-I feel for Pablo Migliore. Really, I do. True, it was a mistake he shoudn’t have made, but I’ve experienced a similar situation for my indoor team a couple years ago. However, it was pretty clear that his head wasn’t in the game after that, as Los Sabaleros had a shot hit the post, and Migliore was frozen.

-The more I see of Pablo Lugüercio, the more I feel that he was one of the better buys in all of the Primera this season. He’s great with the link-up play, runs his socks off, and has formed a pretty good partnership with Maxi. I only wish he could score with more regularity.

-This was a typical Racing loss; dominate possession for long stretches of the game, create chances, and the opponent has one real chance on goal and they put it away. Then somehow concede a second through some ridiculous fluke. Ah well, such is the life of a Racing supporter.

-And speaking of Racing fans, why do we call ourselves La Numero 1? Because we sing louder when we are losing. After the second goal, the supporters sang louder than before, and then just as loud at the final whistle. En las buenas y en las malas mucho mas.

-From what I’ve read, Racing should have scored three times in the first half. It’s important for us to put away those early chances; this team thrives on getting into an early lead. If not, we see things like constantly sending in high crosses instead of trying to keep the ball on the ground; this became clearer in the second half. If you noticed, whenever we did keep the ball on the floor (whether through the middle or down the flanks) chances were made.

-Props to Colón’s keeper Diego Pozo for having a good match, as well as Esteban Fuentes for scoring “twice” (I mean, yes his first goal was well taken, but can we really count the second as his?).

Highlights

Next week we will be hosting our friends from the blue half of La Plata (that’s Gimnasia, in case you weren’t sure). I promise I will have a preview up at the end of the week.

RACING SIEMPRE ES UNA FIESTA….

This will obviously be a huge blow to Racing for the Clausura. Moralez has easily been one of, if not the most infulential player for Racing this season, and it’s always difficult for any team to lose its talisman and continue to succeed. Maxi also denied knowing anything about a possible move to River Plate, but if he moves anywhere, it will be back to Europe. The reality is, this is the business of Argentine football; players are always being shipped out to Europe, and the transfer fees ultimately keep the clubs going financially. It’ll be curious to see who will eventually step in; will it be someone from the youth set up or will Racing try to buy a replacement?

Racing got off to the quick start they needed when in the opening 90 seconds, a Maxi Moralez corner was punched out by Marcos Gutiérrez only for it to be collected by José Luis Fernandez outside the area, where a low drive beat the keeper for his first goal of the season. 1-0 Racing. Continuing to build on the pressure, Racing nearly got a second when Pablo Lugüercio pulled the ball back into Moralez’s path; but the shot was saved by Gutiérrez. San Martín had their chances as well, but never really threatened Pablo Migliore. In the 25th minute, Franco Sosa was judged (wrongly, I think) to have taken down Patricio Pérez in the area. Surefire goal, right? If this was last year, then yeah, but since thankfully it’s not, Migliore came up huge with the save; the rebound then hit the side netting. Three minutes later, a Fernandez shot from outside the area was parried back into play by Gutiérrez, right into the path of Franco Peppino, who put the rebound in the back of the net. 2-0 Racing, and that’s how it stayed. However, San Martín did have a goal by Daniel Vega (correctly) ruled out for offside at the end of the half, and something tells me that if this was last season, we would probably be talking about a 2-2 draw here.

Not much to speak of in the second half, Migliore produced another fine save off a long distance shot by Pérez Castro and a Franco Sosa free kick hit the post. There was some crowd trouble when the San Martín supporters tried to break down a fence between themselves and the away support, which delayed the match. Overall, it was definitely a great result for Racing, putting more distance between ourselves and Rosario Central in the promedio. Racing came in with the intention to grab all three points, and did so with relative ease. I’d say that man of the match was Migliore for the massive save on the penalty, as well as making a few other critical stops. He definitely has a calmer presence than Gullotta, so I wouldn’t mind seeing him as the starter for the remained of the season. Next up for La Academia is a home match to Colón. I should have a preview up at the end of the week.

Highlights

RACING SIEMPRE ES UNA FIESTA…

Hey, so I’m the new kid in town, ready to share with you all things Racing Club. La Academia travel all the way out to Tucumán (that’s pretty far west in case you weren’t sure) Sunday to square off against C.A. San Martín. I know pretty much next to nothing about them, except that San Martín are in fact from Tucumán, and they were promoted from the Primera B last season. They’re actually doing pretty well in the first division, sitting one place below us in 11th. But enough about them; let’s discuss the only team that matters…

Racing head into the game coming off a drab 0-0 draw at home to Vélez, and have been showing some inconsistency as for late; in the sense that Racing need to show more consistency over ninety minutes. The previous three games stand out in particular; Racing started strongly against San Lorenzo and Vélez, but faded in the second half. The reverse happened at Arsenal, where two second half goals helped us salvage a draw. If Racing can put together two strong halves consistently, fifth or sixth place does not seem unlikely (and it would help get us out of the relegation fight).

Claudio Yacob is still out with injury and Franco Zuculini is seving a suspension, so Juan Manuel Llop will have to shift thing around a bit in the starting XI. Olé refers to the makeshift squad as “a Frankenstein,” but I think that is an exaggeration. Adrián Lucero, one of the heroes against San Lorenzo, will move from the left side of midfield to the center, while Lihué Prichoda comes off the bench and will most likely start in Lucero’s usual position. The team sounds confident, with Franco Sosa claiming that, “Somos un equipo grande y tenemos que salir a ganar en cualquier lado. Esta vez no será la excepción.” Racing are coming in expecting to get the full three points, and even though it is a tough away match, I’m expecting the same. Prediction: 1-0 Racing, with (who else?) Maxi Moralez scoring the only goal.

(Probable) Strarting XI: Pablo Migliore; Franco Sosa, Marcos Cáceres, Gabriel Mercado, José Shaffer; Leandro González, Franco Peppino, Lucero, Prichoda; Maximiliano Moralez, Pablo Lugüercio

RACING SIEMPRE ES UNA FIESTA….