-fortunately only in the kitchen.
Johnny:
I had more or less the same problem today. My windows allowed gallons of water leaking in today. Horrible!
I live on outskirts the of San Telmo bordering to La Boca on Av.Caseros. Close to you?
Johan-I live in San Telmo-between Paseo Colon and Defensa. No street vendors today ! Still raining as I type this, but not monsoon rain !
I hope the Bombonera will be ready later today. If not, I would much prefer postponing the match than have it played on a bad pitch.
Instead, Johnny, I prefer the match to be played in horrible conditions! haha! Special for Zuculini’s head tackles (by head tackles of course I mean tackles made with his head and not tackles aimed to Boca players’ heads -which would be what some Boca players of the 80s (like Enrique Hrabina and Blas Giunta) would do quite often-).
It stopped raining and my electricity was restored after some 15 or 16 hours of darkness.
Watching the Manchester derby now. I’ve always liked Manchester City as they play in the same colours of Racing and face the Red Devils in their derby match. If you come to think of it…Manchester City and Racing could be twin-clubs with all the financial mess, relegation, more financial mess and above all great support.
Still…my team in England is QPR for 11 years now (since I started playing a game very similar to Championship Manager -called PC Fútbol 7-).
Had a good time thanks, Matthew, although oddly finding a pub to watch the derby in proved a bit trickier than expected because an idiot of a bouncer on Deansgate told us the place we’d been planning to watch it in was ‘too busy’! I’ll have to let you know in advance next time I’m in Manchester.
Johnny, I hope your roof’s not too bad. And if you and Johann want to meet up but prefer not to put your contact details publicly on the site, you can always email me and I can put the two of you in touch, jajaja!
C**y and Racing had something else in common today Seba, they both lost a clásico…