There were an awful lot of ones on the scoreboards of Argentina’s top flight on Monday as the 2010 Torneo Apertura drew to a close, but River Plate, at least, ended a difficult year on a high note with a 4-1 away tonking of Lanús. After opening his first team account last week, rising star Erik Lamela got another, and Mariano Pavone grabbed two for River. Martín Palermo’s second goal in professional football was scored back when dinosaurs walked the earth, seemingly; on Monday he scored the 300th goal of his career in Boca Juniors’ 1-1 draw at home to Gimnasia. Those goals, and the rest of Monday’s, along with all the final round’s scores and scorers, are right here.
Primera División Torneo Apertura 2010, nineteenth round
All Boys (M. Pérez García 28; J. Ferrari OFF 49; M. Matos 90+4) 2 – 2 Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba (A. Rojas 1; M. Donda 7; L. Sigali OFF 90+3)
Racing Club 0 – 2 Vélez Sarsfield (J.M. Martínez 23; M. Moralez 57)
Estudiantes de La Plata (R. López 74, 88) 2 – 0 Arsenal Fútbol Club
Colón (L. Acosta 81) 1 – 0 Newell’s Old Boys
San Lorenzo de Almagro (J. Bottinelli 46; J.C. Menseguez 84) 2 – 1 Banfield (W. Erviti 37)
Huracán (G. Roffes 46) 1 – 0 Independiente
Lanús (G. Schurrer (manager) OFF KO; S. Romero 31; S. Hoyos OFF 83) 1 – 4 River Plate (E. Lamela 28; A. Román 51; M. Pavone 53, 76)
Boca Juniors (M. Palermo 4) 1 – 1 Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata (J. Neira 70)
Tigre (D. Stracqualursi 45+2; C. Pérez OFF 61) 1 – 1 Argentinos Juniors (C. Rius 62)
Club Olimpo (O. De Felippe (manager) OFF 39; D. Galván OFF 83) 0 – 1 Quilmes (D. Gerlo 2)
Huracán 1 – 0 Independiente
Lanús 1 – 4 River Plate
Boca Juniors 1 – 1 Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata
Tigre 1 – 1 Argentinos Juniors
Olimpo 0 – 1 Quilmes
The final Apertura standings (pending Independiente vs Tigre, which will be played somet time in 2011), Copa Libertadores 2011 qualification table and the current Promedio standings – in which River Plate are currently safe! – are right here on the Tables page. Keep your eyes on HEGS for some of the main stories to look out for as the Argentine league now breaks up for the summer, and some of my thoughts on the Apertura as a whole later in the week.
You can follow the daily ins and outs during the summer break, as well Argentina’s performances in the Sudamericano Sub 20 in January, the country’s vast foreign legion and the latest news from the selección during the 2010-2011 season direct from Buenos Aires with HEGS on Twitter. If you’ve not signed up yet you can do so here. You can also join the official HEGS Facebook group, to keep up to date with the latest posts on the blog and discuss things with other fans. You’ll find it here. Also remember to bookmark Hand Of Pod, our home to a brand new Argentine football podcast (or subscribe to it on iTunes here)
Photo taken from ole.clarin.com
Hasta El Gol Siempre 
Not a good day for River-hating Lanus keeper Mauricio Caranta. It’s rare to see a keeper at fault for a goal scored from the penalty spot, and then what was he doing for the 4th??
Caranta must have been thinking about Ischia’s daughter again.
wow. lanus gets blown out again?! i stopped watching this matchweek after veron lifted the cup
Johnny, is that really true? I’ve heard it before. It always seemed strange the way Caranta was run out of Boca. If I were a Bostero I’d have preferred to keep him and let Ischia go!
Hi Justin. I have no idea if the thing about Caranta and Ischia’s daughter is true. That was a rumor running around for awhile. There was also a rumor that Caranta had attempted to seduce a Boca junior team player (!). I always figured that whatever the reason for the fall out with Ischia, it must have been something humongous given how Caranta was essentially turned into a non-person and eventually exiled. So, I have decided to believe the “daughter” story because it’s juicy and makes good party talk.
As for Ischia, I agree. I don’t even know where he is now. He had a coaching job in Mexico and it didn’t pan out.
He must have done something pretty bad, because during that last Libertadores run, he was as good a goalkeeper as any in the league at that time, except possibly Carrizo.
Boca’s morale and team enviroment at that time was nothing less than toxic and irradiated by bad press, it could be any combination of a number of reasons.
Ishias’ daughters are hot – any sane hetero would tap those barbies
errrr… not much is different today, Ishia’s daughters are still hot.
Righto, Boca was going through a tough spell with dissension and all kinds of lockerroom infighting. Maybe Caranta said Riquelme’s mother wears combat boots.
There has long been a story that Ray Clemence left Liverpool after canoodling with a board member’s daughter. Goalkeepers, eh? Can’t trust them.
I’m actually friends on Facebook with the real Caranta, but we never speak. Maybe I’ll just ask him directly.