Coin Toss Turns Tense Between Espina and Sciarini Before Newell's Reserves Rout Central 3-0

The Rosario derby already had some spark before the clock even started. At the Centro Jorge Griffa, with referee Franco Gutiérrez handling the pregame formalities, the routine coin toss turned into a tense back and forth between the two captains. And that was before the opening whistle had even blown.

The scene played out as it always does: the referee brought the captains together to decide who would choose kickoff and who would choose which goal to defend. Rosario Central sent out Joaquín Espina, while Newell's had its goalkeeper, Francisco Sciarini, stand in as representative. Gutiérrez asked the usual question, the one that decides which side of the coin matters: "AFA or FIFA?"

Espina won the toss and chose the AFA side. So far, standard procedure. The trouble started with the comment Sciarini made the moment the result came in: "Figures…" said the Newell's goalkeeper. That single word was enough to make the Central captain speak up.

Let's not disrespect each other, let's not even startJoaquín Espina

Espina's response made it clear the mood was already heated before a single pass had been played. Gutiérrez, who had been warning the players even before the toss, had to step in to cool things down.

I don't want to have to repeat that againFranco Gutiérrez

With that exchange as a backdrop, the match kicked off, and it ended up being decided by a landslide. Newell's came out on top 3-0 against Rosario Central in a game corresponding to matchday 10 of the Torneo Proyección de Reserva.

Beyond the final score, the coin toss incident stood out as one of those snapshots that captures exactly what a derby between these two clubs means, even at the reserve level. The ball doesn't even need to be rolling for the rivalry to be felt: a coin in the air and one word too many is all it takes.

The episode didn't escalate further thanks to the referee's quick intervention, but it lingered as an extra bit of spice in a derby that, as always, blends the natural tension of the rivalry with the usual folklore among fans, players, and even captains before kickoff.