Lanús vs Argentinos Juniors: Four Minutes Undid Everything Lanús Built

Felipe Peña Biafore rose at the back post off a Sasha Marcich corner in the 70th minute, turning the ball past Brayan Cortés after Carlos Izquierdoz had already flicked it on, and gave Lanús the lead at La Fortaleza. Four minutes later it was gone. Gastón Verón, on for Tomás Molina moments earlier, finished a quick Argentinos counter to make it 1-1, a result that left the sixth-round interzonal fixture level, according to match reports from VAVEL Argentina and Argentine news agency NA, carried by La Gaceta.

The lazy read is that Lanús were unlucky. They weren't. Mauricio Pellegrino's side had spent long stretches of the second half in control of the ball without turning it into real pressure, and once they finally broke through, they had no answer for the one break Argentinos needed. NA's report notes that Argentinos nearly won it outright in the closing stages, denied only by a save from Lanús goalkeeper Nahuel Losada. That is not the profile of a team that got robbed. It is the profile of a team that cannot protect a lead once it has one.

The table adds weight to the point. Argentinos Juniors stayed top of Zone B with 13 points and didn't need to be at their best to do it. Lanús remain on 7 points in Zone A, outside the playoff positions, and a result like this, leading, then failing to close it out, is exactly the kind of dropped points that separates a team scrapping for a top-eight spot from one that qualifies comfortably.

Lanús's argument for feeling hard done by would need a different kind of match. This wasn't a case of a soft equaliser against the run of play. It was a team that had the game in hand for four minutes and let it slip. That's a football problem, not a refereeing one, and it's the one Pellegrino needs to solve before it costs Lanús more than a point.