Not So Fast My Friend

Just when you think that things are going your way, bang, the day turns to crap. At least for Boca Juniors, they have a chance to make things right next week with draw at home. The smellier diaper belongs to Estudiantes de La Plata who let a victory, and a one-point deficit, slip out of their hands.

Watching Boca's game yesterday, I felt that the team was a little tight, playing in a apprehensive manner knowing that a draw would have giving them the championship. While, overall, they were the better team, Belgrano de Cordoba did enough to warrant the victory. They not only fought Boca tooth and nail in the midfield, they battled against a referee that seemed a bit predisposed to giving Boca a helping hand. Ricardo La Volpe's team was not shown one yellow card while Belgrano had four players booked (if you saw the game, you'd know that this shouldn't have been the case). For every call that could have gone either way, ref Juan Pompei gave the benefit of the doubt to Boca. Please, aren't Boca good enough without the help of officials?

Yesterday's missed opportunities leave Boca three up on Estudiantes with one match left to play. Lanus travel to the Bombonera on Sunday while Diego Simeone's side play host to Arsenal de Sarandi. Both matches kickoff at the same time, 4:10pm ET. [The Guardian]

In other Argentina news:

• The Clasico de Avellaneda has been awarded to Independiente. The derby had been suspended on November 12th after crowd violence in the 64th minute brought a premature end to the match. The FA's Discipline Tribunal bequeathed the three points to Jorge Burruchaga's team, taking them up to joint fifth in the table with Velez Sarsfield. [Perfil]
• Argies fill the scoresheet for Inter. [Channel 4]
• Atletico move into forth: Luciano Galletti takes care of business in the first half, Leo Franco in the second. [Sportinglife.com]
• Juan Pablo Sorin is out for at least a month. [UEFA official site]
• Roberto Abbondanzieri is happy at Getafe and isn't planning on going anywhere. Concerning a possible move in January: "I don't think there will be many offers. I'm going through a good run of form, but I'm conscious of my age [34]. It's very hard to get a contract if you're a goalkeeper at my age. I'm very happy here at Getafe. I've found a good place, I've settle well, and that makes me very happy. Moving hasn't even crossed my mind." [Ole]

-ac