Newell's Old Boys Earn Place In 2013 Libertadores

I had the day off, having scheduled my final floating holiday for the year a few months ago. When I saw that Newell's Old Boys were playing today I was all set to sit down and watch the game. For the first half, it was not meant to be. The channels through which I normally watch had Newcastle United playing Wigan in the English Premier League, a rebroadcast Boca Jrs match, and an Argentine highlight show, but no Newell's against At. Rafaela. I asked for a few via a tweet (twitter post, for those who do not know) and soon had a link... but I did not have the proper plug-ins to run the video via the website. Nothing was going my way.

So, I watched the first half of Newcastle and Wigan... on TV, no internet needed, and kept track of the Newell's match via Twitter, and checked out the first goal by way of Ole. Fabián Muñoz scored his first goal of the season in the first minute of the match to give Newell's a 1-0 lead. And that is how the first half ended.

At half time I took a break to take a shower, I'd spent the day doing some cleaning up around the house and really needed one. When I got back to the computer I again checked my usual sources for futbol feeds and found that yes indeed someone was showing the match. I loaded it up and found they were fifteen minutes into the second half, and Muñoz had scored his second goal of the day. Meanwhile, I still had Newcastle and Wigan going on the television. When Newcastle took a 3-0 lead my gut told me that Newell's were going to get a third as well. I put it off as wishful thinking...

And then, in the 84th minute Muño, the man of the match, sent a ball toVíctor Figueroa who launched a looping ball that set Ignacio Scocco with only the goalkeeper to beat. Scocco scored and Newell's ended the day with a win that sends them into the 2013 Copa Libertadores in style.



With only one game left Newell's find themselves in a three way tie for second place along side Lanús and Belgrano with 33 points. There is no longer a chance at a title as Vélez Sarsfield claimed that with a 2-0 win yesterday against a hapless Unión de Santa Fe.

Final match for La Lepra will be next weekend away to Argentinos Jrs.

Super Scocco Nets Two

Had a friend come over an hour before Newell's Old Boys and Arsenal de Sarandí and we spent a few hours watching cheap horror films in honor of Halloween. Needless to say, that meant I did not see La Lepra take a 2-1 victory from the visitors off a stunning brace from Ignacio Scocco to remain in first place. It also gives Newell's super scorer eight goals on the season putting him on top of the individual scorer race.

As I write Vélez Sarsfield have taken over second place from Racing Club as they are playing each other. Vélez are up 1-0 at home with about twenty minutes to go.

Here's to Racing coming up with the tie. That would pad Newell's lead.

Getting back to Newell's, we had a player take a red card. One source I have lists Gabriel Heinze facing a suspension, while another says it was Victor Figueroa. Checked a third source and looks like it was Heinze. May just have been a second yellow, anyone able to fill me in, please do.

Up next Newell's travel to Mendoza to face Godoy Cruz.

Good 1st Half, Poor 2nd... Still A Win

Newell's Old Boys won the first half, then lost the second to Unión de Santa Fe... but when you win your half 3-0, and only lose the other 0-1? In the standings it still counts as a win for La Lepra and the three points earn puts them on top of the table all alone. Granted, Boca Jrs are behind only by a win, and have yet to play their match this weekend. That will take place tomorrow as they host Vélez Sarsfield, who now trail Newell's by five points. (Here is to hoping for a draw.) Newell's goals came from Víctor Figueroa (5'), Santiago Vergini (38'), and Maximiliano Urruti (41'). Former Newell's player Matías Donnet scored the lone goal for Unión (57'). Juan Pablo Avendaño received a red card (87') for the visitors... somehow I did not see it (must have been distracted, as I also was keeping a half eye on a couple of other matches.) Now regular reader will notice that I have missed a few games... well, I have not actually missed them, I just did not get around to writing about them. I could blame my current health problems have been keeping me from writing as much as I would like, but truth is, while that is part of what is keeping me from posting, it is also a matter of having too many interests, not enough time. So has the schedule for the matches from the past few weeks. That said, I really need a nap, but have a bunch of other things I need to get to. Sigh. Hopefully I can get my health back to where it needs to be in order to post more often than I have... Up next are fellow title contenders Tigre (currently four points behind Newell's, but, like Boca, have yet to play this weekend... as they face Colón de Santa Fe in El Cementerio de los Elefantes makes me confident that they will remain four points behind us.