Atlético Tucumán edged past Estudiantes de Río Cuarto 1-0 in the fifth round of the Clausura phase of Argentina's professional league. The win came at Antonio Candini on Sunday evening, though not before the away side lost one of their midfielders to a second yellow card.
For most of the contest the visitors had little of note to show for their efforts. They created one big chance and registered three shots on target, but the only moment that mattered arrived in the eighty-second minute. C. D. Ferreira Namandu found the net and that was enough to settle it.
Estudiantes did not lack for activity. They launched one hundred and sixteen attacks, completed two hundred and forty-seven passes, and even held the ball for forty-nine percent of the time. But their single shot on target came from nowhere near a clear opportunity. The visitors, meanwhile, sat deep and soaked it up, then punished them from a moment of clarity.
The discipline record told its own story. I. Galvan picked up two yellows — one in the seventieth and another in the eighty-ninth — and was sent off for his trouble. Estudiantes' I. Hesar and L. Vega each went to the referee earlier in the half, while the away side's Ferreira Namandu also collected a booking just before he scored.
Both managers made changes in the second half, though the timing was uneven. The hosts brought on three players around the seventy-sixth minute — R. Tesuri, M. Brondo and G. Gonzalez — while Atlético Tucumán's substitutions came later, including F. Romero and N. Franco at the eighty-eighth.
By then the game had settled into a rhythm of frustration. Estudiantes kept possession but could not find a way through. The visitors had slightly more xG, 0.34 to 0.31, but neither side was testing their goalkeeper particularly hard. Two saves for the home keeper, one for the away man.
The result keeps both sides in the bottom half of the table. Estudiantes remain fifteenth with five points from sixteen matches, while Atlético Tucumán sit thirteenth on fourteen. Neither position offers much comfort, but the visitors at least have something to show for their efforts.