Buenos Aires, Mar 30: Boca beat Lanus 3-0 and River Plate defeat Arsenal 5-0. Boca Juniors beat Lanus 3-0 and River Plate defeated Arsenal 5-0 in the Argentine championship on Saturday (March 27). Boca's Carlos Tevez got his first goals since November. He gave Boca a perfect start when he scored after only 42 seconds. Tevez has been called into the Argentina squad for Tuesday's South American group 2006 World Cup qualifier against Ecuador in Buenos Aires. The South American champion's second goal on Saturday came from 17-year-old Neri Cardozo. Tevez added the third three minutes before halftime. Boca are second in the table with 14 points. Marcelo Gallardo hit a hat-trick to help River Plate rebound from two consecutive defeats by thrashing Arsenal 5-0. He scored twice in the first 11 minutes, both from chances created by Chile international Marcelo Salas, to set River up for their easy win. Jose Sand got a third and fourth just after half time. Former Monaco midfielder Gallardo headed his third and River's fifth with three minutes to go from a cross by Colombian substitute Kilian Virviescas.


River are one point and one place below their arch rivals. Talleres stayed five points clear at the top by beating Velez Sarsfield 1-0 with a 37th-minute goal by Aldo Osorio.


Bureau Report