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An exciting match is due to be staged at the Bombonera on last Sunday. One of the Argentine clasicos, Boca – Racing. The bosteros are in search of the top-of-the-league position while Avellaneda’s team, is at the bottom of the league and has just fired the coach Reinaldo Merlo, the last coach to take the white and blue team to the title in 2001, after winning nothing for thirty-five years. And yet Racing is one of Argentina’s great teams; after River, Boca and the hated rivals Independente, it is the team with the most supporters in the Country, and its nickname is Academia, because at the beginning of last century, it won title after title and played really superbly.
Boca and Racing also “contend” the support of the famous former president Juan Domingo Peron. Apparently, Evita’s husband always declared himself to be an Academia supporter, and the Racing stadium, also known as the "Cilindro" (“Cylinder”) is dedicated to him; more recent information maintains he was closer to Boca, although it is correct to say that Peron was never a great lover of sport. Carlos Gardel, the country’s most famous tango performer on the other hand was very definitely an Academia fan.

San Lorenzo continues to outpace them all. While Boca was stopped at home by Racing, the azulgrana went on to beat Nueva Chicago. Both matches were full of pathos: at the Bombonera, Boca was one goal behind, missed a penalty and only just managed to make a comeback in the second half, with a one-two in just five minutes (goal scored by Riquelme and penalty by Palermo). And then, to cap it all, at the ninetieth minute, a penalty scored by Sava evened things out, and during extra time, the Avellaneda squad came close to plundering the Bombonera. San Lorenzo started off strongly with the usual Lavezzi, went into a 3-0 lead and then experienced a nightmarish second half with two goals scored by the visitors and plenty of near misses. Estudiantes played up to their usual sound standards, beating Godoy Cruz by just one goal. River also did well at Rosario against Central: two goals scored by former player Ruben (who did not celebrate). The three goals scored by Cvitanich, the Banfield attacker, humiliated Newell’s. Good away wins by Lanus at La Plata against Gimnasia and by Argentinos Jrs. at Cordoba against Belgrano. Well balanced matches between Independiente and Velez, with Montenegro deciding the day, and between Gimnasia Jujuy and Quilmes (a goal by Ricardo Gomez at the 90th minute). A draw at Santa Fe between Colon and Arsenal.

Table: San Lorenzo 31, Boca Jrs 27, Estudiantes 25, River 23, Argentinos 21.

The Rosario clasico will be played on Sunday. Together with Boca-River, perhaps Argentina’s most closely followed match. This year, Rosario Central – Newell’s Old Boys does not involve the top of the league and for this very reason anticipation is even stronger: an entire season is at stake. The nicknames of the two teams originate from an event that goes back into the mists of time and is extremely interesting in a way. Newell’s organised a friendly match and the proceeds were to have been donated to an institute for lepers. Central initially accepted the invitation, without however showing up. Each of the sides considered themselves to be in the right and squabbling followed. From that day on however, the local Rosario derby is between the “Leprosos” (lepers – Newell’s) and the “Canallas” (the scoundrels – Central). A spectator, on TV only unfortunately, but very keen, will be Lionel Messi, a big supporter of Newell’s Old Boys, or as he said once “leproso hasta la muerte”, a leper until death.

The Argentine championship is always full of excitement. San Lorenzo, the championship leader, was beaten by Velez Sarsfield 2-1 but only Simeone’s Estudiantes took advantage of this false step by beating Nueva Chicago 2-1 away from home. Incredible game between Boca and Argentinos Jrs in the stadium dedicated to Diego Armando Maradona: down by two goals, the “bosteros” managed to make a comeback until they took control of the game which however ended with a very exciting draw: 3-3. The Rosario clasico went to Newell’s thanks to the squad’s Paraguayan “colony”: the attacker Oscar Cardozo scored the winning goal and the goalkeeper Justo Villar saved the penalty kicked by the former Inter and Valencia player Kily Gonzalez. River only managed a home draw against Independiente, other 1-1 draws between Racing and Banfield and between Lanus and Gimnasia Jujuy. Another exciting and spectacular match was that between Arsenal and Belgrano, which ended 4-3. Important wins for Godoy Cruz over Gimnasia La Plata and Quilmes over Colon of Santa Fé.

Classifica

The Brazilian championship, the Brasilerão as it is called, using the common suffix “ão” to indicate its importance, its weightiness – literally this could be translated “Big or Great Brazil” – will start on Saturday with three early matches, while the remaining seven games will be played on the Sunday. As in Argentina, in Brazil, all the teams are more or less on the same footing, even though, in recent years, the São Paulo and far-south teams have always battled it out for the title. At Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America, there are three well-known squads: Corinthians, Palmeiras and São Paulo. To these must be added Pelé’s old team, Santos, which is the port of São Paulo.In the beautiful town of Florianopolis (Santa Caterina) plays Figueirense. In the Rio Grande do Sul, the country’s southernmost state, are Internacional (recent winner of the Copa Libertadores) and Grêmio, which competed in the local derby of the city of Porto Alegre, and Juventude, which represents the town of Caxias do Sul. The best known teams of course are those of Rio de Janeiro: Flamengo, Fluminense, Vasco de Gama and Botafogo: teams that have made the history of Brazilian football. Always in the south, in the state of Paraná, taking part this year in the A league are Atlético Paranaense and Paraná, both from Curitiba.
In the state of Minas Gerais, historically fundamental for Brazil, we have the big match between Cruzeiro and Atlético Mineiro, the classic of Belo Horizonte, the state capital. At Goiania, there is Goiás, a team that is always competitive. Finally, of numeric importance are the teams of the Nordeste, Brazil’s poorest area: Náutico and Sport are from Recife, in Pernambuco, América is from Natal, in the Rio Grande do Norte, a place about to be “launched” on the tourist market.

A day of contrition. The teams at the top of the Argentine championship were all biting their nails at the end of the ninetieth minute. The lead squad San Lorenzo, at home to River, outnumbered the latter from the fourth minute of the first half due to Galvan having been sent off and failed to manage more than a 0-0 draw. Estudiantes failed to maintain the lead over Velez and ended up drawing 1-1, the same score with which Arsenal stopped Boca. Argentinos Jrs., meanwhile, set aside all ambitions by losing to Banfield. At the bottom of the ratings, yet another defeat for Quilmes at Cordoba against Belgrano (3-0) and for Racing at Rosario against Central (1-0 with goal scored by the increasingly more interesting Di Maria). Gimnasia La Plata failed to exploit its home game and was stopped by Nueva Chicago. Quite the opposite for Colon which beat Gimnasia Jujuy 3-1. The big match between Newell’s and Independiente was a draw: the latter’s next match will be the local derby with the other Avellaneda team, Racing.

Table: San Lorenzo 32 points, Boca e Estudiantes 29, River 26, Arsenal 25, Argentinos Jrs. 22

The Brazilian championship has got off to an exciting start. In the most important match of the day, at the Maracanã, a Flamengo still reeling from being knocked out of the Libertadores was beaten by the Palmeiras of the usual fantastic Edmundo, former Napoli and Fiorentina. A couple of great wins from the other carioca squads (meaning from Rio de Janeiro): Vasco just got the edge over América at Natal, while Botafogo surprised Internacional at Porto Alegre 3-2. Fluminense also did well to recover a great draw with Cruzeiro. The other teams of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, whose nickname is gauchos, also did badly: Grêmio lost badly against Paraná, Juventude was overawed by Corinthians. Santos of Vanderlei Luxemburgo, one of the tournament favourites, lost the opening game against Sport at Recife, fielding just one regular player in view of the mid-week challenge of the Libertadores quarter finals with the Mexicans of América. Sport’s town rivals, Náutico, did much worse: they were defeated at Belo Horizonte by Atlético Mineiro. Figueirense took six goals at home from Atlético Paranaense, while in the other early Saturday match, Sao Paulo beat Goiás at the Morumbi stadium: the second goal – a penalty – was scored by the goalie-goleador Rogerio Ceni, a formidable penalty kicker.

For the shirt only. Domenica Racing and Independiente, the two Avellaneda teams, municipality of Great Buenos Aires, are playing for prestige only, considering both have forsaken any chance of winning the championship. On the contrary, Racing, which had promised to refund its season ticket holders in case of failure to make the first places in the league, must look over its shoulder in the ratings, beside starting to put its hands in its pockets. Not that there is a lot in them, especially compared to its rival Independiente, the only Argentine club, together with Boca and River, to have always played in the premier league. Just for the sake of offering a picture of the situation, Rojo (Red), the nickname of Independiente, during the last summer market sold its gem player, Sergio Agüero, for over twenty million euro, while Racing made just two from the winter transfer of Leandro Grimi to Milan, and that was the best deal clinched in the last few years! The stadiums of Rojo and Academia (Racing’s nickname) are only a few hundred metres from one another, even though in recent months Independiente has been engaged in renovating its “La Doble Visiera” facility, to be renamed “Libertadores de America”.

Sufferance was generally widespread. Boca and Estudiantes found it hard to keep up with the championship leader San Lorenzo. Ramon Diaz’s men managed to get top side of Newell’s, at Rosario, after a very hard-fought game and thanks to a goal scored just six minutes from the final whistle by Méndez. Cholo Simeone’s Estudiantes had to wait until the 92nd minute to overcome River Plate, forced to abandon its dreams of glory following a last-minute goal by Maggiolo. Thanks to the goals of Datolo and Palacio, Boca beat Quilmes, after several times risking having to make do with a draw. The Avellaneda classic proved to be a nervous match, with Racing and Independiente taking one point each. Four very nervous matches ended up goalless draws: Velez-Gimnasia La Plata, Argentinos Jrs- Rosario Central, Gimnasia Jujuy-Belgrano and Nueva Chicago-Godoy Cruz. A more sparkling draw between Arsenal (two goals from Llama) and Banfield. A none too easy victory, despite the score, 3-0, for Lanus over Colon.

Tabla: SAN LORENZO 35 punti, BOCA JRS. 32, ESTUDIANTES 32, RIVER 26, ARSENAL 26, ARGENTINOS JRS. 23

The second day of the Brazilian championship clearly took second place with respect to an exceptional event: Romario scored his 1000th goal – a penalty, exactly like Pelé in the same situation, against Sport of Recife in the “São Januario” stadium, the facility of Vasco de Gama, the team in which Romario grew up and which for some time now has already withdrawn his number 11 shirt and is ready to build an enormous statue showing the “Baixinho” (the little one in Portuguese) to be located in front of its headquarters. Romario has played, and scored, everywhere in Europe, but also in Arabia, in the USA and in Australia. In Brazil, he has also played for Flamengo and Fluminense, Vasco’s city rivals, but the Vasco fans have always had a special place in their hearts for Romario and were lately rewarded when, notwithstanding generous offers from clubs all over the world, asking him to score the 1000th goal for them, the Baixinho chose Vasco, his home. Romario dedicated the goal to his family, of which he is very fond, especially after the birth of his fifth daughter, Ivy (who suffers from the down syndrome) who Romario calls his princess and who convinced him to take part actively in a series of meetings and events to help the associations who deal with this problem in order to try and cancel all prejudices regarding the illness. Romario is another Romario, now with a thousand goals as well.

Yet another win for the Argentine Clausura championship leader, San Lorenzo, over the increasingly more disappointing Racing: a clear 3-0 victory. False step on the part of Simeone’s Estudiantes: an exciting 4-4 at La Plata against Newell’s, but only one point in the championship and with the leadership moving out of reach. Boca continues to be a steamroller, winning 3-1 against Gimnasia Jujuy, in the wake of San Lorenzo, ready to play all its chances in the Libertadores, where on Wednesday, in the semifinal, it will be competing against the surprising Colombian team Cúcuta. This last match day was full of astounding away wins - River beat Gimnasia La Plata 3-0 (two goals scored by former Palermo player Ernesto Farías), Velez got top side of Godoy Cruz thanks to goals scored by its gem players Mauro Zarate and Damian Escudero, Arsenal beat Central 2-0 at Rosario. Away wins for tail-ender Quilmes, which beat Banfield and for Cólon which came back winner from Cordoba (3-1 against Belgrano). Nueva Chicago beat a surprising Lanus. The big match between Independiente and Argentinos Jrs. was a goalless draw.

TABLE: SAN LORENZO 38 points, BOCA JRS 35, ESTUDIANTES 33, ARSENAL e RIVER 29, LANUS 25.

FLAMENGO - BOTAFOGO 2-2

After the first three days, the Brazilian championship has produced the first big surprise: Paraná, the small Curitiba club is the only team with a full score thanks to a surprising win at Belo Horizonte against Cruzeiro - 4-3. The two big matches of the day were both draws: São Paulo and Palmeiras failed to score a single goal and put up a rather poor show altogether. Goals – two per side, on the other hand, as is traditional, for the Flamengo – Botafogo match, played at the Maracanã stadium. Draw for Vasco away to Nautico, while the other Rio squad, Fluminense, put up a great show to win 3-0, on Saturday at the legendary Rio stadium against Internacional, still with zero points in the championship. A great win for Santos at Curitiba against Atletico Paranaense: Luxemburgo’s team will be playing in the week in the Copa Libertadores, against another Brazilian club, Gremio, it too a championship-match winner (1-0 against Sport of Recife). Another big match, Corinthians – Atletico Mineiro, which involved two of the biggest supporter groups in Brazil, ended up a goalless draw. Big achievement for Goias against Juventude, while just one goal was enough for Figueirense to beat America of Natal.