It Is Late And So Am I

I have not posted anything in some time... in fact not since the Clausura. Part of the news, which I am sure everyone that cares to know already does, is that the there will no longer be two champions in Argentina, the Apertura and Clausura have been replaced by the Torneo Inicial from the Torneo Final. The leaders from both Torneos will then face off to determine a sole champion for the season... unless, of course, the same team wins both. Not really sure how I feel about that, but I am sure I can get used to it.

Now, we are three games into the Inicial, and Newell's Old Boys are doing quite well. The first match did was not exactly what we wanted to see... a 0-0 home draw with Independiente. The second match was an improvement as Lanús were defeated 1-0 on the road, the goal being scored by Mauricio Sperduti. Sadly, our returning hero Maxi Rodriguez was injured in this match.

The third match, played yesterday at home against San Martín de San Juan, had positive and negative aspects to it. Maxi was missing due to his injury (knee sprain... maybe ready for the following match.) In the 13th minute of the first half Marcos Cáceres scored his first goal for Newell's from a neat little cross from Lucas Bernardi... yes, Bernardi is again showing that he can create chances as well as preventing them.

Seven minutes there after defender Marcos Cáceres received a red card... I was driving home from work, so have not a clue as what happened. In fact I only saw the final ten minutes of the first half, so I also missed Gerardo Martino receiving a red card in the 35th minute and had to leave the bench. Anyone who reads this and can either explain what happened, or has links to videos of the two incidents please let me know! Gabriel Heinze, back at Newell's after only playing 8 matches with the club at the beginning of his career, entered the game in place of Víctor Figueroa to shore up the back line in between the two red cards.

The second half had me biting my finger nails. A one goal lead, down a man, the coach sent off... sure, San Martín is far from the best club in the league, but we also seemed to be facing a referee who was against us. Enter another returning Lepra, Ignacio Scocco. Scocco was part of the last Newell's team to win a championship (Apertura 2004). He showed he knows how to put an exclamation point on a win with Newell's second goal of the match in the 72nd minute when he unleashed a blast from outside the penalty box on the right hand side deep into the upper left hand corner of the net to settle the match at 2-0.

Up next Newell's travel to Córdoba to face Belgrano.