River wins, Godoy Cruz top in Argentina

Posted Friday, February 05, 2010 by AP

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)—Defender Paulo Ferrari scored twice as River Plate notched a 3-2 win at Chacarita Juniors in round two of the Argentine Clausura tournament on Thursday.

In the day’s other matches, Cesar Carranza scored the only goal as Godoy Cruz moved to the top of the table with a 1-0 win at San Lorenzo and Andres Silvera hit a hat-trick as Independiente had a 3-1 home win against Atletico Tucuman.

River Plate went ahead in the 21st minute when Ferrari shot under the goalkeeper after the ball had rebounded into his path.

He soon added a second following a pass by Paraguayan midfielder Rodrigo Rojas in the 28th.

Chacarita had to wait until the 76th to get on the scoreboard when defender Christian Grabinski headed home, but River restored its two-goal buffer in the 81st when striker Gustavo Canales fed young midfielder Gustavo Bou.

Facundo Parra made it 3-2 with a header in the 87th minute and Chacarita had what appeared an equalizing goal disallowed in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

Elsewhere, Godoy Cruz became the only team with two wins out of two in the Clausura tournament after Carranza’s winner secured victory against San Lorenzo.

The striker slipped the ball past goalkeeper Pablo Migliore after service from Nicolas Olmedo in the 36th minute.

In Thursday’s final game, Andres Silvera gave Independiente the lead against Atletico Tucuman in the 22nd minute when he tapped home a cross-shot from young defender Leonel Galeano.

Paraguayan striker Fabio Escobar equalized for Tucuman from a corner in the 28th minute, but Silvera was on target twice in two minutes to win the game for Independiente.

Silvera slipped home a cross from Luciano German in the 57th minute and completed his hat-trick with a header from Patricio Rodriguez’s lobbed cross in the 58th.

Thursday’s action concluded three days of midweek fixtures. On Wednesday, Gimnasia beat rivals Estudiantes 3-1; Boca Juniors downed Lanus by the same score, while Huracan had a 2-1 home win over Newell’s Old Boys.

Tuesday saw Tigre win 1-0 at Rosario Central, Velez Sarsfield triumph 3-0 at Arsenal, and Colon de Santa Fe defeat Racing 2-1.