Wednesday afternoon and evening saw the first legs of the two Promoción playoff matches to decide whether Gimnasia La Plata and Rosario Central remain in the Primera División, or are replaced by All Boys and Atlético Rafaela. In the afternoon match, All Boys were winning against Central 1-0 thanks to a header from Mauro Matos, formerly of Arsenal de Sarandí, but in added time another header, from Central’s Guillermo Burdisso, tied the match. A draw will therefore be enough for Central to keep their place in the top flight on Sunday. Gimnasia have a little more to do – they lost 1-0 after being well outclasses by Atlético Rafaela. Alexis Blanco got the winner, chesting down a centre and rifling it into the net. Last year, of course, Gimnasia lost the first leg 3-0 to the same opponents, but still did enough in the second leg, so we’ll have to wait and see what Sunday brings. You can watch the goals from both matches right here.
Wednesday 19th May 2010:
Promoción 1: All Boys 1 – 1 Rosario Central
Promoción 2: Atlético Rafaela 1 – 1 Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata
In the event of the aggregate scores finishing level, neither away goals nor extra time will be used – the ‘incumbent’ Primera sides will stay up. In other words, the teams seeking to win promotion have to win the tie outright. Second legs are played on Sunday.
You can follow Argentina’s World Cup campaign, Estudiantes’ ongoing quest to retain the Copa Libertadores and all the winter football news from Argentina via HEGS on Twitter. If you’ve not signed up yet you can do so here.
Photo pinched from ole.clarin.com
Hasta El Gol Siempre 