River Plate and Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata drew 0-0 on Monday to complete the tenth round of the 2010 Torneo Apertura. It was a match that, had River been any good at all, they’d have won easily, but Erik Lamela was bafflingly taken off at half time, the side as a whole lack cohesiveness, and in spite of hitting the woodwork three times in the first half it would be hard to say they really deserved a win. Left back Carlos Arano was replaced with striker Leandro Caruso late on, and surprise surprise, with only two men at the back (right back Paulo Ferrari was as attacking as ever) River nearly lost it on a number of occasions thereafter. You can see the highlights from that game here, along with all the weekend’s goalscorers and red cards.
Primera División Torneo Apertura 2010, tenth round
Estudiantes de La Plata (G. Fernández 43; R. López 86) 2 – 0 Club Olimpo (N. Bianchi Arce OFF 71; M. Mosset OFF 84)
Arsenal Fútbol Club (M. Obolo 89) 1 – 0 Banfield
Huracán (D. Soplan 90+2) 1 – 1 All Boys (J. Ferrari 75)
Lanús (G. Castillejos 53; S. Romero 61) 2 – 0 San Lorenzo de Almagro
Argentinos Juniors 0 – 0 Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba
Newell’s Old Boys (M. Fórmica 29; R. Schiavi OFF 89) 1 – 1 Quilmes (D. Gerlo 59)
Independiente (C. Baez 45) 1 – 0 Racing Club
Vélez Sarsfield (S. Silva 43, 58; J.M. Martínez 54, 60, 68; J. Cristaldo 84) 6 – 0 Colón
Tigre (D. Stracqualursi 37) 1 – 2 Boca Juniors (M. Giménez 24; C. Chávez 85)
River Plate 0 – 0 Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata
I’ll be putting together a post at some point during the week as a sort of ‘half term report’ on the teams now we’re (just over) midway through the championship.
River Plate 0 – 0 Gimnasia LP
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Photo taken from ole.clarin.com
Hasta El Gol Siempre 
River can’t be dropping points like this at home without ending up with a serious relegation problem, can they?
You can drop ‘at home’ from that comment, frankly Justin. Olimpo and Quilmes look bad enough that they’ll finish in the direct relegation places if it carries on this way, but unless River seriously get their skates on they’ll be in the playoffs at the end of the season. More on that coming later in the week…