Clausura 2008: Boca Juniors 1 – 0 River Plate

By: Christian | May 5th, 2008

River Plate

OK, so I finally crawled out of the rock I’ve been hiding under. I cleaned up all the broken dishes I smashed on the floor (true story). I took a walk around the block, counted to ten, slept on it. But though I’m slightly calmer than I was yesterday, the result still hurts.

Yes, Boca Juniors defeated a poor, pathetic River Plate yesterday 1-0 in the Superclásico, ending a 5 match unbeaten run for los millonarios, but even worse, preventing Diego Simeone’s squad from taking sole possession of the Clausura table, while in front of a raucous Bombonera, propelling Boca back into the title race.

I’ll say it now so that it’s on the record: Boca were the better team on the day and deserved the victory. With that out of the way, let me get to what I really think:

* What River Plate left on the pitch, besides their dignity, was one of the most shameful displays I’ve seen this season. Oh, I’ve certainly seen them play worse. But to approach the Superclásico, the BIGGEST match of the season, with first place on the line, in the way they did is just unacceptable. River looked tired and out of sorts, nothing like the side we saw last week at home against Argentinos. Not one player stood out. Not one player was able to see the gravity of the situation and take the team on his shoulder. No one. They couldn’t hold possession, they couldn’t string more than a few passes together, and with the exception of one chance in the second half, River could produce nothing offensively. But the reason for that stems from another issue:

* Simeone lost the plot. A 4-4-2? After having had such success in the first half of the season, as in, zero losses and only two goals against, el Cholo decides to breakaway from a winning formula and rolls out an unfamiliar formation. The last time Simeone tried an awkward lineup? A 2-0 loss to Boca in the Torneo de Verano, and memories of that ridiculous 3-3-3-1. So why, then, why would he get adventurous prior to the biggest game of the season??

The 4-2-3-1 hasn’t been perfect, but it’s worked. The results don’t lie. Personally, putting in Sánchez, Falcao, and Buonanotte behind Abreu would have been the way to go in attack. Instead, starting el Enano to partner up with Falcao, and taking out our biggest threat in the air, Abreu, who can also defend? Just consider the last two goals River have conceded. In the Copa, had Abreu been in the penalty box instead of on the bench, there’s no way there would have been a hand-ball on Sánchez. And the only goal of the game yesterday was again because the River defender couldn’t reach up and stop the service that Battaglia would eventually head into the back of the net. Finally,

* Boca were certainly beatable. The supposed Riquelme, Palermo, Palacio threat never materialized. That isn’t bias talking, they just weren’t that impressive. They had at least two chances they should have converted and blew it. Had River decided to play on the afternoon, the result may have been a little different.

So how should River fans react after yesterday’s humiliating defeat? By moving on. Fine, we lost, accept it. They hadn’t beaten us in 5 games, so sooner or later it was bound to happen. Basically we have to swallow our pride, kick ourselves in the ass, and move on to the next final, which as we all know is a must win at home against San Lorenzo. If you had told me at the beginning of the season that 13 games in, River would be tied for first and still alive in the Copa, and we would have to sacrifice a defeat to the bosteros to get there, I certainly would have taken it.

Let’s hope that the embarrassment from Sunday will serve as a wake-up call to the coach and the squad, that this is River Plate, and that success is demanded every season. I want to win titles, and I want to see River return to its rightful place as the biggest club in Argentina, by far. Let’s hope the 11 men who took the field yesterday remember it as well.

River Plate:
Juan Pablo Carrizo
Danilo Gerlo, Nicolás Sánchez (Augusto Fernández, 55th), Eduardo Tuzzio, Cristian Villagra
Leonardo Ponzio, Matias Abelairas, Ariel Ortega (Mauro Rosales, 75th), Alexis Sánchez
Diego Buonanotte (Sebastián Abreu, 65th), Radamel Falcao