Saturday saw the continuation of the first round of matches in this year’s Torneo Clausura, with San Martín de San Juan claiming a 1-0 win over Independiente and the day’s other two games finishing in draws. Estudiantes drew 1-1 with Newell’s Old Boys in La Plata in a match which showed its lack in quality after Seba Verón was substituted in the second half, and Belgrano and All Boys battled to an unmemorable 0-0 draw in which Matías Giménez, Belgrano’s summer signing from Boca Juniors, made his debut off the bench – he’s been signed to replace Franco Vázquez, now of Palermo. The goals? You can see them here.
Estudiantes 1 – 1 Newell’s Old Boys
San Martín 1 – 0 Independiente
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 
Belgrano should have won. Cambiasso had to make some good saves, and there was one lovely move that put Spicy Pereyra clear, I was stunned when he put it wide. All Boys looked really poor, I think they will go down. I’m not sure they’ve ever recovered from when Godoy Cruz took them apart a few months ago.
I heard in the late night match commentary that Roberval will be back for San Martín in 2 weeks. I’ve only seen bits, but he looks an exciting flair player, he might liven them up a bit, because their match was pretty dull too. I like Penco though, he works hard, hassles defenders and I kind of wish he was an option for Racing now Luguercio’s gone. How come these strikers often turn into good players when they leave Racing?
Heard the last HOP, and AD(Australian Dan) picked against Tigre and they got the draw. They were the better side. So continue picking up against Tigre chamigos! The opposite continues to happen. Chau.
Hey Joaquin, I just got home from that game! Aussie Dan was there too. It was a good match but we were really underwhelmed by Racing. Everyone seemed to think they were going to improve under Basile, but it looked very much like watching a less organised version of Simeone’s side (except that Gio didn’t do quite as much tracking back).
I’ll say that Racing, on the form they showed on Sunday, won’t be challenging for the title. Tigre were very good, organised, and it looked like the summer break has reinforced to the team how important this next ‘semester’ is going to be for the club. It’s still going to be almost impossible for them to stay up, but if they keep playing that they can at least give themselves a chance.
Good luck!
It was a really good game to watch, upset with Carrasco missing an open net. I thought Róman played well, Chino was okay, Echeverría stood out as did Orban. Had we had Traca the previous season, we may of won it all, the last few games is what was a true disaster fall. Have to hope CASLA continue to free fall. With the spirit of Matador all I can hope for the best.
I believe you are a River supporter, no? Good job beating Los Funebreros today, always a pleasure seeing them lose. And what a wonderful goal by Ocampos, a star in the near future!
Continue the good work on HOP.