Monday, November 26, 2012


Relegation and return to Primera

Argentinos finished 20th and last in 1995 Clausura and was again saved by the points averaging system, the next year squad finished bottom of the Clausura and was relegated from the Primera División only eleven years after being champions of South America.
In the 1996–1997 season Argentinos won the second division under manager Osvaldo Sosa to bounce back into the Primera at the first attempt. The team remained in the top flight until it was relegated again after another sequence of poor finishes. The best finish Argentinos managed in that period was 4th in the 2001 Clausura.
Argentinos spent two seasons in the 2nd division before returning in 2004 through a playoff with Talleres de Córdoba who had finished the season in 3rd place in the Primera, but had to play in the relegation playoff due to effect of their poor form in the previous 2 seasons on their standings in the points averaging table.
Argentinos spent a couple of nervous seasons narrowly avoiding relegation in 2005 by beating Atlético de Rafaela in a playoff. The following season it survived a playoff against Huracán. The 2006–2007 season saw Argentinos finally claw its way clear from the relegation places after over two years of flirting with relegation.
In 2008 Argentinos earned the right to play in an international tournament for the first time in 12 years by qualifying for the Copa Sudamericana 2008. The team eventually progressed to the semi-final where it was eliminated by Estudiantes de La Plata over two legs despite beating them 5–0 in the league game which was sandwiched between the cup ties.
In June 2009, former star player Claudio Borghi took over as manager of the club following a poor performance in the 2009 Clausura tournament where the club had finisned 20th and last in the table with only 2 wins from their 19 games.
At the beginning of the Clausura 2010 championship, Argentinos set itself the target of matching or improving on the 61 points from the 2007–08 season to avoid dropping further down the relegation table.
The team recorded an impressive 6–3 win against Lanús in its second fixture of the campaign, but after 5 games this would be its only victory, with two draws and two defeats. Argentinos won its 6th fixture against Estudiantes de La Plata which was the start of a 14 game unbeaten streak that saw Argentinos finish 1 point ahead of Estudiantes at the end of the season. The most significant result in this 14 game run was in the penultimate fixture against title challengers Independiente, which saw Argentinos come back from 1–3 down to win 4–3, which featured two goals in the final minutes of the game to seal the win and leave Argentinos at the top of the table with one game to play. Argentinos finally won its first domestic championship in 25 years with a 1–2 away win against Huracán in the Estadio Tomás Adolfo Ducó.