Argentina Apertura: Estudiantes Go Five Points Clear As Boca and River Stumble

Through nine rounds, the Argentina Apertura is taking shape with Estudiantes de La Plata as the unquestioned favorites, while giants Boca Juniors and River Plate continued their recent struggles and may be out of the championship picture. 

In the game of the round, Estudiantes traveled to Buenos Aires to take on San Lorenzo, who trailed the La Plata outfit by four points and needed to take three points to keep pace. 

Estudiantes were without talisman and captain Juan Sebastian Veron, but got a sensational performance from Rodrigo Braña to control the middle of the park, after Gaston Fernandez opened the scoring after 25 minutes with a brilliant piece of close control in the six-yard box. 

San Lorenzo had more endeavor in the second half, but failed to threaten Agustin Orion's goal and Estudiantes moved five points clear of second place Velez Sarsfield, who fell 2-0 to Newell's in Rosario Friday night to give Estudiantes plenty of breathing room in the standings. 

The two late games on Sunday featured Argentina's two biggest clubs, with Boca Juniors hosting Lanus and River Plate traveling south to play Banfield. 

With Boca coach Claudio Borghi under the hot seat, things got off to a nightmarish beginning when Sebastian Blanco's low shot trickled past goalkeeper Cristian Luchetti, a new signing brought in by Borghi who has struggled mightily.

Juan Manuel Insaurralde pulled Boca even with a header before the break, but the Xeneizes were denied the draw in the final seconds of the match. 

After Lanus went on a quick break, rightback Clemente Rodriguez, a member of Argetnina's World Cup Squad in South Africa, mindlessly pushed Eduardo Ledesma from behind for a clear penalty. 

Agustin Pelletieri kept his nerve from the spot and Lanus came away from La Bombonera with three points. 

River Plate entered the late game Sunday with a chance to move into second place, but saw their chances hit after Banfield grabbed an early goal through Ruben Ramirez, after River goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo failed to deal with a high ball into the box. 

After an uncharacteristic error, Carrizo redeemed himself when he stop a penalty just after the half-hour mark from Ramirez, and did equaully well to tip the rebounded effort over the bar to clear danger. 

Despite his goalkeeper's heroics, River coach Angel Cappa was sent off for protesting the spot-kick, as he felt defender Carlos Arano had been fouled before giving away the penalty. 

With their manager gone, River pushed forward in the second half and were clearly the stronger team, and finally got its reward when Mariano Pavone was fouled in the area and River were awarded a penalty. 

Captain Ariel Ortega stepped up and drilled his shot into the bottom corner past Enqrique Bologna who had no chance.

With all of the momentum in their favor, it looked like River would snatch a late winner but Carrizo made another blunder from Victor Lopez's weak header, handing Banfield an undeserved advantage with twenty minutes to go.

With Cappa communicating with his team from the locker room, River sent on waves of attacking players in pursuit of an equalizer, and two minutes from time Paraguay international Aldaberto Roman rose to nod home his first goal for River and salvage a point on a night when River certainly deserved more.