Argentine Clausura: Five Points From Fecha 1

Steve Bruce is one of the most respected of the current crop of managers in England. As well as demonstrating his tactical understanding on the pitch he has proved a shrewd operator in the transfer market. Bruce respects the role of scouts and he has left a lasting legacy at Birmingham City and Wigan Athletic. It was no surprise then that in the aftermath of Salvador Cabanas’ shooting it emerged that both Birmingham City and Bruce’s current club Sunderland were both tracking the Paraguayan striker. Scouts hired by Bruce during his time with The Blues have also brought Mauro Boselli to the attention of Alex McLeish. Having already broken the club’s transfer record by signing Christian Benitez, McLeish wants to shell out even more cash to secure the services of Estudiantes striker Mauro Boselli. The Argentine did his chances of a deadline day switch to England no harm by bagging a brace against Arsenal in the first weekend of the new Clausura campaign. Boselli was top scorer in last year’s Copa Libertadores and also found the net against Barcelona in the FIFA Club World Cup. At 24-years-old Boselli is ripe for another crack at Europe and McLeish’s scouts have presented him with a real gem. 

Racing Club lay down a marker

After enduring a year to forget in 2009 fans of Racing Club had plenty to cheer on the opening weekend of competitive football in 2010. To be fair La Academia did managed to buck their ideas up a little towards the end of last year, this all coincided with the arrival of Claudio Vivas as head coach. Goals from Pablo Luguercio, Matias Martinez and former LDU Quito hitman Claudio Bieler secured the 3-0 win over Rosario Central at the weekend. Vivas has been allowed the freedom to bring in his own players over Christmas and the latest arrival at the El Cilindro is hyper-experienced defender Roberto Ayala. Also incoming over the Southern Hemisphere’s summer is promising Argentine international Gabriel Hauche. With the squad significantly bolstered and the Clausura season more of a sprint than a marathon Racing fans are rightly optimistic that they can focus their attention on the top half of the league table for a change.

Boca Juniors unstable on and off the pitch

Despite an almost predictable moment of magic from Juan Roman Riquelme, his Boca Juniors team were twice pegged back in their Clausura opener away at Argentinos Juniors. Boca’s president Jorge Amor Ameal has been thinking on his feet during a traumatic couple of weeks for his club. Against the backdrop of two pre-season Superclascio defeats the club first lost their head coach Alfio Basile and then their general manager Carlos Bianchi. Abel Alves was hastily promoted to head coach and in his first competitive outing was guilty of naivety which cost Boca two points. When leading 1-0 Alves took off Boca’s brightest spark Nicolas Gaitan and shortly after the substitution Argentinos equalised. When Boca regained the lead through a wonder strike from Riquelme the head coach quickly withdrew the goalscorer. Again shortly after the switch Argentinos equalised once again. It may well have been the case that Gaitan and Riquelme required a rest but what let Argentinos back in was that with each substitution Boca changed their shape and the players were temporarily confused on both occasions. If Alves is to finish the Clausura as head coach of Boca he will have to learn quickly from these kind of mistakes.

River Plate’s young guns not firing

It was clearly a brave move for River Plate to start their Clausura opener with two strikers whose combined age is the same as Ariel Ortega’s 35 years. Such is the expectation however surrounding 17-year-old Daniel Villalba and 18-year-old Rogelio Funes Mori that the duo were thrown in at the deep end against defending champions Banfield at the weekend. The gamble did not pay off though and both were eventually replaced in the second half. River’s president Daniel Passarella has been doing his best to try and deflect some of the focus away from the striking pair. Of course the club chief will hope that one day he will be able to cash in on both youngster. “We must bring them on little by little and not load them with responsibility. We will make sure they are surrounded by experience,” Passarella said.

Tigre still down in the dumps

After finishing the 2009 Apertura anchored to the bottom of the league table Tigre have kicked off the Clausura season looking just as hapless as they did last year. In the Apertura Tigre only managed to wrack up eight points out of a possible 57. Along the way they picked up two wins, two draws and fell to a miserable 15 defeats. They also finished the Apertura with a goal difference of -24. A 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Chacarita Juniors will do little to inspire Tigre fans into thinking things will be any different for them this time out.

Argentine Clausura Fecha 1 results

Godoy Cruz 1 - 0 Gimnasia La Plata

Estudiantes 3 - 0 Arsenal

Tigre 0 - 2 Chacarita Juniors

Vélez Sarsfield 1 - 1 Colón

Racing Club 3 - 0 Rosario Central

Atlético Tucumán 0 - 1 San Lorenzo

River Plate 0 - 1 Banfield

Newells Old Boys 0 - 0 Independiente

Lanús 3 - 2 Huracán

Argentinos Juniors 2 - 2 Boca Juniors