Copa Libertadores: River Plate 2 – 1 Club América
By: Christian | February 27th, 2008
History will show that River won 2-1 tonight against Mexican side América in their second match in the Copa Libertadores, doing so in dramatic fashion thanks to a last minute goal by Ariel Ortega. But the reality was that River, despite starting an incredibly offensive side, and showing greater skill on the pitch for much of the night, were extremely lucky not to come away with a draw or worse.
Despite Diego Simeone fielding the same winning side from this past weekend, a defensive mistake put the Mexican club ahead in the 14th minute, and put River out of sorts for the rest of the first half. América certainly didn’t look like world-beaters out on the pitch, but los millonarios simply could not find a way to put the ball in the back of the net. Finally, Radamel García was able to equalize in the 37th minute to give some hope that a victory would be on its way.
It would not turn out so easy. What followed in the second half was some of the most agonizing moments I’ve seen from River this year, as América, intent to earn a draw, allowed la banda to spend most of half leading attack after attack, with simply nothing working. While credit has to be given to América keeper Armando Navarrete who had a fantastic night, River seemed simply incapable of scoring. As the minutes of the game ticked on it appeared that a disaster was in the making, but luck came in the form of two red cards for Falcao and José Castro in stoppage time. The lengthy expulsion and the fracas that followed seemed to take América out of the game, and in the dying seconds were unable to clear the ball that Ortega would send into the net that sent the Monumental into a frenzy.
So despite the suffering, River now find themselves even with the other three teams in their group, all now with 3 points. Next up, it’s off to Santiago, Chile March 12th to face Universidad Católica.
River Plate
Juan Carrizo
Paulo Ferrari (Alexis Sánchez), Gustavo Cabral, Eduardo Tuzzio, Cristian Villagra
Matias Abelairas (Diego Buonanotte), Oscar Ahumada, Augusto Fernández
Ariel Ortega, Radamel García
Sebastián Abreu
Category: Copa Libertadores
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Comments
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River dominated and deserved to win it was a good game until the scuffles towards the end.
Posted from
United States
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Yeah, it was a dumb fight from both players, especially considering the game was almost over.
Posted from
United States -
grande River e grande victoria.
hay que acreditar siempre ate al final del partido
Saludos
http://riverplateportugal.blogspot.com/
Posted from
Portugal -
I strongly disagree with the following line:
“But the reality was that River, despite starting an incredibly offensive side, and showing greater skill on the pitch for much of the night, were extremely lucky not to come away with a draw or worse.”
This would be true for the first half, but the last 45 minutes were all River and we were actually unlucky to not be winning from earlier on. Anything less than the 3 points were truly unfair.
Posted from
United States -
My point was that despite being the better side technically throughout the night, River were actually gifted that last goal when the America defense fell asleep. Personally I don’t think they were that bad during the first half, but after dominating the second, this should have been an easier result.
Had America not fallen asleep the game would have ended in a draw.
Posted from
United States
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