Soccer-Racing Club not cutting the mustard but Merlo stays on

BUENOS AIRES, March 16 (Reuters) - Racing Club coach Reinaldo Merlo was persuaded to battle on by the board on Sunday despite another defeat in a dismal season. Merlo, the last man to steer Racing to the Argentine league title in 2001, wanted to throw in the towel after Racing's 2-0 loss at Newell's Old Boys kept them bottom of the Final championship with four points from eight matches. But after a meeting in the visiting dressing room lasting an hour and a half at Newell's Marcelo Bielsa stadium in Rosario, Merlo emerged to say he would carry on. "We played against tough rivals, as equals with the last (2012/13 Final) champions but paid a heavy price," Merlo told reporters before answering "Yes" to the question of whether he was staying on. "I'm a football worker and just as I talked (to the media) in the good times when I was a champion, I also come out to show my face in the bad times," he added in a news conference lasting less than a minute. Dubbed "Mustard" due to his blond hair, Merlo was brought back to Racing midway through the Inicial, the first of the season's two championships, in October to try to reverse a downward spiral that saw them pick up two points in 12 games. He steered Racing to four wins and two draws in their remaining seven games of the 19 match championship and began the Final championship with a 3-0 win over Colon. But Merlo's golden touch then vanished with Racing taking only one more point from the next 21 on offer. With only 20 points from a combined 27 matches, the dismal season may come back to haunt Racing. Relegation in Argentina is based on a team's average points over three seasons, and Racing are slipping down the relegation standings. Colon have bounced back from their championship-opening defeat at Racing to storm to the top of the standings. The team from Santa Fe are joint top on 15 points with Estudiantes, who beat Gimnasia 1-0 away in the La Plata derby. On Saturday, title holders San Lorenzo sported a badge with the face of Pope Francis on their shirts to mark their most famous fan's one-year anniversary at the Vatican, but the Saints were held 0-0 at home by Colon and remain a point behind in third. This time last year they visited Colon in Santa Fe wearing a similar badge and won 1-0, sparking an improvement in form that led to them winning the Inicial championship in December. (Writing by Rex Gowar; Editing by Peter Rutherford)