Friday and Saturday provided five matches in the fifth round of the 2013 Torneo Final, and they’ve all had some interest. Belgrano left it late to beat Vélez Sarsfield’s second third XI, and Unión failed to repeat their performance of last Sunday, held to a 1-1 draw by All Boys. Martín Palermo’s Godoy Cruz continue to impress; they beat Independiente 1-0 away, and there were goals galore from Newell’s Old Boys and Racing; Newell’s fell behind twice but rallied to win 4-2 away to Estudiantes de La Plata, and Racing claimed a 3-0 win over San Martín away in San Juan. All the goals so far this weekend are right here.
Belgrano 1 – 0 Vélez Sarsfield
Due to Copa Libertadores involvement this coming week, Vélez rested a lot of starters, and due to an injury glut among their reserves, the team they put out for this game ended up being almost a third-string side. All the same, they didn’t do badly, and it took Belgrano until the 90th minute to find a winner, from Martín Zapata – who after his heroics against Colón two weeks ago, is starting to turn late winners into something of a habit…
Independiente 0 – 1 Godoy Cruz
Alexis Castro made the difference in Friday evening’s second and final match, scoring the only goal of the game after 57 minutes to give Martín Palermo’s side another win; they currently sit top of the table with eleven points from five games, though Lanús and River Plate can both overtake them should they win their games later in the round.
Unión de Santa Fe 1 – 1 All Boys
An early strike from Iván Borghello reminded Unión that last week’s Boca-downing heroics aren’t going to help them against other opposition, but they responded well and got a deserved equaliser from a controversial situation – the goal’s been officially credited to Guillermo Cosaro, who stabbed home after Albo goalie Nicolás Cambiasso had clawed it back from the line, but the ball appears to have already been over the line when Cambiasso did so, so it should have gone down as an own goal, although I’m afraid I’ve forgotten by whom, and it’s not easy to see on the video here.
Estudiantes de La Plata 2 – 4 Newell’s Old Boys
An incident-packed match which saw Estudiantes have a seemingly legitimate goal disallowed two minutes in, a technically correct but almost never-awarded penalty given to them later, and then saw one of Newell’s coaching team celebrating in the referee’s face when they equalised just before half time. Estudiantes went 1-0 and 2-1 up thanks to goals from Duván Zapata, but Newell’s turned the game on its head through Rinaldo Cruzado, Fabián Múñoz, Víctor Figueroa and an Ignacio Scocco penalty. What a game.
San Martín de San Juan 0 – 3 Racing
Racing’s fans might have been umm-ing and ahh-ing about what result they wanted their team to play for, but the players were far too professional to worry about that, and got a comfortable win which harms San Martín – and therefore helps Racing’s bitter rivals Independiente – in the relegation battle. Bruno Zuculini gave Racing a half time lead, and in the second half goals from Luciano Vietto and the club’s latest new young star Rodrigo De Paul wrapped up the win with a stunning long-range shot.
Hasta El Gol Siempre 