2007–08 in Argentine football

Football in Argentina

Season	2007–08

The Apertura 2007 saw a great deal of success for the "smaller" teams in Argentine football. The eventual champions Club Atlético Lanús won the title for the first time in their history, the first "virgin" champions since Argentinos Juniors in 1984.

2nd place went to Club Atlético Tigre, a club playing their first season in the Argentine Primera since 1980 and making their best finish ever in the top flight.

3rd place went to Banfield, completing an extremely unlikely top three.

Another small club, Arsenal de Sarandí won the 2007 Copa Sudamericana, the first major title in their history, making them the first Argentine club other than Boca Juniors to win an international competition since San Lorenzo won the Copa Sudamericana 2002.

Another feature of the Apertura was the number of managerial changes, by the end of the Apertura there had been 12 managerial changes.

The Clausura 2008 was won by River Plate, their first title since 2004.

Torneo Apertura ("Opening" Tournament)

Table positions as of 25 April 2008.

Position	Team	Points	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference
1	Lanús	38	19	11	5	3	34	21	+13
2	Tigre	34	19	10	4	5	28	20	+8
3	Banfield	32	19	10	2	7	22	21	+1
4	Boca Juniors	31	19	9	4	6	32	18	+14
5	Argentinos Juniors	31	19	9	4	6	29	20	+9
6	Estudiantes de La Plata	30	19	8	6	5	27	19	+8
7	Huracán	30	19	8	6	5	24	22	+2
8	San Lorenzo	29	19	8	5	6	29	27	+2
9	Independiente	28	19	8	4	7	33	23	+10
10	Vélez Sársfield	27	19	8	3	8	25	25	0
11	Newell's Old Boys	27	19	8	3	8	16	22	-6
12	Arsenal de Sarandí	26	19	7	5	7	19	24	-5
13	Racing Club	25	19	7	4	8	23	24	-1
14	River Plate	23	19	6	5	8	31	33	-2
15	Colón de Santa Fe	22	19	6	4	9	19	22	-3
16	Olimpo	22	19	6	4	9	18	24	-6
17	Gimnasia de Jujuy	20	19	5	5	9	22	31	-9
18	Gimnasia de La Plata	19	19	5	4	10	15	27	-12
19	San Martín (SJ)	18	19	5	3	11	18	29	-11
20	Rosario Central	14	19	2	8	9	21	33	-12

• The outstanding game between Gimnasia de La Plata and Arsenal de Sarandí which was postponed due to Arsenal's Copa Sudamericana commitments, was rescheduled for April 24, 2008 and ended in a 1-1 tie.

Top Scorers

Position	Player	Team	Goals
1	Germán Denis	Independiente	18
2	José Sand	Lanús	15
3	Martín Palermo	Boca Juniors	13
4	Leandro Lázzaro	Tigre	10
5	Néstor Silvera	San Lorenzo	9
5	José Vizcarra	Rosario Central	9
7	Facundo Sava	Racing Club	8
8	Fernando Belluschi	River Plate	7
8	Néstor Ayala	Tigre	7
8	Álvaro Pereira	Argentinos Juniors	7
8	Luis Tonelotto	San Martín (SJ)	7

Relegation

There is no relegation after the Apertura. For the relegation results of this tournament see below.

Torneo Clausura ("Closing" Tournament)

Table positions as of June 22, 2008

Position	Team	Points	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference
1	River Plate	43	19	13	4	2	29	13	+16
2	Boca Juniors	39	19	11	6	2	33	15	+18
3	Estudiantes de La Plata	39	19	11	6	2	29	16	+13
4	San Lorenzo	35	19	11	2	6	30	21	+9
5	Vélez Sársfield	32	19	9	5	5	24	17	+7
6	Independiente	31	19	8	7	4	25	15	+10
7	Argentinos Juniors	30	19	9	3	7	23	24	-1
8	Newell's Old Boys	29	19	8	5	6	21	19	+2
9	Rosario Central	27	19	7	6	6	26	23	+3
10	Arsenal	25	19	7	4	8	22	25	-3
11	Colón de Santa Fe	23	19	6	5	8	25	27	-2
12	Banfield	22	19	6	4	9	36	36	0
13	Huracán	22	19	5	7	7	15	17	-2
14	Tigre	22	19	6	4	9	24	37	-13
15	Olimpo	20	19	6	2	11	21	32	-11
16	Lanús	18	19	5	3	11	26	39	-13
17	Gimnasia de La Plata	17	19	4	5	10	19	26	-7
18	San Martín (SJ)	17	19	5	2	12	20	30	-10
19	Gimnasia de Jujuy	15	19	2	9	8	20	28	-8
20	Racing Club	15	19	2	9	8	14	22	-8

Top Scorers

Positions as of June 25, 2008

Position	Player	Team	Goals
1	Darío Cvitanich	Banfield	13
2	Martín Palermo	Boca Juniors	10
3	Martín Bravo	San Martín (San Juan)	9
	Germán Denis	Independiente
	Santiago Salcedo	Newell's Old Boys
	Diego Buonanotte	River Plate
7	Rubén Ramírez	Colón de Santa Fe	8
	Luciano Leguizamón	Arsenal de Sarandí
	César Carranza	Gimnasia de Jujuy
9	Daniel Montenegro	Independiente	7
	Santiago Silva	Vélez Sársfield
	Gonzalo Bergessio	San Lorenzo
	José Sand	Lanús

Aggregate table

Position	Team	Points	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference
1	Boca Juniors	70	38	20	10	8	65	33	+32
2	Estudiantes de La Plata	69	38	19	12	7	56	35	+21
3	River Plate	66	38	19	9	10	60	46	+14
4	San Lorenzo	64	38	19	7	12	59	48	+11
5	Argentinos Juniors	61	38	18	7	13	52	44	+8
6	Independiente	59	38	16	11	11	58	38	+20
7	Vélez Sársfield	59	38	17	8	13	49	42	+7
8	Lanús	56	38	16	8	14	60	60	0
9	Newell's Old Boys	56	38	16	8	14	37	41	-4
10	Tigre	56	38	16	8	14	52	57	-5
11	Banfield	54	38	16	6	16	58	57	+1
12	Huracán	52	38	13	13	12	39	39	0
13	Arsenal de Sarandí	51	38	14	9	15	41	49	-8
14	Colón de Santa Fe	45	38	12	9	17	44	49	-5
15	Olimpo	42	38	12	6	20	39	56	-17
16	Rosario Central	41	38	9	14	15	47	56	-9
17	Racing Club	40	38	9	13	16	37	46	-9
18	Gimnasia de La Plata	36	38	9	9	20	34	53	-19
19	Gimnasia de Jujuy	35	38	7	14	17	42	59	-17
20	San Martín (SJ)	35	38	10	5	23	38	59	-21

	Invitee to Copa Sudamericana 2008 as defending champions.
	Invitees to Copa Sudamericana 2008.
	Qualified to Copa Sudamericana 2008.

Relegation

positions as of June 22, 2008.

Team	Average	Points	Played	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Boca Juniors	2.070	236	114	83/38	83/38	70/38
Estudiantes de La Plata	1.772	202	114	52/38	81/38	69/38
River Plate	1.746	199	114	62/38	71/38	66/38
San Lorenzo	1.693	193	114	56/38	73/38	64/38
Vélez Sársfield	1.518	173	114	58/38	56/38	59/38
Lanús	1.518	173	114	58/38	59/38	56/38
Independiente	1.500	171	114	55/38	57/38	59/38
Tigre	1.474	56	38	N/A	N/A	56/38
Argentinos Juniors	1.377	157	114	50/38	46/38	61/38
Arsenal de Sarandí	1.377	157	114	44/38	62/38	51/38
Huracán	1.368	52	38	N/A	N/A	52/38
Banfield	1.333	152	114	59/38	39/38	54/38
Gimnasia de La Plata	1.272	145	114	69/38	40/38	36/38
Newell's Old Boys	1.246	142	114	51/38	38/38	53/38
Rosario Central	1.211	138	114	45/38	52/38	41/38
Colón de Santa Fe	1.202	137	114	46/38	46/38	45/38
Racing Club	1.167	133	114	44/38	49/38	40/38
Gimnasia de Jujuy	1.132	129	114	51/38	43/38	35/38
Olimpo	1.105	42	38	N/A	N/A	42/38
San Martín (SJ)	0.921	35	38	N/A	N/A	35/38

Promotion playoff

Teams and schedules will be decided based on average after the end of the Closing tournament.

The first and second legs of the final are scheduled to be played on June 25 and June 29, respectively.

Date Time	Venue	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Referee	Match Report(s)
2008-06-25 17:00 ET	Estadio 15 de Abril, Santa Fe	Unión de Santa Fe Serrizuela 44'	1-1	Gimnasia de Jujuy Carranza 34'	Alejandro Sabino	Report Template:Es
2008-06-29 17:10 ET	Estadio 23 de Agosto, San Salvador de Jujuy	Gimnasia de Jujuy Arraya 68'	1-0	Unión de Santa Fe	Diego Abal	Report Template:Es

Gimnasia de Jujuy wins 2-1 and stays in the Argentine First Division, while Unión de Santa Fe does not get promoted and remains in Argentine Nacional B.

Date Time	Venue	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Referee	Match Report(s)
2008-06-25 20:10 ET	Estadio Córdoba , Córdoba	Belgrano de Córdoba Gigli 76'	1-1	Racing Club Sava 14'	Gustavo Bassi	Report Template:Es
2008-06-29 14:10 ET	Presidente Perón, Avellaneda	Racing Club Morales 10'	1-0	Belgrano de Córdoba	Sergio Pezzotta	Report Template:Es

Racing Club wins 2-1 and stays in the Argentine First Division, while Belgrano de Córdoba does not get promoted and remains in Argentine Nacional B.

Managerial Changes

This is a list of the managerial changes in the Argentine Primera during the 2007-2008 season.

Club	Manager out	Replaced by
Gimnasia La Plata	Francisco Maturana	1º Julio Falcioni 2º Guillermo Sanguinetti
Argentinos Juniors	Ricardo Caruso Lombardi	Néstor Gorosito
Huracán	Antonio Mohamed	1º Osvaldo Ardiles 2º Claudio Ubeda
Newell's Old Boys	Pablo Marini	1º Ricardo Caruso Lombardi 2º Fernando Gamboa
Olimpo	Guillermo Rivarola	1º Roberto Saporiti 2º Daniel Florit
Rosario Central	Carlos Ischia	Leonardo Madelón
Gimnasia de Jujuy	Mario Gómez	1º Carlos Ramaciotti 2º Omar Labruna
Vélez Sársfield	Ricardo La Volpe	Hugo Tocalli
River Plate	Daniel Passarella	Diego Simeone
Racing Club	Gustavo Costas	1º Miguel Ángel Micó 2º Juan Manuel Llop
Estudiantes	Diego Simeone	Roberto Sensini
Boca Juniors	Miguel Ángel Russo	Carlos Ischia
Colón de Santa Fe	Leonardo Astrada	Antonio Mohamed
Independiente	Pedro Troglio	1º Miguel Ángel Santoro 2º Claudio Borghi
Banfield	Juan Manuel Llop	1º Miguel Jerez 2º Jorge Burruchaga
San Lorenzo	Ramón Díaz	Miguel Ángel Russo
Arsenal de Sarandí	Gustavo Alfaro	Daniel Garnero
Lanús	Ramón Cabrero	Luis Zubeldía

Transfers

See List of Primera División Argentina football transfers - 2008-09.

Lower Leagues

Level	Tournament	Champion	Promoted	Relegated
2nd	Primera B Nacional	San Martín de Tucumán	San Martín de Tucumán Godoy Cruz	Almirante Brown Ben Hur Nueva Chicago
3rd	Primera B Metropolitana	All Boys	All Boys Los Andes	Defensores de Cambaceres
3rd (Interior)	Torneo Argentino A	Atlético Tucumán	Atlético Tucumán	La Florida Luján de Cuyo Sportivo Patria La Plata FC
4th	Primera C Metropolitana	Colegiales	Colegiales	Sportivo Dock Sud San Martín de Burzaco
4th (interior)	Torneo Argentino B		Central Córdoba Alvarado Patronato Deportivo Maipú	Athletico Ñuñorco Tres Algarrobos Atlético Maronese Gimnasia y Esgrima de Santa Fe
5th	Primera D Metropolitana	Defensores Unidos	Defensores Unidos Berazategui	Muñiz

Argentine Clubs in International Competitions

Team	FIFA Club WC 2007	Copa Sudamericana 2007	Copa Libertadores 2008
Boca Juniors	Runner up	Round of 16	Semifinal
River Plate	N/A	Semifinal	Round of 16
Estudiantes de La Plata	N/A	Preliminary Round	Round of 16
San Lorenzo	N/A	Preliminary Round	Quarterfinal
Arsenal de Sarandí	N/A	Champions	Group Stage
Lanús	N/A	Round of 16	Round of 16

National Team

This section covers Argentina's matches from August 1, 2007 to July 31, 2008.

Friendly matches

Norway v Argentina

August 22, 2007	Norway	2 – 1	Argentina	Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo
	Carew 11' (pen.), 57'	(Report)	Rodríguez 83'

Australia v Argentina

September 11, 2007	Australia	0 – 1	Argentina	MCG, Melbourne
			Demichelis 48'

Egypt v Argentina

March 26, 2008	Egypt	0 – 2	Argentina	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
			Agüero 74' Burdisso 84'

Mexico v Argentina

June 4, 2008	Mexico	1 – 4	Argentina	Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego
	Zinha 62'		Burdisso 11' Messi 18' Rodríguez 29' Agüero 71'	Attendance: 68,498

United States v Argentina

June 8, 2008	United States	0 – 0	Argentina	Giants Stadium, East Rutherford
				Attendance: 78,682

2010 World Cup qualifiers

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)

Argentina v Chile

October 13, 2007 Round 1	Argentina	2 – 0	Chile	Estadio Antonio V. Liberti, Buenos Aires
17:40 UTC-3	Riquelme 27', 45'	(Report)		Attendance: 55,000 Referee: Martín Vásquez (Uruguay)

Venezuela v Argentina

October 16, 2007 Round 2	Venezuela	0 – 2	Argentina	Estadio José Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo
20:40 UTC-4:30		(Report)	Milito 15' Messi 18'	Attendance: 10,600 Referee: Carlos Eugênio Simon (Brazil)

Argentina v Bolivia

November 17, 2007 Round 3	Argentina	3 – 0	Bolivia	Estadio Antonio V. Liberti, Buenos Aires
16:00 UTC-3	Agüero 41' Riquelme 57', 74'	(Report)		Attendance: 43,308 Referee: Victor Hugo Rivera (Peru)

Colombia v Argentina

November 20, 2007 Round 4	Colombia	2 – 1	Argentina	Estadio El Campín, Bogotá
19:50 UTC-5	Bustos 62' D. Moreno 83'	(Report)	Messi 36'	Attendance: 41,700 Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)

Argentina v Ecuador

June 15, 2008 Round 5	Argentina	1 – 1	Ecuador	Estadio Antonio V. Liberti, Buenos Aires
18:10 UTC-5	Palacio 89'	(Report)	Urrutia 69'	Attendance: 41,167 Referee: René Ortubé (Bolivia)

Brazil v Argentina

June 18, 2008 Round 6	Brazil	0 – 0	Argentina	Mineirão, Belo Horizonte
21:50 UTC-3		(Report)		Attendance: 65,000 Referee: Óscar Ruiz (Colombia)

  Win   Draw   Loss

External links

• AFA