Clausura 2008: River Plate 1 - 0 Arsenal de Sarandí
By: Christian | March 30th, 2008
Continuing a tradition of boring and uninspired football, River and Arsenal yet again put on 90 minutes of absolute shocking futility, though los milonarios were able to somehow find a victory in a 1-0 win today in the Torneo.
Fielding a “B” side and facing a sinking Arsenal, fresh off a humiliating 6-1 defeat in Ecuador this past week in the Copa Libertadores, this fixture did not have the initial appearance of being a classic. But as it turned out, both teams went above and beyond the call, making the game even worse than anyone could have imagined. Highlights? Analysis? What can I say that you haven’t heard before this season? River were sloppy in the back, lost in the midfield, and ineffective going forward. As usual, there were bits of brilliance from Sánchez and Buonanotte, and Carrizo was again the best player wearing a River jersey. Ironically, it was an injury to Mauro Rosales early in the first half that led to the substitution of Rodrigo Archubi, whose fine run in the 34th minute led to the game’s only goal.
The rest of the match doesn’t deserve words. The River fans seemed to be a deep sleep. Arsenal’s own fans bizarrely arrived about 30 minutes late. The match commentators on Fox Sports Español kept waiting for the game to actually begin. And it did with about 15 minutes left to go, when Arsenal figured out that they could actually get an equalizer, and proceeded to throw nearly every ball into River’s area. The crowd seemed to wake up, and despite a few chances for the opponents that looked somewhat threatening, River managed to hang on.
Now I realize that River are first in the table. I know that we’ve only allowed 2 goals all season. But frankly I’m starting to wonder how we are in the position we are. Sure, I’ll take 11 more sleep-inducing 1-0 wins if it means getting us the League, which if it happens, I will most certainly forget today’s disaster. But like I’ve said previously, a mis-directed ball here or there could mean the difference between a win and a loss, and unless River wants to leave their season up to fate, they had better start pulling it together.
NOTES: Though a home game for River, the match was played at Velez’s ground, with the Monumental currently hosting the Quilmes Rock festival. … Captain Ariel Ortega was victim to alcoholism again this past week, missing practice, and was left out by Diego Simeone. … Finally, there were some horrific scenes in the terraces before and during the match between fighting barra bravas. According to reports in the press, had not more police been called to the stadium to quell the situation, the game could have been suspended. More violence AGAIN in Argentina, and a huge embarrassment to a club that needs to address the situation before it gets worse.
River Plate:
Juan Pablo Carrizo
Paulo Ferrari, Cristian Nasuti, Danilo Gerlo
Emmanuel Martínez, Leonardo D. Ponzio, Matias Abelairas
Mauro Rosales (Rodrigo Archubi, 10th), Alexis Sánchez, Diego Buonanotte (Nicolás Domingo, 62nd)
Sebastián Abreu (Andrés Ríos, 75th)
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Comments
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Wow, another win with River very near 1st place, and another biting commentary of Los Millionarios… I’m starting to look forward to your commentaries each week they are very entertaining even if a little predictable. My Father in law actually suggested that Simeone should be fired today after the game, I could only laugh… Man River Fans are something else!
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“very near 1st place”
Incorrect. First place, by ourselves. It is true that Estudiantes is 2 points away with 1 game less (10 minutes remain in their suspended match vs. Racing; 2-1 partial lead in their favor), but for now, River are the only leaders of the Torneo Clausura (same situation in our group of the Copa Libertadores).
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Believe me KP, I would love to post about a River team that plays beautiful football, but considering what I’ve seen so far this season, it’s to hard to call it any other way. But I do have to ask you KP, did you see the game yesterday? Almost every press report I’ve seen are calling it River’s worst game of the season by far.
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United States -
Agreed, horrible game. Overall, I am not all that impressed by River’s season so far. But like you said, I’d rather have poor performances and wins, rather than fantastic games and losses.
As a side note, I was pleased with the team in several ocassions when I think about it -
1) The whole game vs. San Lorenzo.
2) The whole game vs. San Martin (SJ).
3) The second half vs. America.
4) The first half vs. Velez.Of course that doesn’t really cut it, but at times the press makes it seem like we haven’t given a single good pass. It is also important to realize to that we were missing Falcao, Ortega, Augusto Fernandez, Rosales (for the most part), Ahumada, etc.
Aguante River.
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I think there are a few factors as to why we haven’t played very well. One of which is Simeone’s insistence on playing Abreu as the #9 and mis-positioning Falcao on the pitch. Falcao had been tearing it up as the club’s #9 and deserves better than this. In fact, I’m still puzzled as to why we’ve brought in another ineffective Ernesto Farias? I hope Abreu makes me eat a nice plate of crow after tonight because as far as I’m concerned he has no business on the pitch while a perfectly healthy Falcao rests on the bench. And is it no surprise that the players who have been playing well are those who have come out of our youth academy?
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