Golazo October Awards – Manager, Player and Goal of the Month

October witnessed two of Argentina’s biggest matches: the Superclásico and the Clásico Rosarino, La Selección had a clásico of their own when they met Brazil in China and since then Gerardo Martino has recalled a certain Mr Tevez back to the squad. As we prepare to enter the final straight in the Primera división, River Plate are still being chased all the way by Lanús and Independiente and as always we look back on all of the stories as well as select a Manager, Player and Goal of the Month….

The opening weekend of October was dominated, of course by the Superclásico and although torrential rain threatened the fixture, and in all fairness probably should have seen it postponed, an encapsulating game of football took place. Boca Juniors managed to slow the seemingly unstoppable River juggernaut and in a rain soaked Monumental fight out a deserved draw.

Later in the month, the city of Rosario ground to a halt for their own Superclásico and for the third time in a row, it was Central who earned the local bragging rights. A 2-0 win over Newell’s was actually Central’s only league win in October but frankly with no hopes of winning the title and no relegation to worry about, winning the Clásico Rosarino is all that matters. Unfortunately crowd trouble marred the fixture as two fans were killed in the aftermath.

The Copa Sudamericana has progressed to the Quarter Final stage and the prospect of a Superclásico Semi Final is still on. River have found qualification fairly straight-forward while Boca Juniors have been made to work much harder for their place in the competition. A penalty win over Paraguayan minnows, Capiatá was needed and now they hold a one-goal lead at the half way mark of their tie with Cerro Porteño.

The Copa Argentina also nears it’s end and somewhat of a surprise is guaranteed given the Semi Final line-up. River Plate tasted defeat for the only time under Marcelo Gallardo to go out against Rosario Central on penalties and they will face Juan Román Riquelme’s Argentinos Juniors. In the other Semi, Atlético Rafaela play Huracán, with one of the these sides going to represent Argentina in the Copa Libertadores next year.

Perhaps this cup run, and his legendary status at the club, were the only things protecting Claudio Borghi at Argentinos Juniors but last week after another defeat in the Nacional B the end finally came and Los Bichos quickly accepted his resignation and replaced him with Néstor Gorosito. His one game in charge was a resounding 4-0 win and so hopefully Argentinos will be able to turn around their alarmingly poor start to life in the second tier.

Also in the Nacional B, Ferro Carril Oeste celebrated the club’s bankruptcy being lifted after 12 years.

On the international scene, Argentina travelled to China for Gerardo Martino’s real introduction given that this was the first squad that he picked. The squad itself provided no real surprises but Lionel Messi’s penalty miss and the subsequent defeat to Brazil in Beijing was a wake-up call after the victory in the previous month over Germany. La Albiceleste bounced back with a thrashing of Hong Kong but the real talking point was still to come.

Last week, Tata Martino named his second squad for the November friendlies against Croatia and Portugal and there was a return for Juventus striker, Carlos Tevez. After more than three years out, the favourite of the Argentine public is back in contention. Hopefully this time, Tevez can reproduce somewhere near his club form in the colours of Argentina.

Two former Argentina legends were also in the news this month as Gabriel Batistuta was tearfully inducted into the Fiorentina hall of fame and Juan Sebastián Verón was elected President of Estudiantes. The hugely popular club icon swept to victory and is already being lined up as a future AFA President.

MANAGER OF THE MONTH

There are a couple of notable mentions here given that Guillermo Barros Schelotto’s Lanús and Jorge Almirón’s Independiente manage to keep pace with our league leaders, and there was also an impressive start to Fabián Alegre’s tenure at Tigre. However, it is difficult to look beyond the job that Marcelo Gallardo is doing at River Plate. They may not be producing quite the level of football they were at the start of the season but what Gallardo has instilled in this side is a never-say-die attitude that has made them so difficult to beat. So difficult in fact that River are currently 29 matches without defeat, a record in the professional era of the club and only two behind the all-time record from 1922. One would not bet against this, and with realistic goals of winning both the Torneo Transición and the Copa Sudamericana, Gallardo stands on the cusp of history.

PLAYER OF THE MONTH

River have kept up their astonishing run and Federico Mancuello is still leading Independiente in their surprising title challenge but it is Lanús who appear to provide the biggest challenge to Marcelo Gallardo. Central to their success is striker, Silvio Romero who scored twice this month but whose contribution cannot be measured only in goals. The pacy striker is just as often provider and in October his goals against Rosario Central and Godoy Cruz and his match winning assist against San Lorenzo directly earned his side the points that have enabled them to match River for every step this month.

GOAL OF THE MONTH

The Primera División provided a couple of thumping long range golazos this month, notably from Atlético Rafaela’s German Rodríguez Rojas against Banfield and Godoy Cruz’s Diego Rodríguez against Tigre but perhaps Leandro Fernández’s inch perfect lob against Newell’s was the pick of the bunch.

The Copa Sudamericana offered up a couple of special strikes of it’s own. The first from Estudiantes young midfielder, Joaquín Correa.

And then there was this stunning solo effort from Lanús defender, Diego Braghieri who dashed from half way through the heart of Cerro Porteño’s midfield and defence to slot in what turned out to be nothing more than a memorable consolation.