Sarmiento beat Estudiantes de Río Cuarto 2:0 in the eighth round of the Argentine Professional League's Clausura at the Antonio Candini stadium on September 4th. The visitors took all three points despite playing with less than a third of possession, a fact that tells you everything about where this match was won.
And here's the thing — it started with an error. Gonzalo Maffini dallied on the ball in the sixth minute and turned the ball into his own net. He also picked up a yellow card fourteen minutes later, which set the tone for a night when Estudiantes refused to go away but could never quite find a way through.
Sarmiento had one foot in the next phase of their season when Junior Marabel converted a penalty in the seventy-first minute. The hosts had created one big chance of their own and finished with 4 shots on target against 7 off target, but the visitors were sharper when it mattered.
To be fair, the statistics show a different picture if you look at possession and passing. Estudiantes completed 381 passes in 65 per cent of the game, while Sarmiento managed 179 in 35 per cent. But expected goals told the real story — 0.89 against 1.34, and two goals to back up the numbers.
The visitors' defensive work was meticulous. They made 48 clearances and 13 successful tackles, compared to Estudiantes' 21 clearances and 11 tackles. By then, the hosts had already thrown six players onto the pitch in substitutions, Siro Rosané and Mauro Valiente among them, trying to change the shape.
Estudiantes sit fifteenth with 5 points from 16 games — 1 win, 2 draws, 13 defeats. Sarmiento are eleventh with 19 points, 6 wins and 1 draw. The result extends a run where Estudiantes have not won since their opening day, while Sarmiento have won three of their last four away fixtures.
