The second round of the 2013 Torneo Final was played between Wednesday and Friday, since this Sunday Argentina’s primary elections take place, and no-one’s allowed to have fun in this country on election weekend (seriously; bars aren’t even allowed to serve alcohol after 10pm the night before election day, when normally they’d stay open until 4 or 5am). Boca Juniors debuted – their first round match against Newell’s Old Boys will be played on Tuesday – with a 2-1 away win over Belgrano, whilst River Plate, who lost 1-0 away to Gimnasia La Plata in the opening round, beat Rosario Central by the same score on Friday night. San Lorenzo are the only side (until Newell’s get started, at least) to have won both of their opening matches, brushing Racing aside 3-0 in the first clásico of the season. Also on Wednesday, the first Copa Argentina quarter-final was played, with Estudiantes de Buenos Aires putting Talleres de Córdoba out 1-0. You can see all the second round goals here, and if the league table interests you at all at this early stage of proceedings, it’s on the Tables page.
2013 Copa Argentina quarter-final
Talleres 0-1 Estudiantes de Buenos Aires
The presence of these two sides in the quarter-final meant a lower division side would definitely be in the semis, and Estudiantes of the Primera B (third tier) got the spot thanks to Alejandro Delorte’s header with about ten minutes left of the first half. Talleres, who won promotion back to the Nacional B (second division) last season, are out. Estudiantes will play either San Lorenzo (Primera) or Gimnasia y Esgrima de Entre Ríos (Torneo Argentino A, or the third tier)
Torneo Inicial 2013
Argentinos 2-0 Colón
Argentinos got their first win against a really poor Colón side who just never got going. Julio Barraza and Hernán Boyero scored the goals in La Paternal.
Belgrano 1-2 Boca Juniors
Belgrano took the lead Sebastián Carrera very early on, but Boca equalised minutes later with a Juan Román Riquelme penalty. There then followed a lot of controversy; before half time, Belgrano had two penalty shouts, neither of which were given, and saw two goals ruled out by tight offside calls, one of which was just plain wrong. Late in the second half, with Emanuel Gigliotti having been sent on to make his first appearance for Boca, it was another debutant – centre back Daniel Díaz – who headed in the winning goal from a corner.
And here’s a video of those polémicas (minus the first of the two penalty shouts, for some reason, a hand ball which the offending player admitted post-match probably should have been given) which all took place with the score at 1-1.
Estudiantes 1-0 All Boys
The only goal of the game was a long-range strike from Gastón Gil Romero which somehow squirmed through albo goalkeeper Nicolás Cambiasso’s grasp.
Atlético de Rafaela 2-1 Lanús
Rafaela shocked Lanús, who were one of the most impressive sides in the first round of matches. Santiago Silva scored for the third time in his first two matches for the visitors, but Diego Vera’s second of the season meant Rafaela were back on level terms within literally seconds (to give you an idea, the editor of this video hasn’t cut at all between the first two goals – that’s exactly how they appeared on TV), and they went on to find a winner through Rodrigo Depetris.
Quilmes 1-0 Godoy Cruz
A beautiful free kick from Miguel Caneo decided this relegation clash with just over quarter of an hour remaining.
Vélez Sarsfield 0-0 Arsenal
You don’t want to see any highlights of this, trust me. Thanks to stuff actually happening in the final ten minutes of River v Central (see below), this was by far the dullest match of the round.
Olimpo 0-0 Tigre
Or was it? Because this one was pretty pants, as well.
Racing 0-3 San Lorenzo
The season’s first clásico was played behind closed doors – Racing and their fans celebrated Independiente’s relegation last season so hard that the AFA gave them a two match stadium closure as punishment. San Lorenzo won with plenty to spare, the goals coming from Martín Cauteruccio, Mauro Cetto and Héctor Villalba.
River Plate 1-0 Rosario Central
River were poor and Central very good on Sunday, but this was a really even match in which neither side managed to take any kind of control. It was heading towards a frustrating and deeply dull 0-0 until, late on, debutant Jonathan Fabbro swung in a corner which youngster Giovanni Simeone (son of Diego) nodded down for his fellow young strike partner Federico Andrada – the highest scorer in the history of River Plate youth sides – to nod in his first goal for the first team, and settle the game. Not feeling he’d done enough to contribute to the drama, Fabbro subsequently kicked an opponent in the face (not deliberately, but still deeply stupidly) and got himself sent off.
Fabbro’s red card:
Hasta El Gol Siempre 