Boca close in on title

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-22 09:59

BUENOS AIRES: Late goals from Rodrigo Palacio and Cristian Chavez helped Boca Juniors win 3-1 over a San Lorenzo squad weakened by two red cards in the Argentine playoff race on Saturday.

The victory puts the Buenos Aires club in position to clinch the Apertura title with just a draw on Tuesday, when they play Tigre in the final match of a round-robin to break a three-way logjam at the top of the regular season standings.

"It was a tough match and we hope to repeat against Tigre," Boca coach Carlos Ischia said. "We're almost there."

Lucas Viatri opened the scoring for Boca shortly before halftime when he headed in a corner kick from Juan Roman Riquelme.

Santiago Solari equalized in the 60th minute with a shot that slipped through the hands of Boca goalkeeper Javier Garcia.

Palacio gave the blue and gold the lead for good in the 76th on a counterattack, assisted by Riquelme, and Chavez sealed the result two minutes into stoppage time.

The match was held at neutral Racing Club before 25,000 spectators - far less than the stadium's capacity of 65,000, for security reasons. San Lorenzo defeated Tigre 2-1 on Wednesday in the first round-robin match. That game was halted for several minutes when fans broke up stadium seats and hurled them onto the field after Tigre's goalie was sent off for punching an opposing player.

Tigre, San Lorenzo and Boca all finished the season with 39 points, forcing the title race to be extended for only the second time. In 1968, Velez Sarsfield won the Apertura after a three-way battle with River Plate and Racing Club.

Boca has won 22 titles and San Lorenzo 10, while Tigre has never won.

Agencies