Argentine Primera, Week 4 Review: Boca Wins, Santa Fe Derby Is Insane

Altercations between fans and managers were probably the biggest stories during Week 4 of the Argentine Primera’s 2012 Clausura, but there was a bit of decent football played too. Lanus continued their slump by losing to now joint top Tigre, while Boca Juniors and Estudiantes La Plata both recorded big wins.

The week got off to a surprising start with Belgrano easily defeating Newell’s Old Boys 2-0. Newell’s have looked like a solid side since Gerardo Martino took over, especially on the defensive end, but their defending was absolutely woeful on Friday. There aren’t really any practical explanations for their performance. It was extremely poor and absolutely out of nowhere.

Estudiantes La Plata kept themselves in the title race with a 1-0 road win over San Martin, but they didn’t exactly do it in impressive fashion. Their lone goal was an absolute gift. Via Anthony Wright on twitter, here is one of the worst own goals you will ever see.

In the absence of the Super Clasico, Argentina’s defining rivalry, other derby matches had to step up. Union and Colon brought their Derby A-Game on Sunday and provided everything that a great rivalry is supposed to. The two managers, Colon’s Roberto Sensini and Union’s Frank Kudelka, were sent off before the match even began. Once the match began, 14 yellow cards and were handed were handed out. Ivan Moreno y Fabianesi scored twice in the first half for Colon, but Union fought back in spectacular fashion, scoring twice in the second half to snatch a massive point in the relegation race and deny their fierce rivals a victory in a 2-2 draw.

The Argentine Primera’s coefficient system is the best. Tigre currently sit in 19th place, in one of the automatic relegation places. Even if they finish on enough points to narrowly take the 2012 Clausura title, it’s likely that they will still finish in 17th or 18th place, which would send them to a relegation playoff. They held on to beat Lanus 1-0 at home in a trainwreck of a game for the visitors. Tigre drew a penalty just two minutes in and converted, then held onto their lead for the rest of the match. In his frustration, the legendary Mauro Camoranesi got himself sent off late in the match. Tigre went top with the win, but only joint top.

Know that rule about how a player isn’t supposed to play for more than two clubs in a year. AFA says, to hell with the rules! For no apparent reason, they approved Santiago Silva to play for Boca Juniors starting this week, even though he’s already played for Velez Sarsfield and Fiorentina this season. He went 90 minutes in his debut as Boca won 2-0 to go joint top with Tigre. They’ll be super duper thrilled about AFA’s decision, as fellow striker Dario Cvitanich went off injured in this game.

Boca fans haven’t been thrilled with the style of football played under Julio Falcioni, but it’s working. They haven’t conceded a goal this season. As a fun bonus in this game, three players were sent off for an altercation in the final minute and the police briefly had to halt the match because fans were ripping up seats and throwing them at each other.

Scores

Newell’s 0-2 Belgrano
Banfield 1-1 Godoy Cruz
All Boys 0-0 Velez Sarsfield
Independiente 1-3 Argentinos Juniors
San Martin 0-1 Estudiantes
Tigre 1-0 Lanus
San Lorenzo 0-2 Boca Juniors
Arsenal di Sarandi 0-0 Racing
Union 2-2 Colon

Still to come

Olimpo vs. Atletico Rafaela - Monday, 7:00 p.m. ET