River lose, Boca draw before ‘Superclásico’

Quilmes defeat Almeyda’s side 1-0, Falcioni’s team tie 0-0 with Estudiantes

River Plate lost 1-0 at Quilmes, and Boca Juniors failed to break the deadlock in a 0-0 draw against Estudiantes de La Plata in the Initial Tournament. They will meet next week at River’s Monumental stadium in the “Superclásico”.

River Plate and Boca Juniors did not have their best day yesterday in the 11th round of the Initial Tournament with only a week away from the “Superclásico”.

Matías Almeyda’s side lost 1-0 against Quilmes at the Centenario Dr. José Luis Meiszner stadium with a goals scored by Uruguayan striker Martín Cauteruccio in the 59th minute, while Boca played another disappointing match at home and drew 0-0 with Estudiantes de La Plata.

River and Boca have not played an “official” match in 17 months. In the last meeting as first-division clubs, Boca won 2-0 in May 2011. River were demoted to the second division just over a month later. The game will take place next Sunday at 3.30pm at the Monumental stadium.

Yesterday, Cauteruccio found the net after a mistake by defender Jonathan Bottinelli, who tried to clear the ball but instead he gave it to the striker.

River came from two impressing victories (4-0 against Arsenal de Sarandí and 5-0 against Godoy Cruz), but failed to show the same effective performance.

Almeyda’s team are in ninth place with 15 points, while Quilmes are 12th with 14.

Boca accumulated four matches without victories after another poor performance against Estudiantes. The local fans showed their dissatisfaction with coach Julio Falcioni after the game.

The hosts had their best chance to break the 0-0 in the first half when midfielder Guillermo Fernández assisted Lucas Viatri, but the striker’s shot was blocked by Estudiantes’ Paraguayan goalkeeper Justo Villar.

Boca are in fifth place with 18 points, while Estudiantes are seventh with 17.

Also yesterday, Lanús beat Atlético Rafaela 2-1 to be six points behind leaders Newell’s Old Boys, who drew 0-0 with Racing on Saturday.

Defenders Paolo Goltz and Carlos Araujo scored for the visitors at the Nuevo Monumental stadium, while playmaker Sebastián Grazzini pulled one back for Rafaela.

The match was suspended for seven minutes in the second half due to incidents in the stands.

Rafaela, who cut their unbeaten run at home, finished the game with nine players as defender Lucas Bovaglio and Grazzini were sent off in the 60th and 80th minutes, respectively. Lanús’ left-back Maximiliano Velázquez was also sent off in the 34th.

Herald staff with agencies

Results

11TH ROUND RESULTS — On Friday: Arsenal 2 Colón 0; Argentinos 0 Independiente 1. On Saturday: All Boys 1 Belgrano 0; Unión 1 San Martín (SJ) 2; Godoy Cruz 0 San Lorenzo 0; Tigre 0 Vélez 1; Racing 0 Newell’s 0. On Sunday: Quilmes 1 River 0; Rafaela 1 Lanús 2; Boca 0 Estudiantes 0.

NEXT ROUND — On Friday at 8pm: San Lorenzo v Quilmes. On Saturday at 4.10pm: San Martín (SJ) v Atlético Rafaela. At 6.15pm: Estudiantes v All Boys; Newell’s v Arsenal; 8.20pm: Vélez v Racing. On Sunday at 3.30pm: River v Boca. At 5.30pm: Belgrano v Unión. At 7.30pm: Lanús v Argentinos. On Monday at 6pm: Colón v Godoy Cruz. At 8.10pm: Independiente v Tigre.

LEADING GOALSCORERS: 6 — I. Scocco (Newell’s); M. Cauteruccio (Quilmes); I. Borghello (All Boys). 5 — H. Osorio (San Martín); R. Funes Mori (River); C. Carignano (Rafaela). 4 — M. Figueroa (Argentinos); E. Farías (Independiente); M. Matos (All Boys); S. Silva (Boca); L. Vietto (Racing); D. Ramírez (Godoy Cruz).

RELEGATION AVERAGE: Atlético Rafaela 1.286; Quilmes 1.273; San Martín (SJ) 1.245; Independiente 1.184; San Lorenzo 1.172; Unión 1.082.