Gago's Argentina return leaves Boca rudderless

By Rex Gowar BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's gain in recovering playmaker Fernando Gago was Boca Juniors' loss as they went down to a 3-0 defeat at promoted Olimpo in the "Inicial" championship. Gago was with Argentina preparing to try to secure their World Cup qualification away to Paraguay on Tuesday while Boca travelled south to Bahia Blanca to meet Olimpo on Sunday. Two goals from Matias Perez Guedes and another by Agustin Vuletich gave modest Olimpo their victory over Boca, who were also missing goalkeeper Agustin Orion, also with Argentina, and the injured Juan Roman Riquelme. "I'm worried about our irregular performances...In two identical dead-ball situations they settled the match," Boca coach Carlos Bianchi told reporters. Gago had been at the heart of Boca's best performance of the season a week earlier when they beat Velez Sarsfield 2-1 at La Bombonera in the former Real Madrid, Valencia and AS Roma midfielder's return for the club where he began his career. Boca are in mid-table with nine points from six matches, two points ahead of arch-rivals River Plate, who ended a three-match run without a victory by beating Tigre 3-0 at the Monumental. Giovanni Simeone, 18-year-old son of former Argentina captain and current Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone, scored a fine debut goal between a brace by midfielder Manuel Lanzini. Argentinos Juniors, who escaped relegation on the final day of last season, are top with 13 points after their 1-0 win over All Boys at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium on Saturday. San Lorenzo are joint second with Arsenal a point behind after Sunday's 2-0 away win over Rosario Central. The bad news for San Lorenzo was Monday's confirmation that their Uruguayan striker Martin Cauteruccio, the championship's top scorer with five goals, had damaged a knee ligament and would be out for seven months. (Editing by Clare Fallon)