A little later than normal perhaps as I tried to eradicate what was a pretty bad month for Argentine football from my mind. The world media were discussing football here (before the whole FIFA scandal) and for all the wrong reasons. However, aside from those incidents there was also a key month in the Primera season before the midway break and the Copa Libertadores got very interesting. So as always here is a little reminder and the awards for May….

River Plate and Boca Juniors hogged the headlines after their trilogy of superclásicos came to an unfortunate end in La Bombonera. Boca had won the first battle in their league fixture before River stole an advantage from the Copa Libertadores first leg and with the tie delicately balanced the following week, the now famous El Panadero (with accomplices) decided it would be a good idea to cut a way into the players tunnel and spray the River players with some form of home-made pepper spray. The match was eventually abandoned, River awarded the win as Boca were disqualifed and La Bombonera was closed to supporters.

With that bad publicity for the national game still fresh in the mind, there was worse news in Argentina’s lower leagues when Emanuel Ortega died from head injuries playing for San Martín de Burzaco in the Primera C and Cristian Gómez of Atlético Paraná suffered a heart attack on the pitch and died on his way to hospital.

In the Primera, the title race is poised perfectly at the break with the top five separated by just four points but further down the table there were more managerial changes. Following defeat in the clásico de Avellaneda, Independiente decided to release manager Jorge Almirón and Newell’s Old Boys also ran out of patience with Américo Gallego while Arsenal turned to the familiar face of Ricardo ‘Caruso’ Lombardi.

River are now the only Argentine side left in the Copa Libertadores after Racing were eliminated and they will resume after the break with a semi final against Racing’s victors, Guaraní. During this break, we have the small matter of the Copa América and Gerardo Martino named a more or less expected squad to try and end the 22-year trophy drought. Much more about that this month so for now here are the awards for May….

Manager of the Month

Racing may have gone out of the Copa Libertadores but May certainly saw La Academia get themselves right in the mix to defend their Primera title. What was potentially a very tricky set of fixtures was almost perfectly navigated by Diego Cocca and now just two points behind leaders, San Lorenzo you would say Racing have as good a chance as any of the leading pack.
The win of Independiente in the clásico wasn’t pretty but was deserved and that followed a good win over Lanús and a draw away to River. Victories over Aldosivi and Vélez concluded the first half of the season and after a slow start Racing are now looking more like the Transición champions with their success based on the best defence in the league.

Player of the Month

The position of goalkeeper is one that is often overlooked but San Lorenzo’s current lofty position is at least in part indebted to the level of Sebastián Torrico. The 35-year-old was central to Los Cuervos’ Copa Libertadores triumph in 2014 and although their defence of that title was a failure, Edgardo Bauza’s side find themselves back at the top of the league.
With the most clean sheets (8) from any side and the joint best defensive record with Racing, it is easy to see why San Lorenzo have been so effective during the first half of the season.

Goal of the Month

One of the players of the Torneo 2015 so far is Belgrano’s Lucas Zelarayán and against Unión he added another impressive goal to his collection. The 22-year-old picked up the ball virtually on the edge of his own penalty area, carried the ball forward before playing it to his right and continuing his run towards the opposition 18-yard box. A crossfield pass was headed back into the path of Zelarayán and he made no mistake in rifling the volley into the back of the net.