A Result Only Mayor Lifschitz Will Love

The clásico rosarino featured every thing one could ask for in a clásico, except a winner. There was drama as Central took an early 2-0 lead with goals from Gervasio Núñez and Diego Martín Chitzoff that were scored with in a minute or two of each other. At that point I was sweating, worried that we'd not only loss, but lose big. A goal from Joaquín Boghossian soon after Central's 2 turned things around, and Jorge Achucarro put in the equalizer with a nifty back heel. All this with in the first thirty minutes of the first half.

There were also three times when the players on the field gathered in disagreement, but the referee, Diego Abal, handled these well enough, and nothing got too out of hand. In all he handed out a total of 9 cards, 5 to SINAS, and 4 to Leprosos, though while I was watching it seemed like there were more.

I also have to admit that the yellow given to Barrientos could well have been a red. He came flying in, studs up at chin level. He's been doing well playing in the injuried Mateo's place, but today I'd say he was the worst player on the field.
Peratta showed his sense of humor by wearing a pair of sunglasses thrown onto the pitch. I think he looks pretty cool in them, and if the makers of these sunglasses saw this, I hope they consider using him in an advert.

If near misses counted, Newell's would have won, La Lepra had at least three shots that were just wide. Vangioni put had one that was a sliver off the left post, and I can't believe that Formica missed a wide open chance. In the end, I'm relieved Newell's didn't lose, but not happy with the 2-2 draw.



With Banfield having won their game last night against Independiente 2-1, Newell's now trail the leaders by two points. While it's disappointing now, if you would have told me that La Lepra would have 33 points after fifteen games I would have told you that you were crazy.

Here's a look at the two team's final four games:

Newell's Old Boys:
Colón de Santa Fe away.
Arsenal de Sarandí home.
Gimnasia LP away.
San Lorenzo home.

Banfield:
Racing Club home.
Huracán away.
Tigre home.
Boca Juniors away.

Considering that Newell's have to face two teams that are in the top half of the table to Banfield's one, and that three of Banfield's opponents are at or very near the bottom of the table, well, it looks like we may half to settle for second. But we'll see how things work out.

Up next, Colón de Santa Fe. It's sort of a mini clásico between two teams from the province of Santa Fe, two teams in rojo y negro.