Routing Colón Gives Newell's Hope

After two straight 2-0 loses, away to Boca Jrs and at home against Belgrano, Newell's Old Boys needed a confidence builder. Heading into Sante Fe to face Colón was not a recipe for such, but sometimes things work out far better than expected. The home of Colón is nicknamed "El Cementerio de los Elefantes", the Elephant's Graveyard. Visiting teams going there hoping for three points fail far more often they succeed.

I was not able to watch the match, as it was played on Friday while I was at work, and ended about the time I was leaving. Driving home I had a brief feeling that the game ended 3-0... which I put aside quickly, as holding such as a truth would surely mean that Colón had won. Instead I began singing in my head: "Yo no soy un Elefante, soy un leproso es verdad..." which is all I remember of a four line song I wrote when Newell's were last fighting for the title, and were heading into Sante Fe needing a win.

Imagine my surprise when I got home and checked on the score. Colón 0 Newell's Old Boys 3. HOLY SHIT! I could not help but make the exclamation out loud. I was hoping for a point, dreaming of three, but never imagined that La Lepra could roll over Colón in Sante Fe, not this current team anyway. But it had happened.

Pablo Perez scored the first goal off a corner in first half injury time. The cross from the left was poor, but so was the attempted heading clearance, which Perez fought for and won with the kind of individual effort we have seen far too little of over the past year and a half. 1-0. As he celebrated Perez pointed into the stands, at the hincha who had traveled to support a team that had let them down in the previous two games.

I can only imagine that Colón completely fell apart in the second half. Iván Moreno y Fabianesi received a straight red card in the 69th minute put the home side down to 10 men. Gerardo Alcoba was sent off in the 82nd, and Colón where then out numbered 11 to 9.

Martín Tonso who had come on for Leandro Torres, scored Newell's second goal. In the 87th minute Lucas Bernardi turned playmaker, feeding a perfect return pass to the young attacking midfielder that left only goalkeeper Diego Pozo to beat. 2-0. It was a thing of beauty, but the best was yet to come.

Maximiliano Urruti had scored two goals in Newell's first two matches, and against Colón he scored the final goal of the match with what may just be the goal of the tournament. Five minutes into injury time he was feed a pass by Raúl Villalba. Again, goalkeeper Pozo was the only one left to beat. As he came out to cutoff the angles Urruti chipped the ball calmly over Pozo. One bounce, and it was in the net. 3-0.

Sure, the final two goals came after Newell's had a two man advantage, but it still feels good to get vital points on the road.

(Perhaps Roberto Sensini is not such a bad coach for Newell's after all... so long as he is running the opposing team - he took over Colón during the summer break.)

Up next Atletico Rafaela come to Rosario, match is scheduled for Sunday the 18th.

Only One Point At Home (But signs of a brighter future)

Sensini puckers up

When you go up 2-0 with in the first 25 minutes at home you should be able to breeze to an easy victory. Not so tonight, as Newell's Old Boys had to settle for a single point in a 3-3 draw against a struggling Huracán. In defense of the result Los Quemeros played well for a team that now has only three points from four matches. Newell's can not claim to be doing any better, really, having only earned four points, but some how I hope that coach Roberto Sensini is not happy kissing his sister (if you do not know there is an old saying that settling for a draw is like kissing your sister.)

Bieler

The first two goals in came in unexpected ways. The first, scored by Claudio Bieler, was set up by a nice cross from the right by Diego Mateo, who for all his value for the team defensively is not exactly the man you would think would be setting up a goal. I have always thought Mateo had it in him, his passing ability is very good, but he seldom ventures forward enough to be an offensive force. Bieler, on the other hand, is living up to expectations so far, with two goals in four games, but I have noticed that he has been coming back for the ball too much to really consider him a true 9. Still, as long as he scores, there is nothing to complain about.

Nacho

 

The second goal was scored by defender Nacho Fideleff. His scoring is not so surprising, he has demonstrated on numerous occasions that he his a goal scoring threat with a powerful header and a strong shot, but this time he barely managed to get his head to the ball, if fact it did more than merely grazed off his curly blonde locks on it's way into the net, deflecting just enough to evade goalkeeper Gaston Monzon. Nacho also showed signs in this match that he has improved his passing game, which could well turn him into a very valuable player in the near future.

Peratta

After that, La Lepra seemed to take their foot off the gas a bit, and Huracán made them pay for it. Cristian Maidana brought them with in a goal with a picture perfect free kick from a tight angle. Then, the unimaginable, Diego Mateo made a rare defensive mistake and his attempt to head the ball ended up in the back of the net. At this point keeper Sebastián Peratta sat up against the post with a look of shear disbelief, but the madness was not over. Carlos Quintana put the visitors ahead a few minutes before referee Juan Pompei blew the half time whistle.

Sperdutti

The second half saw Newell's play well through out. Mauricio Sperdutti scored the only goal of the second half to draw the score level, and had they made more of a few other chances Newell's could well have walked away with a victory. In the end, if La Lepra could put together a full 90 minutes playing like they did in the first 25 minutes, or even as they did during the entire second half, and they will give any team in the league a tough time. As long as they continue to have lapses of concentration like the last 20 minutes of the first half we could still be looking at a long and painful Clausura.

I also want to mention a couple of signs that the future may well be bright, as young Martín Tonso started in the midfield playmaker role and did well enough. He did make a few mistakes, but nothing that should not be expected from a young player. Then there was the debut of Nestor Camacho, who showed that, yes, yes, he is a capable playmaker, but still is new enough to the team that the communication with is team mates is not quite there.

Another debuting player was Lorenzo Faravelli, who came on late in the match for Tonso. He too looked good, though ten minutes of play is hardly enough time to judge a player.


(Have not found any video highlights... I will add them asap, if and when I find.)

Martín Tonso To Start... So Why Not Cobelli?

With Newell's Old Boys set to host Huracán on Saturday coach Roberto Sensini has announced the following probable line up for La Lepra:

Sebastián Peratta
Fabricio Fuentes, Rolando Schiavi, Ignacio Fideleff or Cristian Lema
Luciano Vella, Diego Mateo, Lucas Bernardi y Marcelo Estigarribia
Martín Tonso
Mauricio Sperdutti, Claudio Bieler

Martín Tonso is nearly straight out of the youth squad. It will be interesting to see how well he does, and I will laugh myself silly if he proves that the signing of Néstor Camacho was not really necessary.

Meanwhile, I wonder why young Juan Manuel Cobelli is not being given the chance to start. Do not get me wrong, Bieler deserves his place on the field, as does Sperdutti, but certainly Sperdutti could be moved back to right midfield. If anything, playing up front has proven that El Gordo is more productive out wide, and with two goals in three appearances as a substitute Cobelli has shown that he can be dangerous.

But time will tell, and this line up is still only probably, not set in stone.