Buenos Aires Football, Fecha 1 Concludes, Let’s Talk Racing/Boca

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For many of us who live in Buenos Aires, the summer is a strange period. The city’s cultural festivals are welcome, of course. Things like an afternoon in Belgrano’s Barrio Chino for the Chinese new year celebrations are pleasant diversions. But the place just isn’t the same. There’s something about Buenos Aires that dies during late December and January.

And that’s because one of the defining points of Porteño life is missing. I speak of football. Whilst the big sides pile out (with the rest of the population) to coastal resorts or areas such as Mendoza and Salta to play pre-season friendlies, those of us left behind in the capital are starved of action. If, like me, you happen to have come to Buenos Aires specifically to write about and see football, it’s a particularly frustrating time.

It was, therefore, with a sense of delight that I found myself on Saturday night spending my second evening in eight days in Avellaneda. Heading to Avellaneda for an evening out isn’t a thought that would draw many residents of Capital Federal, but bear with me.

Avellaneda is home to two of Argentina’s ‘Big Five’ clubs; who, between them, dominated the first three-and-a-bit decades of the Argentine league’s professional period. Between 1931 (the first championship played under professionalism) and 1967, when Estudiantes de La Plata finally broke the stranglehold, only five sides won the championship. River Plate and Boca Juniors you’ve probably heard of, if you were interested enough to open this article. San Lorenzo and the two Avellaneda giants, Independiente and Racing Club, make up the five.

The ‘Big Five’ haven’t enjoyed such success more recently. For the last few seasons, Argentine football’s traditional hierarchy has been turned upside-down. A number of clubs outside the traditional giants – from clubs with their own claims to ‘big-ness’ (such as Vélez Sarsfield or four-time South American champions Estudiantes) to sides who even think of themselves as ‘small’ (like rivals Lanús and Banfield), have claimed titles. River battle against relegation, Independiente and Boca are in danger, thanks to the Argentine Football Association’s bizarre system, of doing the same next season, and Racing have only recently put their own fears of the drop – which lasted five seasons – behind them.

All the same, the first big clásico of 2011 on Saturday night was some event. Racing hosted Boca Juniors. The previous week I’d headed to Independiente’s ground to watch them take on Vélez Sarsfield, perhaps the country’s best footballing side at present. It was an entertaining match (ending 2-2) which featured an equaliser from Vélez’s Juan Manuel Martínez, who’d made his debut for the national side two days previously in a Geneva friendly against Portugal. The atmosphere lacked something, though – and not just because Independiente’s stadium is only three-quarters built.

Two hundred metres away from Independiente’s neat, part-built ground, lies Racing’s enormous stadium. 120,000 people are reported to have once packed this ground. The modern-day capacity, thanks to new regulations, is just 51,000, but it’s still the third largest football ground in the country. And there’s nothing quite like an Argentine stadium on the day of a derby.

With the fans warming up their vocal chords a full hour before the match, the stadium was incredibly loud by the time the teams took to the field. Racing were coming off the back of a very good first weekend win away to newly-promoted All Boys, who during the Torneo Apertura (the first half of the season, played from August to December) had proved a revelation, and a very tough team to get a result against. Boca, meanwhile, were looking for a morale boost after hosting Mendocino side Godoy Cruz, and getting thumped 4-1 in front of their own fans.

More than this, though, both sides were without their key figures. Boca Juniors’ legendary playmaker Juan Román Riquelme had felt a twinge in training during the week, and wasn’t in the squad. Racing’s loss is more painful: during that first round game their elegant Colombian playmaker, Giovanni Moreno – one of the best players of the Apertura – had suffered rough treatment from All Boys’ Hugo Barrientos. Losing his rag, Moreno tried during the second half to give as good as he got, and ended up tearing his cruciate ligaments. Having already been operated on, he’ll be out for six months, missing July’s Copa América (South America’s championship for national teams, which this year will be played in Argentina) as well as the rest of the Clausura. It’s a massive loss for both Colombia and Racing.

All the same, Racing created a lot more than Boca. Racing’s midfield stepped up in the absence of their talisman, and Franco Zuculini in particular was impressive in the first half. Zuculini is only 20, but is back at Racing on loan after a couple of years trying to establish a foothold in Europe which have undoubtedly improved him from the already impressive player he was before he left. In Moreno’s absence, he stepped up to fill the void, and Racing should have taken the lead before half time. During the whole of the first half, Boca only created three half-chances. All three were the result of a big up-and-under hoof from defense or midfield, for livewire striker Pablo Mouche to run onto.

A minute into the second half, that formula was repeated, goalkeeper Javier García sending a huge free kick Mouche’s way, and the forward put Boca 1-0 up. With Boca continuing to create little, but showing much more resilience in midfield and defense than they had during the first half, it was to prove the only goal of the game.

As anyone used to watching football knows, the result isn’t always fair. Racing, especially after losing their idol for such a period of time, perhaps deserved better. For those of us who attended as neutrals, though, the atmosphere of a clásico is something we’ve missed. Proper top flight football is back in Argentina. And Buenos Aires feels alive again.