Colon de Santa Fe’s Mario Sciacqua became the first managerial casualty of Clausura 2012 this week when he resigned from his position following a 2-0 defeat to All Boys at the Islas Malvinas stadium in Floresta. "It was a personal decision," Sciacqua admitted. “It's best for the club."
Colon’s technical director Gabriel Batistuta didn’t think so, admitting he had hoped to persuade Sciacqua to stay on. Former Argentina international Roberto Sensini is expected to be confirmed as Colon’s new coach in the next 24 hours.
Juan Carlos Ferreyra put the home side ahead, spinning to volley his shot past Diego Pozo in the Colon goal just ten minutes in. Juan Pablo Rodriguez capitalised on some dreadful defending to seal all three points deep into stoppage time. The victory saw All Boys move one place out of the relegation zone in Argentina’s three year average points table.
At the other end of that table, Velez Sarsfield had sent out a message of intent the the night before, hammering lowly Banfield 4-0. Federico Insua grabbed his first goal in a Velez shirt to open the scoring after half an hour, before Seba Dominguez grabbed a second shortly before half time. New signing Ivan Obolo added a third before Ivan Bella completed the rout with five minutes remaining.
Velez weren’t the only ones romping to victory on Friday night, though, Olimpo scored four of their own to condemn last season’s surprise package Belgrano to defeat in Bahia Blanco, with Andres Franzoia bagging a brace.
While Velez and Olimpo fired their way through round two, reigning champions Boca Juniors found goals slightly harder to come by, slumping to their second consecutive goalless draw at Union – hardly the result coach Julio Falcioni was looking for after an eventful week in La Boca. “Sunday was a very bad game,” said defender Roalndo Schiavi. “The biggest positive is that we got a point… luckily we are not losing.”
And neither are Estudiantes, who will be hoping for a much better season following disappointing Apertura campaign that saw their immensely talented squad stumble to a 14th place finish. They were held to a 1-1 draw against a San Lorenzo side that looked much improved, but still a little way off the sort of form required to lift them to safety. El Ciclón came into the season in the relegation play-off places and remain in real danger becoming the next of the grandes to face the ignominy of relegation to the second division after River Plate were relegated last season. Estu defender Christian Cellay went from hero to villain, cancelling out his early goal by hacking down Carlos Bueno to allow Nestor Ortigoza to equalise from the penalty spot.
Newell’s overcame both Argentinos Juniors and the sweltering heart in Rosario (on an afternoon that saw play stopped more than once to allow the fire brigade to hose down those in the stands) to ease their own relegation concerns, grabbing their first win under Coach Gerardo Martino, who will be happy that Maxi Urruti’s header was rather better than his striker’s subsequent celebration.
Elsewhere in week 2, Racing fell to their first defeat of coach Alfio Basile’s latest reign in Avellaneda – Leonardo Sigali grabbing the only goal of the game with just six minutes remaining to claim all three points for Godoy Cruz.
Dario Gandin’s penalty was enough to grab a point for Atletico Rafaela, who had twice gone behind away to Arsenal, while relegation-threatened Tigre finally got on with trying to win some points after their – and others – attempts to suspend relegation for a year proved futile, by securing a 3-1 win over San Martin.
Lanus ended week 2 sitting top of the pile, El Tanque Mauro Pavone netting for the third time in two games for the Grana – his solitary goal enough to condemn Ramon Diaz’s Independiente to their second straight defeat.
Goal of the Week: Luciano Leguizamon (Arsenal) - on second inspection, Leguizamon showed a wonderful piece of improvisation to loop his smart finish over the onrushing Guillermo Sara.
Results and Highlights
Newell's 1-0 Argentinos Juniors
