First, the unavoidable: River Plate have been crowned champions of Argentina for the first time in four years. A 2-1 win at home to Olimpo de Bahía Blanca on Sunday, combined with Estudiantes’ simultaneous goalless draw against relegation strugglers Colón, was enough to hand the Millonarios the title with a match to spare. Hot young forward Diego Buonanotte was the man-of-the-match, scoring both goals for the hosts (and both very good ones at that), and has in fact been widely hailed, alongside a revitalised Ariel Ortega, as the side’s most important player of the campaign – top scorer, despite not playing as the main striker, and without a doubt the player who’s shown the most improvement under Diego Simeone in the ex-Estudiantes boss’s first six months in charge at River.

The fact that this title has come in Simeone’s first campaign in charge, six months after River were a dismal 14^th in the Apertura under Daniel Passarella, is one of the more interesting points regarding the end to their trophy drought. A six-month turnaround like that would be impressive enough on its own (in fact it mirrors the transformation Ramón Díaz, River’s most successful ever manager, made with San Lorenzo this time last year), but it’s also Simeone’s second league title as a manager – a career he only embarked on two-and-a-half years ago. Having proven that the 2006 Apertura he claimed with Estudiantes was no fluke, he’ll now set about getting River to play the way he wants them to, because in spite of winning the title, he’s still not arrived at his ideal set-up yet. Expect to see the selección‘s second most capped player ever managing in Europe before long.

Getting the title race wrapped up at this stage, one match before the end of the season, could actually have prevented a bit of an anti-climax, because there’s a two-week gap between the most recent round of matches and the final weekend, thanks to the South American qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup taking place this week; Argentina playing Ecuador and Brazil. Whilst the final weekend won’t be too exciting at the top of the table when the club game reconvenes, though, the relegation struggle could scarcely be any tighter.

In the round of matches just passed, both of the title-effecting matches also had a bearing on the other end of the table. Olimpo’s defeat and Colón’s failure to win (after referee Héctor Baldassi failed to award a clear penalty in their favour with five minutes remaining) combined with Racing’s second win of the Clausura, 1-0 over Huracán, to leave the troubled Avellaneda giants safe at last from direct relegation. They’ve got a chance on the last day to avoid even the relegation playoffs. Colón are currently safe, and stand one point above Racing. Colón host Racing on the final day. It’s fair to say a dull encounter isn’t likely.

Racing are also the subject of the third, and perhaps most interesting point of this article. It’s certainly the point which comes closest to the original Pitch Invasion ethos of fan culture. The weekend before last, on the 31^st May, saw Independiente ‘host’ Racing (the match was played in Vélez Sársfield’s ground due to Independiente’s current groundshare with Racing whilst their own stadium is redeveloped) in the clásico de Avellaneda, the country’s second biggest derby behind the super. The match was a fairly uneventful 0-0, but off the pitch something interesting, if under-reported, was going on.

The match saw an experiment with stadium security which could prove either inspired, or the most stupid thing imaginable. After one trial run, nothing can be said for certain. But sit down before you read the next sentence. In the home end, Independiente’s barra brava provided the official security in the stand behind the goal. The product of talks between the Independiente hierarchy and an NGO, the plan saw 65 barras deployed as private security officers, with identifying jackets and walkie-talkies, for the match.

There are advantages: the barras, being recognised by their peers and perhaps feared by other fans, occupy areas of the stands the police simply aren’t safe going into, and they’re a lot cheaper than hiring professional security forces. The move also seems to be further confirmation that Pablo ‘Bebote‘ Alvarez, the capo of the Independiente barra, is indeed going through a process of personal reinvention as a more socially conscientious individual.

The part-time lawkeepers didn’t encounter any problems from other fans and were paid AR$150 (around US$50) for their services for the match, and observers from the authorities of the City of Buenos Aires were reportedly impressed by how the experiment went. But for the Olé article linked to above, it passed almost unremarked in the print press, and may well go no further. If the system gets used again, though, it could either prove a turning-point in Latin America’s struggle against football violence, or just authorise the barras to keep on doing whatever the hell they want. Interesting though the experiment was, one shudders to think what might have happened had it been tried with a more active set of barras such as those of River, Boca or Newell’s…

A title win, a relegation struggle to the wire and a fascinating new take on sporting security in the last week-and-a-half, then. There are still places in the Copas Libertadores and Sudamericana to play for, as well as deciding those relegation slots (Olimpo and Gimnasia de Jujuy to decide whether they go down automatically or go into the playoffs, Racing and Colón’s head-to-head to decide the battle for 16^th spot in the Promedio). For the country’s most domestically successful club, though, the party’s started already. Four years might not be a long gap between title for many sides, but for River Plate, it’s been an eternity. A promising young manager and yet another potential young Argentine attacking phenomenon have helped them to put that right at last.

Finally, be sure to vote in the Hasta El Gol Siempre Award for Best Argentine Footballer in a Foreign League.

Photo credit: juze1980, via the Hasta El Gol Siempre Flickr pool

The match, a week-and-a-half ago now, came in the middle of the lowest week of River’s season so far. After a 2-1 loss in the first leg of their Copa Libertadores last sixteen tie with San Lorenzo, they lost 1-0 in La Bombonera, Sebastián Battaglia scoring the only goal of the game for Boca. The contest improved a fair bit after half time, but was still never up to much, with River’s attacks looking increasingly desperate as the minutes ticked down. Desperation didn’t seem to be on the agenda a few nights later, though, when they took on San Lorenzo in the second leg of the Copa tie.

The away goal gave River a lifeline, and after an hour, as Sebastián Abreu slotted home a penalty, they were completely in control. Ahead on aggregate, 2-0 up on the night and San Lorenzo, to boot, had had two men sent off. With 30 minutes left, the visitors’ challenge looked as dead in the water as Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the Democratic US Presidential nomination. But Ramón Díaz’s men, like Clinton, never quite know when they’re beaten in this Copa, and Gonzalo Bergessio scored twice in five minutes for San Lorenzo, who then hung on for a 2-2 draw on the night and an incredible 4-3 aggregate win. If there was such a thing as a superdelegate in the Copa, it would surely be San Lorenzo boss Ramón Díaz, whose side who could meet Boca in the semi-final, if both sides advance from their quarters, and are dreaming of finally claiming their first Copa.

This weekend just gone, though, saw things get dramatically better for River and the other Argentine side to be eliminated in the last sixteen of the Copa, Estudiantes. Both were still joint leaders of the Torneo Clausura table going into the last round of matches, and Estudiantes beat Boca to open up a gap at the top again – Boca’s win over River the previous week had taken them just a point from the summit. A couple of hours after that match in La Plata, River hosted Estudiantes’ cross-city rivals, Gimnasia. Playing poorly in the first half, they trailed 2-1 at half time, but blew their opponents away in the second period to run out 4-2 winners and return to the top of the table. River and Estudiantes now have 30 points each, Vélez Sársfield and San Lorenzo 27, Independiente and Boca 26. Five matches remain. Are you reading, Mr. Scudamore?

On Sunday, River have another clásico, this time away to fellow high-fliers Independiente, whilst Estudiantes ‘visit’ Gimnasia (they share a stadium at present) in the La Plata clásico. And as if there weren’t enough rivalries to be going on with for a weekend, Boca host Racing – who desperately need points from somewhere, anywhere, to avoid a relegation playoff – and Huracán play San Lorenzo in yet another derby. The super may be the headline-getter, but it’s far from Argentina’s only rivalry.

One of the sides involved in the upcoming ‘weekend of hate’ have been making themselves look a little stupid this week already, though. Regular readers, see if you can guess who. It’ll come as a surprise to no-one who remembers my previous Pitch Invasion columns to hear that the ones being pointed and laughed at by their peers are Racing. Yes, them again. They’ve slipped well and truly into the relegation zone and are now behind Rosario Central in the Promedio, occupying a relegation playoff place. Last weekend they were absolutely pathetic in the second half of their 1-1 draw against Argentinos Juniors, and were met on Monday by a group of unhappy fans at their training session.

So far, so usual for a side who’ve been woeful for a few years now. But this Monday was a little different. One fan, Mauro Paidón, voiced his disgust at the players’ performance more volubly than others. After an exchange of views with a couple of the squad, he returned to his car, Upon which two Lucozade bottles landed close by him having been thrown over the fence from the training pitch. ‘My back was turned, so I didn’t see which players threw them,’ he told the press. It’s a thoroughly embarrassing incident for the Avellaneda club, but it’s also entirely in keeping with the way their season’s going now. One Racing-supporting friend tells me most weeks in emails that the current side are the worst he can ever remember the club having, and that there’s no reason a decent B Nacional side wouldn’t be able to beat them in a promotion playoff if they can’t get out of this mess. With Boca coming up this weekend and the Avellaneda derby against Independiente also still on the agenda, it’s hard to see a way out for La Academia now.

The quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores are next up, then. Boca take on Atlas on Wednesday evening in Vélez Sársfield’s stadium for the home leg. La Bombonera is closed for the quarters and the semis after a linesman was hit by an ice cube thrown from the VIP section at the tail end of their first leg 2-1 win over Cruzeiro in the last sixteen. San Lorenzo take on LDU Quito, Estudiantes’ second round conquerors, on Thursday evening, and will be looking for a big win in the first – home – leg to give them some cushion before travelling to play at altitude in the Ecuadorian capital. The vanquished parties, River and Estudiantes, now have only the league to concentrate on – but it’s those two who are in the driving seat where that campaign is concerned.