In the remaining second leg of this year’s Promoción in Primera A, Rosario Central eased to a 1-1 draw at home to Belgrano de Córdoba which confirms their participation in Primera A next season thanks to a 2-1 aggregate win.
In a match that was considerably less dramatic than the ridiculous Gimnasia comeback against Rafaela which preceded it by a couple of hours, Central and Belgrano went at each other hard but without any major fireworks in El Gigante del Arroyito. The first half was poor, with Central marginally better in the final third of the pitch, but not much to write home about.
Juan Carlos Maldonado gave the home side momentary palpitations 37 minutes in when he ran onto a half-cleared ball which was coming towards him out of Central’s box, and smashed it into the corner of the net with a ferocious left-footed drive that gave Belgrano the lead on the night and an aggregate equaliser.
That was short-lived though. One minute later, Emilio Zelaya was on hand to see the ball over the line after a shot from Kily González had been pushed into the forward’s path by Belgrano goalkeeper Juan Carlos Olave. Central were back level on the night, 2-1 up on aggregate, and thanks to the ‘ventaja deportiva‘ that means the incumbent Primera A team stay up in the event of an aggregate draw, Belgrano had to score twice. That was never going to happen.
Both Gimnasia and Central have kept their places in the Primera for another year, then, and the race will hot up next season. Just the two promoted teams this year; Atlético Tucumán and Chacarita Juniors, who both come up automatically.
As with the Gimnasia 3 – 0 Rafaela match, the goal videos aren’t yet online. I’ll post the goals from both matches on Monday evening.
Hasta El Gol Siempre 