Clausura 2008: Independiente 0 – 0 River Plate
By: Christian | May 18th, 2008
After an embarrassing week that featured insults exchanged between fans and players, River needed to put it all behind them to keep pace with leaders Estudiantes atop the Clausura table. But despite a better performance on the day then their rivals, los millonarios could only come away with a 0-0 draw, and as a result, are now in second place in the league, two points out of first, with only 4 games left.
Truth be told it was a boring match from two teams that played far too conservatively, and the goalless draw was a fair indication of that. River held possession through much of the game, especially in the second half, but after far too many missed attempts from weak shots, you could tell that this River was not going to get the job done.
With 4 games left in the league, anything is still possible, and this same Independiente will face Estudiantes next week, so River fans will be hopeful that points will be dropped. But the squad’s poor performance of late is not leaving me with a good feeling. For River to have any chance at the title, they must win their last 4 games and hope that other teams fall. With destiny not in their hands, I simply don’t believe in this club. Why? Frankly, I don’t think this team believes in itself. The players are on their way out, Simeone is losing the tactical battle, and fans are split between those who support the club through thick and thin and those who feel it necessary to throw insults from the terraces. And to be honest, when River were winning and at the top of the table, they weren’t really that much better; they simply got the results they needed. But now that it’s crunch-time, they’re beginning to fall apart.
I will always support the shirt, and regardless of what happens this season, I will remain a loyal gallina, whatever the results. But there is something broken in this team, and something needs to change. Soon.
NOTES: Oscar Ahumada’s performance today must be noted. He was one of River’s best players on the pitch, and fought for every ball. He was whistled throughout. This coming after his comments this past week directed at the fans who threw corn and diapers during the Gimnasia match, suggesting that Boca supporters would have treated their team better. His career at River may soon be over.
River Plate:
Juan Pablo Carrizo
Paulo Ferrari, Gustavo Cabral, Nicolás Sánchez, Leonardo Ponzio
Augusto Fernández (Ariel Ortega, 52nd), Oscar Ahumada (Alexis Sánchez, 74th), Matías Abelairas
Diego Buonanotte
Radamel Falcao , Sebastián Abreu.
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Comments
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Bad time to slip up Christian, 4 games left but i’m sure there will be a few twists and turns before the end.
Posted from
United Kingdom
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Mark, how’s it going? Sorry about your Rangers. The SPL screwed them over royally. Did you make it down to Manchester?
Anything can happen in 4 games. Unfortunately, that also includes losing the title.
Posted from
United States -
Unbelievable. 4-4-2, 3-3-3-1, 4-2-3-1 and a basic wing back formation, is there anything else left for Simeone to try? Falcao in the attacking midfield slot, maybe?…. nope, tried that. 45 centre back combinations – check. Trying to score without taking a shot from more than 6 yards out – yeap, also tried that.
What happened to the free flowing progressive football that is synonymous with the River Plate name? It’s gone along with the players’ passion to pull on the shirt.
Leo Astrada is just about the worst manager I’ve ever seen in football but Passarella and now Simeone are trying their best to out-shit him! But that said, the blame can only rest at the podgy feet of the fat man at the top: Aguilar.
Anyone and everyone knew that when he took over in 2002 (I think it was?) the first thing he had to do was tie up Ramon Diaz to a long term contract, and he failed to do it. Several managers, even more useless players, and not much success later, we’re left with the tactically inept Simeone and the one beacon of greatness departed as he came in. How and why was Hector Pitarch allowed to leave? It beggers belief! Aguilar’s decision making has been unbelievabley bad.
Oscar Ahumada was well within his rights to say what he did and I firmly believe that El Enano should have kept his mouth shut, how can he expect any other reaction? Since when has failure been met with plaudits? I’m not condoning the actions of the crowd during the last 2 games but I can definitely see their point of view!
Yes, if a club with better finances than Atalanta come in for Ahumada then he will most likely leave, and so he should. Players like him and Paulo Ferrari who showed so much promise have failed to step it up and consistently make the same mistakes they used to and suffer the exact same consequences always to the detriment of the team.
Half of the squad is useless and not needed. During the last 12 months we have used close to 45 players. 45 PLAYERS!!! Can you believe that? And to make things worse, did anyone watch the Bostero scum over the weekend? They had some uncut diamonds out there, I can tell you that for a fact.
Things need to change from top to bottom if we are to return to our winning ways. Hell, I’d substitute winning a title for a Superclasico domination. The squad needs trimming and we need a committed and talented management team instead of Simeone, Guly, and Vivas pretending they know what they’re doing.
All in all I’m not happy with anything. And I’ve seen people have an anaphylactic shock choke less than us recently.
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Well, the way I see it, it was a bad time to slip up but there are still some matches left to make something happen. At least to show that we are still a solid team.
Estudiantes are no Manchester Utd. so we can hope that they’ll slip up at some point. Especially this Sunday. Independiente are not nearly as good away as they are at home but let’s cross our fingers.
Estudiantes have Independiente at home this Sunday, Huracán away the following week, Cólon at home three weeks from Sunday and Olimpo away in the last match of the season.
Meanwhile, River have Huracán at home this Sunday, Cólon away the following week, Olimpo at home three weeks from Sunday and Banfield away in the last match.
Very similar schedules so there’s no advantages here and both teams are eliminated from the Libertadores so this is both squads only chance at silverware.
I still think this pairing, Simeone and River, was a clash of styles. We’re used to much more flair in our game and Simeone’s style is more suited to a team of hungry and tough players who grind out results. Borghi was the man for me personally. I think I could even had stomached another spell with Americo Gallego.
Posted from
United States -
It’s going ok, hopefully River will get back on track and Rangers can win on thursday, but we are 4 goals down on Celtic.
UEFA cup final was brilliant, they reckon 200,000 went to support Rangers, unfortunately a big screen broke down before kick off and some of the fans reacted badly and there was trouble.
The biggest travelling army of football fans in history, but about 3 or 400 couldn’t behave, so that is the headline, sad really.
Vamos River
Vamos RangersPosted from
United States -
SCREW RANGERS! Have you heard the utter shite coming from across the border? Apparently it was all Englishmen rioting in the city centre which is absolute nonsense, unless of course the various firms scattered around England got together and perfected their weggie accent before coming.
Rangers disgust me.
Anyway, enough about UK football, it’s pathetically boring and lost all identity. In the 10 years I’ve been hooked on Argie football I’ve found myself way way way more involved with it than anything going on in my hometown of Manchester.
There were rumours of Passarella taking over from Aguilar a few months ago, has anyone heard anything about that since? Diaz was quoted as saying that he’d come back if the current board were not in charge so that gives me a glimmer of hope. I’d even welcome D’Alessandro back after his revelations since the game with Los Cuervos.
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Tim, i was merely answering Christians question. And of course you were there so you will have 1st hand knowledge of what went on. Football violence is not exclusive to Scotland, England or Argentina, it is a worldwide disease and something most of us would like to see ended, the Final was our 18th European game this season, 9 away fixtures before the final, how many arrests did we have? None, not one. There were english teams there, i spoke to some west ham, wolves and leedsbefore the game whether you like it or not.
This is a River page, i only answered a question pal, but your comments slightly annoyed me, i hope i’ve cleared up your doubts about who was involved Rangers idiots and some folk from England, ok?
I’ve been hooked on Argentine football myself since i watced a video of River fans singing Soa Cagon outside a ground before a game, i’d never seen such passion in a song, so i read up on the history of River,and Boca to be fair, but River are far more the team i preferred and i have recently downloaded the River complete history on DVD and although it’s in Spanish with subtitles, it’s still a fascinating watch!
I would very much like to go to a game but next season will not be possible, perhaps the season after that.Oh, and for the record, it’s weegie, not weggie.
Posted from
United States -
Yes, and the more points of view someone has the better it is to make a subjective opinion. I wasn’t there for the full on rioting but I was there right up until kick off. Unfortunately Rangers fans took it upon themselves to totally destroy Market Street beforehand and I had to take a friend home who was too shook up to even put one foot in front of the other. Luckily, I was there to witness the screen cut out and a bit of what ensued. It was quite funny, a guy came to fix it and was welcomed with bottles and stones.
Back to River: Abelairas is wanted by Lazio for 5 million euros. I don’t know how much that chocolate play money is worth in England but the sum doesn’t look anywhere near high enough considering he’s been by far our best performer. That said, Lazio are linked with most players in South America so take it with a pinch of salt. And, they are skint, or like to let on that they’re skint. Hopefully he doesn’t have a European passport…..
Posted from
United Kingdom -
And something to laugh at:
Guillermo Bostero Schelotto has said that he doesn’t want to run for the ball anymore and that his Colombus Crew team mates should do all the leg work and then give the ball to him.
What an arse biscuit.
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Fair enough Tim, but just to clarify, most true Rangers fans are appalled and embarrassed by the scenes in Manchester and i’d like to think that people would not class real fans as the morons that caused the trouble, i for one was mortified.
Posted from
United States -
But Ahumada wasn’t referring to the treatment by the fans at the Gimnasia game.. hell, he didn’t even mention the corn. He went much, much, much furthur than that, and that’s why it hurt so much.
Posted from
United States -
Yeah I know, he said that when Boca were 2-0 down to us their fans were still brilliant whereas ours went silent. I can see exactly where he came from and fully understand what he’s saying because I’ve questioned our support more than once this year. Things are great when we’re winning but soon change when it gets tough.
Looks like Beto is running for the Presidency, that makes me happy. And both Ayala and Aimar could come home.
Posted from
United Kingdom -
But his comments came right after the Gimnasia game and he was clearly upset y the reaction. He also said: “Yo estoy pidiendo un verdadero apoyo. Quiero que el hincha se enoje y vaya a alentar como nunca.”
Obviously, throwing shit at the players does not count. I’m not saying that I agree with what he said, but what hurt me more than his comments was to see our own “fans” throwing shit. I expect that from Boca scum, not from our own. Whoever threw that should take off the shirt and never return to the Monumental.
Posted from
United States -
Our fans are no saints and never have been, but that doens’t bother me in the slightest because it could be worse, we could be Racing! The fact is you can’t argue that the place goes silent when we’re losing, there’s been virtually no getting behind the team when the going gets tough which is exactly when they should be. I mean, well I was gobsmacked watching the San Lorenzo game, but the crowd didn’t exactly help, did they?
Posted from
United Kingdom -
No “getting behind the team when the going gets tough”? A quick game that comes to mind is the match vs. Botafogo, which was even a more incredible game than the San Lorenzo one. We needed 3 more goals with just 15 minutes remaining and with one man down, and we did it! Even the commentators on Fox agreed that the fans played a huge role in the victory by singing nonestop (you could hear them more than ever throughout the match).
Posted from
United States -
And since then we’ve gone out of the Copa Sudamericana, failed miserabley in the Apertura tournament, got embarrassed out of the Copa Libertadores, given the most spineless and pathetic performance in a Superclasico, and lost ground in the chase for the Clausura.
Yes, yes I see exactly how referencing 6 months ago helps your cause :-/
A lot has happened since then.
Posted from
United Kingdom -
What has really pissed me off is reading that there’s a 99% chance Falcao will be leaving for Europe in the winter. Apparently a £6 million bid has already been turned down but there is interest from a hell of a lot of teams.
Posted from
United Kingdom
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