‘What’s this?!’ I hear you cry. ‘Hasn’t the second round of matches only just finished?’ Yes, dear reader, it has, but here in Argentina that doesn’t really matter. This weekend is a long one (Monday is a bank holiday, I forget exactly why), so matches will carry through over the next four days. Champions Vélez Sarsfield get us started tonight with a visit to Arsenal de Sarandí, leaders Lanús will visit San Martín de San Juan – the only other side in the Primera with a 100% record, having won their only match so far – on Saturday, and on Sunday Godoy Cruz will hope to finally get off the mark against Tigre, who’ve looked poor so far. Monday night sees two of the newly-promoted sides clash for the first time; Unión welcome Belgrano to Santa Fe. All the kick off times and referees are right here.
All kick off times are local. Add four hours for British Summer Time.
Primera División Torneo Apertura 2011, third round
Arsenal Fútbol Club vs Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield (Fri, 21:15; refereed by N. Pitana)
Club Atlético San Martín vs Club Atlético Lanús (Sat, 15:00; G. Delfino)
Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro vs Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors (Sat, 17:05; H. Baldassi)
Club Atlético Independiente vs Club Estudiantes de La Plata (Sat, 21:15; S. Laverni)
Club Atlético All Boys vs Asociación Mutual Social y Deportiva Atlético de Rafaela (Sun, 14:00; J. Baliño)
Club Atlético Tigre vs Club Deportivo Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba (Sun, 16:05; F. Beligoy)
Club Atlético Newell’s Old Boys vs Club Atlético Boca Juniors (Sun, 18:10; G. Favale)
Club Atlético Banfield vs Racing Club (Sun, 20:15; S. Pezzotta)
Club Olimpo vs Club Atlético Colón (Mon, 19:00; P. Loustau)
Club Atlético Unión vs Club Atlético Belgrano (Mon, 21:15; M. González)
As usual, keep your eye on my Twitter page throughout the weekend for links to the live streams of whichever matches are being shown on channels with live streams on their websites. You’ll find my Hong Kong Jockey Club preview of Arsenal vs Vélez here, with links to Saturday’s matches on the right (Sunday’s and Monday’s matches will go up later in the weekend).
You can follow the latest news from the selección and Argentina’s foreign legion of players, as well as the domestic championship, River Plate’s first second division campaign in over a century and the ever entertaining/tragic/infuriating capers of Julio Grondona & chums 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. And remember to bookmark Hand Of Pod, our Argentine football podcast, or if you prefer you can subscribe to it on iTunes here.
Hasta El Gol Siempre 