Argentine Superliga round-up week 3: Boca and River maintain 100% record & off the pitch controversy for Temperley
Patronato continued to pick up important points in a 1-3 win over Tigre. Midfielder Martin Rivero was excellent and popped up with 2 goals. He also completed 97%(!) of his passes. Tigre are yet to pick up a victory and will need to improve if they don’t want to drop into the relegation zone. Tigre will face Belgrano (A), River Plate (H) and Racing Club (A) next. The second and last game of Friday took place in Santa Fe as Colon hosted Estudiantes. The latter had to improve over last week’s 0-1 loss against DyJ but only managed to pick up a point against Colon. A classic stalemate which meant both teams shared the points. German Conti was excellent again in the heart of Colon’s defense. Makes you wonder why he didn’t get a move to Europe!
Defensa Y Justicia started the season brightly but were shocked at home as Union earned a somewhat surprising 1-3 victory. Franco Soldano was superb up front for the visitors, bagging himself two goals. The 23-year old forward has scored 3 goals in 3 games now and could move to a bigger club if he keeps his performances up. Paraguayan striker Epifanio Garcia earned himself a start against Argentinos Jrs. after he scored the winning goal last weekend. The former GuaranĂ man didn’t disappoint as he equalised for Belgrano after Argentinos Jrs. took the lead early on. Belgrano completed their turnaround shortly after halftime  The Cordoba-based club managed to hold and bring all three points back to Cordoba. A bit of a worrying start for Argentinos jrs, who have now lost their first two games.
Newell’s problems off the pitch weren’t visible on the pitch this weekend in Rosario as they got their first win of the season against Olimpo. Newell’s youngster Lucas Leal opened the scoring in the 69th minute and Joaquin Torres secured La Lepra’s victory 6 minutes later. San Lorenzo just edged past Arsenal in a 1-0 win. Talented defender Marco Senesi scored the only goal of the game in the 75th minute. A bit of a relief for El Ciclon who have now also picked up their first three points. The hosts played in a much-rotated side in anticipation of their Copa Libertadores clash with Lanus this week. They won the first fixture 2-0 and will now have to defend their lead away at Lanus.
German Denis turned into a hero for Lanus as he converted a 96th-minute penalty to secure all three points for the visitors. The veteran striker played for Independiente last season but they will be less happy with him this weekend. Two exciting teams with plenty of talented youngsters faced each other in a rather disappointing clash. Talleres and Velez played out a stalemate and both sides ended with 10 men. No Maxi Romero show this weekend, but he’s still the league’s top scorer with 4 goals in 3 games. Chacarita Juniors had a tough trip to Atletico Tucuman but managed to scrape out a draw. Just like last weekend, their game ended in a 1-1 draw. The hosts rotated their starting XI as well as they face Independiente in the Copa Argentina this upcoming week.
Banfield hosted a slightly weakened Racing side on Sunday. The hosts were excellent last season at home and continued that trend this weekend. Banfield only had 37% possession but managed to keep all three points in the Florencio Sola. A cross from Mouche was headed in by who else than Dario Cvitanich. The veteran striker is enjoying a rather productive return to his boyhood club.
Boca Juniors faced Godoy Cruz in the Bombonera and the visitors brutally took the lead in the 12th minute via Lucas Galeano. Boca Juniors proved their strength though, as they turned their 0-1 deficit around in a 4-1 victory. Goals by Pavon, Pablo Perez 2x and Nahitan Nandez. The Uruguayan scored a minute into his Boca debut and is definitely a player to keep your eye on this season. It was River Plate’s task to keep up with Boca and not slip up early on. They faced San Martin away from home but it proved to be a rather comfortable victory for Los Millonarios. Rafael Borré opened his tally for River Plate in the 4th minute but the main man on the pitch was Carlos Auzqui. The former Estudiantes striker scored a goal, assisted another and actually got the ball in his own net as well. A 1-3 victory for River who have picked all possible 9 points so far.
There were still two games to be played on Monday. Huracan had to visit Gimnasia in La Plata and Temperley hosted Rosario Central. Huracan’s main man Wanchope got things going for them as he scored the opening goal and assisted the second to extend Huracan’s lead. Former Melbourne City loanee Nicolas Colazo pulled one back for Gimnasia but it was Huracan who took all three points home. Pussetto scored his second goal of the game late on to secure the victory. 1-3.
Temperley will be fighting against relegation this season but have some issues off the pitch now as well. Temperley defender Alexis Zaraté has been sentenced to 6,5 years in jail for sexual abuse which he committed while he was at Independiente. However, Temperley were able to select him for the match squad as Zaraté appealed against the decision. Strangely, Temperley actually did. After some pressure from both the media and the public, Temperley brought out a statement later on which stated that they weren’t going to play Zaraté against Central. It was a weird decision to put him in the match squad in the first place as you don’t want to be associated with sexual violence as a club, do you? But anyway, onto the football. Zampedri opened the scoring for Central in the first half but somehow Central couldn’t find the net another time. However, Temperley could, as they equalized 10 minutes after the break. No more goals were scored which meant both teams shared a point. Central will be disappointed with this result and have now drawn their first three games.