Title Decider in Argentina

Velez and Huracan are not the most glamorous clubs in Argentine football. Neither are in the traditional "big 5" (Boca, River, Racing, San Lorenzo, and Independiente). Neither have made winning things a regular occurrence of late. Velez' only title of the last 10 years came when they won 2005's Clausura, after they had a very successful period in the mid 90s that brought them to prominence. Huracan have only won a single first division title in their professional history, 1973's "Metropolitano", and in recent years they've spent much of their time in the second division.

But today they will meet to decide the winner of the Clausura (closing tournament). This isn't technically a playoff, as it's merely coincidence that it worked out that the top two would meet in the season's final match. Both sides have taken advantage of the "bigger" clubs all having a relatively weak tournament, and all three of the clubs that formed the Apertura playoff (Boca, Tigre, and San Lorenzo) have finished in the bottom half of this Clausura. Much of this Clausura has been a three horse race, with Lanus acting as the other...horse. They were only knocked out of the equation when they drew with Velez 1-1 in the last round of matches, after having taken a 1-0 lead into the final 20 minutes.

For Velez, it is not a complete surprise to be in this position. As previously mentioned, they have enjoyed a decent measure of recent success, and even over the past few seasons, they've consistently finished in the top half. For Huracan, this is somewhat shocking. They finished 17th in the Apertura, and they were in the second division as recently as 2007. Near the end of the Apertura they were beaten 4-1 by archrivals San Lorenzo, as they seemed to be heading for a title (they eventually lost out in the aforementioned playoff). In the Clausura Huracan flipped it, beating San Lorenzo 1-0 in a vital match. They head into this final match on 38 points, 1 ahead of Velez, and therefore will only need a draw. But Velez will be playing at home, and are considered slight favorites heading into the match.