Apertura 2009: Argentinos Juniors 1 – 2 River Plate

By: Christian | October 30th, 2009

Goals from Diego Buonanotte and Mauro Rosales helped River Plate end an 8-game winless streak last night in a 2-1 victory at Argentinos Juniors. The win, the first for Leo Astrada since taking charge at River three weeks ago, was also the first away win for la banda in 17 matches.

Once again I apologize for not having seen the game (just my luck), but by all accounts River gave a near copy of their performance against Boca on Sunday: a very strong first half followed by a much weaker second. This difference this time was that River were able to hold on to the lead, despite a late penalty to Argentinos and some tense moments close to the final whistle. Whereas a few weeks ago River would have most certainly drawn, los millonarios instead earned their first victory nearly 2 months to the day of their last win.

The real surprise of the night was the game winner from Mauro Rosales. The striker had struggled under Néstor Gorosito and had all but fallen out of the radar, but his goal last night goal gave River a much needed win and has possibly resuscitated his career. It is still too early to tell if Rosales is our answer at forward, but if last night’s performance serves to give Rosales more confidence, River will be the better for it.

Under Leo Astrada, River are now 1-2-1; hardly worth bragging about, but certainly an improvement from the beginning of the season. We are seeing contributions from a variety of players, from Diego Barrado and Daniel Vega, to our two Matías’, Abelairas, and Alymeda. In other words, it looks like were are finally playing like a team.

Our next match will be this Sunday at home to Lanús.

2009 Apertura Fixture 11
Argentinos Juniors 1 – 2 River Plate

Scoring Summary:
Diego Buonanotte (RP), 29th
Mauro Rosales (RP), 79th
Néstor E. Ortigoza (AJ), 89th

River Plate:
Daniel Vega
Paulo Ferrari, Gustavo Cabral, Matías Almeyda, Nicolás Sánchez
Nicolás Domingo, Diego Barrado, Matías Abelairas
Diego Buonanotte
Ariel Ortega, Cristian Fabbiani

Substitutions:
Mauro Díaz for Fabbiani, 24th
Mauro Rosales for Buonanotte, 70th
Martín Galmarini for Ortega, 80th

Highlights: