mouth Juniors tie 2-2 with Argentine Juniors in a vibrant match this Saturday and was left with the first ticket to the final of the Diego Maradona Cup of Argentine football, while River Plate stay out of the title fight to fall 2-0 with Independent.
Boca, who lined up a formation with several substitutes, recovered from an adverse start, as Argentins started better and took the lead with a goal from Diego Sosa (9).
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The ‘Xeneize’ team turned the score around with goals from Mauro Zárate (24), after a brilliant assist from the Colombian Edwin Cardona, And Ramon Wanchope Abila (60), who in the first half missed a penalty (42), which he raised above the crossbar.
Boca seemed to be heading smoothly to the final, but Fausto Vera (87) tied for Argentines, who needed to win to be a finalist.
Thus, Boca finished at the top of Group A of the Champion Phase with 9 points, followed by River (8 and goal difference +1) and Argentines Juniors (8 and 0), and in the final of the Copa Maradona s ‘will face the winner of Group B, which will be known on Sunday, with Banfield, Tallers de Córdoba and Gimnàstica la Plata as candidates to get the other ticket to the definition.
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Beyond playing the final of the Copa Maradona next week, Boca has as its main goal the Copa Libertadores, so it reserved most of its owners for the rematch of the semifinal against the Brazilian Santos, which will be played next Wednesday in Vila Belmiro after drawing 0-0 the first game.
On the other hand, River came with a good chance of fighting for a place in the final, against the already eliminated Independent, but the ‘Red’, who even ran out of technical director in the last hours for the resignation of Lucas Pusineri, surprised him with a double by the skilled Alan Velasco (24 and 40), in a duel that showed in low form the ‘Millionaires’.
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Like Boca, River will play all or nothing in the other semifinal of the Copa Libertadores next Tuesday, when he visits Palmeiras in Sao Paulo. Those led by Marcelo Gallardo have to go back three goals as visitors, after falling 3-0 in the first match.
SPORTS
With AFP