Sunday, May 31, 2009

The Curse Of The Expected Win

OK, I've been putting off writing about Friday night's match against Arsenal de Sarandí. Going into the game, there was no reason to expect anything less than a win. Arsenal had not been playing well during the Clausura, and went into the game at the bottom of the table, tied with Argentinos Jrs with only 13 points. Newell's were coming off a big win against San Lorenzo away, this game was at home, and both Formica and Bernardello were returning to the lineup for La Lepra.

Rather than win, of course, what we got was another lesson in frustration, plenty of near misses, and Arsenal taking the lead in 12th minute when Sergio Sena blocked a clearance attempt by Insaurralde, aided by Peratta coming off his line when he didn't have a chance of beating Sena to the ball.

Fortunately, Formica hit a piece of magic during the 16th and tied the game, salvaging a point.

From what I understand, there is still some chance of Newell's qualifying for the Sudamericana 2009, though other results from this weekend could put an end to those hopes... I can't be sure. I really should have set that link to the Copa qualification tables someone posted to a forum into my browser favorites. If anyone has a link to such, please feel free to share.

I was really hoping to have a combine post for two victories. Newell's draw with Arsenal has completely eradicated the afterglow of Barcelona winning the Champion's League final over Manchester United. Still, it's worth mentioning, as Barca became the first Spainish team to win a Treble, and Messi scored his first goal ever against a team from England.

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