Real Mataderos Reservas1 - 0
Club A Sac
1,492 fans in the stadium · gate receipts: $1,845,500
Match report
Real Mataderos Reserves took a victory worth every drop of sweat on the Mataderos pitch, defeating Federación Pompeya by the odd goal in a match that summed up the essence of reserve football: tactical, tight, no quarter given. The final 1-0 speaks of a match where both teams respected the structure, where the 4-4-2 formations worked like backbones that ordered every movement, and where the home side knew how to make use of playing at home to take three points that keep their hopes alive in the Primera L of GBA Oeste.
Mataderos built their win on the back of an organised midfield where Claudio Encina, the holding midfielder aged thirty-three and born in Comodoro Rivadavia, performed the role of brain and shield. With that 7.7 rating, Encina was the team’s compass, reading every pass before it happened, cutting out lines that Federación Pompeya tried to open from his flank. Alongside him, Federico Cuello on the left showed his trademark versatility in midfield, alternating moves between both profiles with a naturalness that more than once unsettled the opposition. Cuello, the Mendocino aged twenty-three with that gift for striking equally well with either foot, was a disruptive force in Federación Pompeya’s build-up. Pipa Quintana on the right also did his job, though he picked up a yellow card that made him tread carefully for the rest of the match, aware that the referee was not going to give anything away on an afternoon when yellow cards flew about frequently.
At the other end, Federación Pompeya could not find the spaces they needed. Ricardo Bauer, the young twenty-one-year-old striker who arrived from Comodoro Rivadavia with a story of footballing hardship but real hunger, barely had any chances to show his goalscoring instinct. The 6.5 rating put him in the decent but limited category, and Mataderos’ shape would not allow him to breathe. Pocho Tronci, the thirty-one-year-old veteran who at one time had been tipped to help them go up, could not break through the home defence. Both visitors were neutralised by a system that worked, by Enrique Rebollo’s concentration at right-back and by the overall solidity of a team that knew how to keep its nerve in the moments that mattered.
The goal arrived without the data offering the live account of the move, but the result tells of a Mataderos side that turned their chance into a goal across ninety minutes of controlled pressure. Dylan Pessina, the Rosario-born striker aged twenty-four who arrived in this football almost by chance, was the man who scored the goal that earned the win. It was not spectacular, not one of those that linger in the memory, but it was effective: what mattered in a Primera L of GBA Oeste where margins are tight and points are worth gold. Mataderos close out matchday seventeen in the upper reaches, Federación Pompeya leave empty-handed from a pitch where Argentine football continues to write stories without glory but full of hard work.
Form guide
Real Mataderos Reservas came in with 1 win, 1 draw and 3 defeats in their last 5 matches.
Club A Sac came in with 0 wins, 3 draws and 2 defeats in their last 5 matches.
Head-to-head
In the last 2 meetings between Real Mataderos Reservas and Club A Sac: 0 wins for Real Mataderos Reservas, 1 draw and 1 for Club A Sac.
Line-ups
Real Mataderos Reservas (4-4-2): Zacarías Espinosa, Claudio Faud, Octavio Zamora, Santi Zardini, Enrique Rebollo, Federico Cuello, Claudio Encina, Omar Munarriz, Pipa Quintana, Cesar Argento, Dylan Pessina.
Club A Sac (4-4-2): Giuliano Bernardini, Ignacio Branca, Gerardo Becker, Samuel Miguens, Seba Soriano, Nene Bartolini, Lucas Baragiola, Zaid Forni, Dylan Milos, Ricardo Bauer, Pocho Tronci.
Where they stand
In Primera L - GBA Oeste, Real Mataderos Reservas are in position 4 with 45 points; Club A Sac are in position 15 with 28 points. See the full table
Other results from matchday 17
About the clubs
Real Mataderos Reservas, with 1,592 fans. Home ground: Estadio Real Mataderos Reservas.
Club A Sac ("A por ellos"), with 1,994 fans. Home ground: A Sac Stadium.
Coming up
Next match for Real Mataderos Reservas: vs su proximo rival — Sunday 1 November at 01:00 GMT
Next match for Club A Sac: vs su proximo rival — Friday 30 October at 19:00 GMT
This match was played by two real managers on ELDT, the free online football manager game. Take your own club from the bottom all the way to the top flight.