Argentina’s league campaign comes to a conclusion on Sunday, and the chase for the title has played out like an episode of the animated television show “Wacky Races” where most of the leading contenders end up in a roadside pile up.
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For a while it seemed as if there would be something for the romantics to celebrate — a first title for Atletico Tucuman. A club from the northern provinces with 120 years of history, the rise of Tucuman represents a move in Argentine football away from the excessive centralisation around Buenos Aires. But in the end it felt as if the proximity of success was an inhibiting factor, and Tucuman have fallen away in the closing stages.
Gimnasia of La Plata were also making a surprise bid. Their only previous title came in 1929, when the game was still amateur. They were in the hunt for a while, but lack of goals — 25 in 26 matches — proved their undoing. From the northern suburbs of the capital, Tigre’s free scoring side were in contention for a while, and in Buenos Aires Aires itself, Huracan put up a good fight.
Powerhouse side River Plate have scored more goals than anyone else, but in the final year of coach Marcelo Gallardo the Millionarios have found it hard to replace the quality of Julian Alvarez, transferred to Manchester City, and perhaps even more, the structure provided by midfielder Enzo Fernandez, now of Benfica. A defeat at home on Sunday to Rosario Central, coached by Carlos Tevez, ended their hopes.
And so two teams are left standing in the race for this title — traditional giants who have already clashed this year in the decisive stages.
It should be noted that Argentina currently plays two championships per year. The first tournament earlier this year — the Copa de la Liga Profesional — is on a playoff basis, with a separation into two groups of fourteen followed by a knockout phase to decide the champion, which was won by Boca Juniors.
But the outstanding team of the competition were Racing, from the football heartland of Avellanada, just over the river from Buenos Aires. In the semifinals they came up against Boca. Racing were by some distance the better team. But they could not score, and after a 0-0 draw the game went to a shootout. Boca emerged victorious, and went on to beat Tigre 3-0 in the final.
