Argentinos Serve Me Up a Slice of Humble Pie.

By: Mauro | October 2nd, 2008

Coming into this match, Argentinos was not the favorite in fact, just about the opposite of what I expected to have happen, happened in this one. San Luis is the Mexican league leader and Argentinos is floundering at best in the bottom half of the Argentine Apertura. But eventually the exhaustion of traveling, player rotations and two to three matches a week will catch up to anyone.

Much to the delight of those in attendance at the Estadio Diego Armando Maradona, the first half was completely dominated by the local side. They had more possession of the ball and had many more dangerous opportunities than the visitors. With Néstor Ortigoza, Gabriel Hauche, Franco Quiroga and Gonzalo Prósperi combining in the midfield and creating a larger volume of opportunities for Argentinos.

Only on one occasion did San Luis’ players get a chance to possibly score and it was the same time that their players were able to come together. Every other chance was a solitary player coming forward and was taken care of by an Argentinos side that pressured San Luis when they had the ball.

The second half began much the same as the second. Argentinos took the initiative and only five minutes in they were able to score the much sought after, go ahead goal.

Hauche, who has been a nightmare for the San Luis defense thus far, delivered a cross along the pitch for a streaking Pavlovich and the much deserved lead. 1-0 to Argentinos and the Diego Maradona explodes.

BTW, the Diego Maradona never quieted down, not once, during the match. The fans sang and cheered their team the entire 90 plus minutes of the match.

And much to their delight, only 10 minutes later, Hauche extended their lead with a hard crossed shot with an assist from Quiroga. 2-0 to Argentinos and this is enough to get them into the next round.

The rest of the match was the pretty much the same. Argentinos treating the ball to a more collective trip up and down the pitch and San Luis bursting forward with few players and getting few if none, clear opportunities on goal.

Final Score: 2-0 to Argentinos. Argentinos advance on aggregate 3-2.

I had this match going 2-2 and very little faith in the Argentinos defensive presence. I guess I’m going through a crap streak right now. I also expected San Luis to be able to get at least one goal in.

In the next round, Argentinos face Brazilian side Palmeiras with the first match taking place in the Estadio Italia Palestra “Parque Antartica” on October 22nd. The second leg will take place November 5th.

Feel free to check the CONMEBOL website for results and information about upcoming matches and for those of you in need of a bracket to get your heads around the competition, get one here.