Rosario Central, despite losing for the first time last weekend, had the chance to move within two points of the top of the league on Sunday when Independiente visited the Gigante de Arroyito. With El Rojo suffering a pretty dreadful first half of the season, still without a manager since Jorge Almirón’s sacking and missing influential midfielder Federico Mancuello and Jesús Méndez, the hosts would have fancied their chances before kickoff.
Virtually from the first minute it was Eduardo Coudet’s surprise title contenders who were the better side and they went close on a number of occasions before Independiente took a surprise lead with their first shot on goal. Emanuel Aguilera, in central midfield due to those players missing, curled a superb free-kick past Mauricio Caranta to give El Rojo the lead against the run of play. The second half followed the same pattern and eventually Central found a way through. Marco Ruben got to the by-line and his low cross was superbly flicked into the net by substitute Franco Niell for the equaliser. The home side continued to push for what would have been a deserved winner but it was Independiente that came closest to snatching all three points when Martín Benítez crashed a long range effort against the cross bar in injury time. Given the level of dominance it will be Independiente the happier of the two teams with the result but the half-season break will be welcomed in Avellaneda after this run of only one win in ten matches.
Sunday’s action had begun very early after the match scheduled for Saturday in Misones between Crucero del Norte and San Martín had been put back until 11am today. Thankfully so few people watch Crucero that no one would grumble at the early start and even fewer after the home side notched a third win of the season. Those latecomers may have missed the opening goal as Gabriel Ávalos smashed Crucero in front after only 15 seconds and shortly before half time Ernesto Álvarez tapped in a second. Not long after the break Marcos Figueroa pulled a goal back for San Martín but a wonderful long range striker from Nicolás Olmedo made sure of the win.
At the bottom Atlético Rafaela picked up only their second win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Nueva Chicago, the only side still without a win. The ludicrously haired Adrián Bastía smashed in a golazo to give La Crema and Federico González added a second from the penalty spot with a little over fifteen minutes remaining to wrap up an important three points. Barring a miraculous turnaround in the second half of the season, Chicago look destined to return to the Nacional B.
golazo argentino 