Medium size clubs dominate the Argentinean League (Yahoo)

After two decades of dominion of the greatest clubs and of the major tradition, such as Boca Juniors and River Plate, comes the moment of the medium teams in the Argentinean football, with the leadership of Estudiantes de La Plata and Vélez Sársfield, followed very near by Lanús, entities that have grown in the last times thanks to their efficient economic management..

Perhaps Vélez and Lanús are older than Estudiantes in their institutional growth what allows the successive improvement of their teams, what, in its turn, generated excellent results, specially in Velez, last Champion of the first of the two championships of the year, the Clausura 2009, but Estudiantes de la Plata reemerged their winning music of the sixties when being only an intermediate club with less fans than others of major weigh, as Boca River, Independiente, Racing or San Lorenzo, obtained consecutive three Copas Libertadores de America between 1968 and 1970 and lost the fourth in the final of 1971 vs Nacional of Uruguay, imposing also in the Intercontinental Cup of 1968 vs Manchester United of Bobby Charlton and George Best.

Conducted by the children of those players, special case of Juan Sebastian Veron, son of the ex forwarder of the sixties Juan Ramon Veron, Estudiantes formed a team with a great base and very good football, directed by Alejandro Sabella, a clue player in the eighties in the team that won two consecutive contests under the technical direction of Carlos Bilardo, then projected from there to the Argentinean team Champion of the World in 1986 and finalist in 1990. Afterwards Sabella was assistant to Daniel Passarella in River Plate as well as in the Argentinean team in France 1998 and afterwards he decided an own way, very successful and which derives him now to the next World Championship of Clubs in Abu Dabi where certainly he will have to play the final vs Barcelona.

Estudiantes not only won brilliantly the last Edition of the Copa Libertadores vs Cruceiro de Brasil in their own country but now are leaders in the new contest Apertura 2009, with a football every time more solid and generating good spectacles, meanwhile their major rival is not any other but Velez, Argentinean Champion and had converted in the “sixth big team in Argentine” since 1993 with Carlos Bianchi as coach, started a successful cycle with good regularity winning also the two contests of the season 1995/96, 1998, 2005 and the present, but besides, won the Copa Libertadores in 1994, the Intercontinental of the same year vs Milan of Fabio Capello, and the Recopa and the Supercopa of Southamerica in 1996.

As to the historical point of the Argentinean football, Velez is already in the fifth place in the positions, only under the River, Boca, Independiente and San Lorenzo, and the same place occupies in quantity of won trophies since 1931 when started professionally plus that they have a model club, with great quantity of physical activities as well as social, and a Stadium of great capacity and well place in the west side of the city of Buenos Aires.

Lanus had also a great managing group in these years. After suffering between Second and even one year in Third division after its descend of category in 1977, it recovered thanks to the excellent task performed by the managers and the club absorbed an immense quarters of the city placed a few kilometers of the Argentinean metropoli, though had to compete with other neighbor clubs as Banfield, Arsenal, Talleres, Temperley or El Porvenir, all of ascend contests.

The ordered balance of Lanus and the offer as club for the inhabitants of the zone made that the stadium was being improved, the capacity of the team increase and so reached to obtain an Argentinean championship in 2007 and an International title with the Copa Conmebol and now participates as one of the three Argentinean representatives (the others are San Lorenzo and Velez, in the Copa Sudamericana (a kind of UEFA cup in Southamerica), in the eighth-final, with Boca, River and Tigre, already eliminated.

But it should be also cleared that Estudiantes, Vélez and Lanús are in the summit of the Argentinean football, in a good measure it obeys the crisis of Boca, River and Independiente, three of the great animators of the past.

Independiente entered in an Institutional crisis from the nineties, with a wandering policy that made that only two championships were won since 1994 to now and when two are being played per year, wandering to be a local in different stadium until finally, as everything indicates, end of 2009 they will be able to return to their own that the directives are restructuring.

River is in the worst moment of its history, to such a point that being the club with more Argentinean professional trophies, is only five matches of distance of the teams that fight not to descend of category, failing thirty three matches to the end of the present season 2009/2010, due to serious failures of the directives and irregularities of expenses and registering of players and having too much place for the violent.

Finally, Boca seems to have entered in a fall of their enormous dominion of the Southamerican football of these years, ending the golden generation of players who are veteran and finishing their carriers, as Martin Palermo, Roberto Abbondanzieri or Hugo Ibarra..

Boca did not know to avail a Golden generation of the youth that appeared thanks to an excellent job in the base starting in the nineties and the registering of the coach Alfio Basile, who until 2008 directed the Argentinean team. Reason due to which they returned to the veterans delaying the promises, without good results.

It seems that in the Argentinean football is the time for medium teams and for a good job of their directives.