By Rex Gowar
BUENOS AIRES, April 1 (Reuters) – Striker Santiago Silva
broke his goal drought as Boca Juniors beat Estudiantes 3-0 away
to snatch the lead from them in the Argentine Clausura
championship on Sunday.
Beleaguered coach Leonardo Madelon resigned from his post at
relegation-threatened San Lorenzo after a 2-0 defeat by Velez
Sarsfield and Olimpo’s Hector Rivoira followed suit following
his side’s 5-2 rout by Banfield on Saturday.
Champions Boca have 17 points from eight matches, one more
than former Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino’s Newell’s Old Boys
and two more than Estudiantes, Velez Sarsfield and Arsenal.
A minute’s silence was observed before kickoff at stadiums
across the country marking Monday’s 30th anniversary of the 1982
Argentine invasion of the British-held Falkland Islands over
which they claim sovereignty. Fans held banners that read “Las
Malvinas are Argentine” and jumped in unison to their favourite
chant “He who doesn’t jump is English”.
Silva, signed from Fiorentina in January, scored his first
goal in his eighth match for Boca to give them an early lead at
La Plata’s Estadio Unico and screamed with delight at breaking
his duck after 639 minutes in all competitions.
A long throw-in from the left was poorly cleared and the
ball fell to the burly Uruguayan who fired low past Argentina
goalkeeper Mariano Andujar in the ninth minute.
“This was an important win at a difficult ground against
very good opponents. It will do us a lot of good spiritually,”
Silva told broadcasters Futbol Para Todos.
Midfielder Pablo Ledesma made it two in the 24th minute,
coming into the box from the right to drill home a low shot that
Andujar got a hand to but could not turn away.
Estudiantes captain Juan Sebastian Veron, back from a
month’s absence through injury, hit the Boca bar with a free
kick in the 35th.
Silva laid on Boca’s third goal with a pass to substitute
Pablo Mouche who beat the offside trap to steer the ball past
Andujar in the 68th minute.
Newell’s, improving fast since Martino took charge in the
mid-season recess, beat Racing Club 2-0 at home in Rosario for
their fourth win in a row.
San Lorenzo hosted their match against Velez in an empty
Nuevo Gasometro after city authorities closed the ground to fans
following crowd trouble two weeks ago with Madelon having
anticipated it could be his last in charge.
“Continuity in football is results,” Madelon had told
reporters in his last news conference on Friday.
The Saints, one of Argentina’s Big Five clubs who have lost
four and won two of their eight Clausura matches, are third from
bottom of the parallel relegation standings based on
three-season points averages, facing a playoff against second
tier Primera B Nacional rivals for their first division
survival.
Olimpo, based in the southern naval port of Bahia, are at
the foot of the relegation standings and will go down
automatically if they remain in the bottom two at the end of the
season in June.
(Editing by Patrick Johnston)
