Written by Darren Paul

It was a draw-laden Fecha in the Liga Profesional del Futbol, with no fewer than seven fixtures ending without a winner. 

Godoy Cruz overcame an early José Sand penalty to take all three points in their clash at home to Lanús on Sunday afternoon. Lanús were awarded their penalty after five minutes as the ball struck the hand of Pier Barrios and Sand cooly slotted it past Diego Rodríguez. Salomón Rodríguez tied the contest after 18 minutes, deftly diverting Martín Ojeda’s volleyed cross in from close range. Godoy had their chances to take the lead either side of halftime, but tame finishing and astute goalkeeping from Fernando Monetti kept them at bay until the 62nd minute. Martín Ojeda, already by Monetti direct from a corner, had a moment of magic to break the deadlock. A ball was cleared into the midfield and headed to Ojeda on the edge of the area. With his back to the goal, Ojeda swivelled and produced the cleanest volley to beat Monetti to his left. Ojeda’s moment of genius was enough to clinch the win and send Godoy Cruz to the top of the table. 

Newell’s Old Boys hosted Racing Club on Saturday night looking to bounce back after a draw to Platense last weekend. Racing was the more adventurous of the two sides, but the two teams largely cancelled out one another in a game that will live short in the memory of both sets of supporters. New Racing signing Johan Carbonero had arguably the chance of the game, the ball fell kindly to him in the area, late in the contest, but a well-struck shot was straight at Franco Herrera and the young stopper made a good save to preserve the draw. 

Atlético Tucumán remains in third after round 8, thanks to a dominant one-nothing victory away to Aldosivi. Ramiro Ruiz Rodriguez scored the game’s only goal in the 14th minute after a run down the left wing, including a seal dribble, before slotting cooly to José Devecchi’s far post having easily beaten Aldosivi’s defenders. Tucuman thought they’d doubled their lead in their second half, but Ciro Rius’s effort was ruled out by VAR as the ball struck a Tucuman arm in the buildup. Tucuman should have added to their lead, but a mixture of terrible finishing and some sound goalkeeping kept them at bay, whilst Aldosivi looked very toothless in attack. 

River Plate finds themselves in 16th position after round 8, sharing the spoils in the 2-2 draw away to Vélez Sarsfield. River made the perfect start, Lucas Beltrán converting cooly at the back post a cross by Santiago Simon after just six minutes of play. Ex-Boca star Walter Bou levelled things up after 20 minutes, calmly placing the penalty he won having been brought down by Franco Armani. River would once again gain the lead at the half-hour mark, Nicolás De La Cruz finishing with a low volley from outside the area from Santiago Simon’s cushioned header back to him. Both sides made good chances for themselves before the break, with De La Cruz once again impressing, but being denied by solid defending from Vélez. River looked to have held on to the win until their defending broke down after a late corner. Having failed to make a clearance or a meaningful challenge Abiel Osorio was at the back of a queue of Velez players to break River’s hearts and clinch the draw in the 93rd minute. 

Boca Juniors picked up a win in round 8 of the season, despite only two chances hitting the target out of 18 shots taken at home to Talleres de Córdoba. Boca had a chance to take the lead from the spot early in the contest, a mindless handball in the area from Rafael Pérez was smashed off the crossbar by Darío Benedetto. In a game Boca controlled without looking like scoring, they were bailed out by a second foul from Perez sending Boca to the penalty spot. Perez would receive a second yellow as VAR adjudged him to have stepped on Benedetto’s foot in attempting to challenge the attacker on the edge of the area. Captain Marcos Rojo stepped up and the ex-Manchester United man made no mistake, sending Guido Herrera the wrong way with a left-footed finish. Boca sits in 11th place with 12 points from their first eight games.