Tuesday night saw competitive football finally begin for Argentina’s clubs, even though the interminably pointless and boring Torneos De Verano (which HEGS readers may have noticed aren’t being covered here this year, because I’m fed up with them) haven’t yet ended. Independiente returned to the Copa Libertadores with a 2-0 win over Deportivo Quito in the first leg of their qualifier, and you’ll find the goals here. River Plate and Boca Juniors, meanwhile, have experienced serious injury blows to their pre-season preparations just a day apart.
On Tuesday River goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo fell awkwardly and had to be taken to hospital. After some examinations it was confirmed that he’d damaged his ankle ligaments in a manner which required surgery in order to avoid any future problems. As such, he’s likely to be out of first-team action for around two to three months. It’s a big blow to River, for whom Carrizo has perhaps a little more influence on the defence even than most goalkeepers should have. They’re not as reliant on him as they were when they won the 2008 Torneo Clausura – when he pretty much formed their entire defence – but in the battle against relegation, losing their first-choice goalkeeper for the start of the season may see some ambitions of chasing the title scaled back a little. When Carrizo was out of the side previously, Daniel Vega was the man charged with replacing him, but whether J.J. López will prefer Leandro Chichizola or Gonzalo Marinelli, we’ll have to wait and see.
At Boca’s pre-season camp on Wednesday morning, meanwhile, the news wasn’t quite as bad but it won’t have been what new manager Julio César Falcioni wanted, all the same. Christian Cellay, who had an injury-ravaged time during the Torneo Apertura, had to drop out of training after feeling a twinge which he couldn’t shake off in one of his legs. Cellay was seen as Falcioni’s first choice for the right back berth this year, so it’s an annoyance for the boss, but at least in Clemente Rodríguez he knows he’s got an able replacement, with Luciano Monzón thus coming in at left back. In slightly better news for the Xeneize, Sebastián Battaglia and – wait for it! – Juan Román Riquelme are both doing light training with a view to reintegrating themselves into the squad – in Riquelme’s case after a long time out – soon.
Independiente’s 2-0 win over Deportivo Quito in the first leg of their Copa Libertadores qualifier stands them in good stead for the high altitude return next Tuesday. Matías Defederico – the new arrival from Corinthians, whose registration was only put through just in time for him to be named in the match squad – got a goal on his debut to open the scoring, and young hotshot Patricio Rodríguez got the second with a close range finish from a poorly defended free kick.
Copa Libertadores 2011, qualifying round first leg: Independiente 2 – 0 Deportivo Quito (ECU)
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Hasta El Gol Siempre 
Wasn’t very impressed by Deportivo Quito, apart from their ability to commit violent fouls without getting punished. Their finishing was as shocking as their defending, Michael Jackson Quinonez (for some reason he stuck in my mind) should have scored that rebound after the first guy, whose name escapes me, showed a terrible first touch all night.
Hopefully these guys will all become supermen at altitude next week, I really can’t face sitting through six more of these matches hoping for Independiente’s downfall… it’s flamin’ Tottenham in the Champions League all over again :-(
Do away goals count double next week? It would just be Independiente’s luck if they did here, but didn’t in the Sudamericana final.
Away goals are used to decide the tie, yes. They only aren’t in finals, because CONMEBOL think it’s a good idea to have a set of rules which apply to the entirety of their competitions apart from the decisive matches.
Mariano Gonzalez, yehhhhhhhh! :-)
But what’s the situation with Cvitanich, Fox were captioning that Boca were in for him, which wouldn’t be surprising with Falcioni and all?
Ajax have rejected offers from both Boca and Racing, the last I heard (yesterday afternoon).
That looked nothing like the Liga defense I remember from the Sudamericana… still, it could just be that Independiente simply have their number, as they knocked them out of that tournament on their way to the final.
That’s because it wasn’t the Liga defence you remember from the Sudamericana David. This is Deportivo Quito – a different club!