Huracán Explodes in the Second Half to Beat Racing Club 2-1

El Ducó served up one of those second halves that's a pleasure to watch from start to finish: three goals in 25 minutes, and Huracán came away with a 2-1 win over Racing Club in a match from Argentina's Primera División. The first half had ended scoreless, with Racing controlling more of the ball but unable to turn possession into real danger, and the second half took care of breaking the deadlock through defensive lapses and sharp finishing.

The home side broke through in the 52nd minute: Facundo Waller finished with his left foot from close range after an assist from Lucas Blondel, making it 1-0. Racing's response came quickly, just six minutes later: Ulises Ortegoza connected left-footed from the center of the box off a corner kick to make it 1-1 in the 58th minute. It looked like the match was heading toward a split of the points, but Huracán struck again in the 77th minute: Jordy Caicedo, assisted by Thaiel Peralta (who had come on just minutes earlier), finished from close range to make it a final 2-1.

A back-and-forth first half

Before the goals, there was no shortage of chances. Racing gave an early warning with shots from Adrián Martínez and Matías Pérez, the latter testing the goalkeeper on a couple of attempts between the 19th and 31st minutes. Huracán, for its part, had opportunities through Facundo Kalinger, Jordy Caicedo and Óscar Cortés, but couldn't find the finish. An injury forced a substitution (Ezequiel Cannavo came off for Juan Barinaga) as the first half wound down, ending with no change on the scoreboard despite the back-and-forth play.

The numbers behind the match

The stats show the visitors dominating possession and passing, but Huracán was sharper in the opposing box.

According to our post-match xG estimate, calculated using shot location data, Huracán generated 3.31 expected goals compared to Racing Club's 0.99, a gap that backs up the result even though the visitors had more of the ball and more passes.

Our preview projection gave Huracán a 33% chance of winning, 35% for a draw, and 32% for Racing Club, with combined expected goals of 1.93 (0.98 for the home side and 0.95 for the visitors). The outcome ended up fairly close to that tight split we projected, though the final score, with Huracán winning by two goals to one, landed on the scenario our model considered least likely of the three.

What the result means in the standings

In Group B, Huracán came into this match in ninth place with 13 points from 9 games played (3 wins, 4 draws, 2 losses), while Racing Club sat in 15th with just 5 points from the same number of matches (1 win, 2 draws, 6 losses) and a negative goal difference of 7. The gap between the two sides in the standings stood at 8 points before this match, and the home win reaffirms that gap rather than closing it.

With Waller playing the starring role in the opening goal despite ending the match dealing with an injury before being subbed off near the end, and with Caicedo popping up again to seal the win, Huracán found in the second half the answers it had lacked in the first. Racing Club, which had equalized through Ortegoza's goal off a corner, couldn't sustain its momentum or make the most of its greater share of possession and the more than 480 passes it strung together on El Ducó's pitch.