Boca Juniors Stay Within Shout of Apertura Championship Leaders

Boca Juniors avoided a let off following their exploits against River Plate by hammering lowly Chacarita Juniors at La Bombonera, 3-0.

With the victory, Boca finds itself five points behind a trio of leaders: Estudiantes de La Plata, Banfield, and Newell’s Old Boys. With matches against Banfield, as well as other top clubs including Colon de Santa Fe and San Lorenzo still to come, Boca still has hopes of winning the Apertura Championship and qualifying for next year’s Copa Libertadores.

Boca welcomed the return of Paraguay international Morel Rodriguez, who replaced his suspended compatriot Julio Cacares in the center of defense after a long absence through injury. Juan Krupoviesa, deputized for Luciano Monzon at left back, and Chile international Gary Medel came in for the injured Hugo Ibarra at right back, leaving Gabriel Paletta as the only defensive incumbent from Sunday’s match against River.

From the opening kick off, the outcome of the match never seemed in doubt. The only question concerning La Doce , Boca’s fans, was how many Los Xeneizes would put past Chacarita.

On nine minutes, Chacarita keeper Cristian Cejas was forced to make a reaction save to deny Sebastian Battaglia who had latched onto Juan Roman Riquelme’s corner. Ten minutes later, Boca’s breakthrough came, and it was the Chilean Medel who unlocked the defense.

The “Pit bull” charged down the right, before making a neat cutback and finding Pocho Insua. The former Independiente star took one touch to control Medel’s pass before slotting past Cejas and giving Boca the 1-0 advantage.

Boca continued to maintain all the possession, but coach Alfio Basile will be concerned about his playmaker, Riquelme, who came off in the 36th minute after motioning to the sidelines to be substituted. It has been reported that Riquelme suffered from an ailing right foot, but tests will have to be conducted to discover the severity of the injury.

Pochi Chavez came on for Riquelme, and Pocho Insua moved to play behind the two strikers as the enganche, but Boca did not miss a beat.

Just moments after forcing a save from Cejas with a long range shot, Nicolas Gaitan played a great ball into Insua, who sent a wonderful return pass to Gaitan and “Nico” calmly beat Cejas from close range.

Boca should have made it 3-0 before half time following a fast break, but Chavez elected to shoot despite having better options, including a streaking Gaitan down the right flank.

In the second half, Boca continued to put on an exhibition of great one-touch link-up play. Eight minutes after the restart, Insua found Martin Palermo, and the Boca captain sent a perfect through ball to Chavez, who rolled the ball across the face of goal for Battaglia to slide and secure the points.

Battaglia tried to catch Cejas off of his line with a long range chip shot in the 80th minute, but it flew just inches over the cross bar. Although Boca were unable to score, it was a good sight to see Pablo Mouche come on as a substitute late on after missing close to two months through injuries.

Pocho Insua’s performance was by far his most impressive the season and he could become even more important if Riquelme’s injury keeps him out for a long period of time. Insua  prefers to play in Riquelme’s position but has often been forced to play out wide since returning to Boca after a stint in Mexico.

Boca’s fight to challenge for the title will only get more difficult when they travel 300 kilometers northwest to face Central in the city of Rosario Sunday at the Estadio Gigante de Arroyito.

Anything less than three points would be a devastating blow to Basile and his men as they try to reach South America’s version of the Champions League: The Copa Libertadores.