Breaking down the races in Argentina's Clausura

	Familiar foes and archrivals River Plate and Boca Juniors should be the main challengers for Argentina's Clausura championship. AP
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It's back to business in Argentina, as the Clausura championship kicks off next week.

This should be an intriguing season. Usually, big transfers make up the bulk of offseason news, but most of the hype leading up to kickoff has surrounded the shock resignation of River Plate manager Reinaldo Merlo. There has been relatively little movement in the transfer market.

Even so, it's easy to get a good idea of who the likely title candidates are: Defending Apertura champions Boca Juniors obviously have a great shot, as do River, Racing Club, Independiente and San Lorenzo. Vélez Sarsfield, Rosario Central and Newell's Old Boys also have decent chances.

The Apertura's darling small club was Gimnasia La Plata, which wasn't eliminated from title contention until the final day of the season. The Clausura's version of Gimnasia could be Banfield.

Here are my predictions for the top 10 contenders in the Argentine Clausura, in projected order of finish ('05 Apertura finish in parentheses):

1. Boca Juniors (First)

The defending champs come into the season as firm favorites to win back-to-back titles. What plays into Boca's favor is that they will only have to concentrate on the domestic scene, as they failed to qualify for the '06 Copa Libertadores. As a result, team manager Alfio Basile has not asked for any reinforcements as of yet, although he's counting on the return of promising youngster Juan Fischer, who was on loan to Bolivian giant Bolivar.

Boca, which won three trophies last year, including the Copa Sudamericana, has offloaded five players, including former essentials Rolando Schiavi and Diego Cagna.

The Xeneizes are coming off a preseason split with archrival River Plate. They lost 3-0 Tuesday night, but grabbed an impressive 3-2 win last weekend with a mostly complete starting lineup. Once again Boca got an outstanding display from last year's revelation, striker Rodrigo Palacio, who scored twice.

2. River Plate (sixth)

Under new manager Daniel Passarella, it seems that River can only improve on last year's horrific run in which it was unable to put up a title challenge in both the Apertura and the Clausura. Merlo's shock resignation after only four months at the helm may just have been what the club needed, and it seems that Passarella is confident that he will be able to turn around the club's fortunes.

In midst of the controversy, it seemed that team captain Marcelo Gallardo would also part ways with the club. But after a reunion with president José María Aguilar, he confirmed that he will be staying on.

Other than Gaston Fernandez, who moved to Monterrey, River has kept its key men and has brought in Paulo Ferrari, Juan Carlos Toja, Lucas Pusineri, and Julio César Cáceres. In recent days, the club has announced that it will be adding further reinforcements, and some names that may soon be headed to El Monumental include Luciano Figueroa (Villarreal), Mauro Rosales (Ajax Amsterdam), and Bruno Marioni (Pumas).

Tuesday night's thrashing of Boca could be a huge boost for the club, as it looks to win its first title since the '04 Clausura.