Clausura 2009: Newell’s Old Boys 1 – 0 River Plate

By: Christian | May 5th, 2009

River Plate effectively ended their Clausura title bid this past Sunday, falling 1-0 to Newell’s Old Boys. Their campaign finished in much the same way we’ve come to expect from los millonarios this season – a dull and uninspired performance from a club that appears to have given up on itself.

La banda had entered the game with a fabulous opportunity to gain points on leaders Vélez Sarsfield, who only managed a 0-0 draw to San Martín, and Lanús and Colón, who are above River in the standings, both suffered losses.

Yet even with all that in their favor, and facing a reasonably average Newel’’s side, River stubbornly failed to take advantage of the situation, and worse, looked like a team the came looking more for a draw then a win. River only managed a handful of chances on goal, all in the first half, and even after they went down 1-0 in the 81st minute, they failed to show any sort of drive to leave Rosario with even a point. Marcelo Gallardo had stated earlier this week that a win to Newell’s would keep River alive in the Clausura. With the loss, one can only say that River are as good as finished.

The game marked the return of Cristian Fabbiani to the club he left prior to the start of the season. Angered by the transfer, which Fabbiani aggresively pursued, the Newell’s fans unleashed a barrage of insults and whistles on el Ogro every time he touched the ball. They needn’t have wasted their breath; Fabbiani was a non-factor.

Now one can look at the current Clausura table and see that mathematically, River do indeed still have a chance at the title. They are currently in 5th place, seven points off the summit, and have yet to play Lanús and Huracán, who are 2nd and 3rd, respectively. So get 6 points from those two matches and it’s game on, right?

Sadly, I think the answer is a no. How could I possibly think otherwise based on what I’ve suffered through this season? We have a team with no heart; how can anyone expect them to turn around a season of mediocrity with 7 games left?

Better let the kids have a run out, and start drawing up plans for next season.

2009 Clausura Fixture 12
Newell’s Old Boys 1 – 0 River Plate

Scoring Summary:
Mauro Formica (NOB), 81st

River Plate:
Mario Daniel Vega
Paulo Ferrari, Gustavo Cabral, Nicolás Sánchez, Cristian Villagra
Oscar Ahumada, Nicolás Domingo
Mauro Díaz, Diego Buonanotte
Radamel Falcao, Cristian Fabbiani

Substitutions:
Marcelo Gallardo for Díaz, 61st
Diego Barrado for Domingo, 70th
Mauro Rosales for Buonanotte, 72nd

Highlights