Away At Estudiantes: A Chance To Get Back On Track

By: Brett | September 26th, 2009

I think the title sums it up pretty well – thus far, the season hasn’t been great for Los Xeneizes. In truth, it’s been an unmitigated disaster. The 3-2 loss to Godoy Cruz de Mendoza at La Bombonera on Sunday was our third in a month in which a 1-1 draw at home to Newell’s Old Boys has been our best effort.

No doubt about it, right now, we are in a little place I like to call ‘Struggletown’.

No wonder those in attendance at ‘The Chocolate Box’ last Sunday were calling for the head of Alfio Basile. A solitary win from the first five matches sees us languishing in thirteenth spot in the Apertura. Plus, we’re already out of the Copa Sudamericana.

And, give the guy credit, he duly obliged, handing in his resignation to the Boca board. But, after a chat with those in charge – and here I’m not speaking of club Chairman Jorge Amor Ameal, I’m speaking of manager Carlos Bianchi and playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme – he decided that jumping ship perhaps wasn’t the wisest move.

So, ‘Coco’ stays. For now. How long he stays is still very much up in the air.

Our next match is away to league leaders Estudiantes La Plata. A tough fixture at the best of times, we could be without talented youngsters Ricardo Noir and Morel Rodriguez, plus the irresistible force and symbol of everything which is Boca, Riquelme himself.

Not exactly confidence inspiring, but perhaps that’s what we need – a backs-to-the-wall, Rocky Balboa vs Mr T style victory over a stronger foe to get our season back on track.

And Estudiantes are a stronger foe. The current Copa Libertadores champs are currently sitting in second spot, just one point behind leaders Banfield, and looking very good, indeed. Led by the irrepressible Juan Sebastian Veron, they have taken points from all their matches thus far.

If Riquelme and Noir are indeed out, then Martin Palermo will be shouldering a heavier burden than usual up front. With this in mind, I was a little disturbed to read that he missed three pen’s in a training game in midweek. I realise thaat if this was any other pplayer in world football it wouldn’t have been news, but it wasn’t, it was Martin.

Never mind that the man is a Boca legend, second on the all-time scorers chart. 207 goals are quickly forgotten when you miss 3 pen’s in a single match for your country.

Yes, even someone with the most passing of interests in football knows the name Martin Palermo. As does anyone who doesn’t enjoy football but does enjoy reading the Guiness Book of World Records. That’s right, ‘El Loco’s’ achievement can be found alongside such luminaries as the dudes who set world records for the longest time spent ironing (55 hours and 5 minutes) and for the amount of weight dangled from a swallowed sword (25kg).

As with all records, this one will no doubt be broken one day (hopefully by someone from River Plate…but I wouldn’t put it past Cristiano Ronaldo doing it just for kicks), but for now, it belongs to the former Estudiantes striker. Just to prove he can slot them home from the spot, here is a clip I found from our pre-season friendly against AC Milan. Skip to 2:54 –

We must take something from this game. It’s as simple as that. I think it we’ll snatch it 2-1 , with Viatri and Palermo to score (a header, not a pen).

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