Clausura 2008: River Plate 4 – 2 Gimnasia (LP)

By: Christian | May 12th, 2008

River Plate 4 Gimnasia 2

The River Plate of old made a return appearance yesterday, in a wild 4-2 victory at home against Gimnasia de La Plata. It was a must-win game for los millonarios, who remain on top of the Torneo Clausura, tied with Estudiantes on 30 points with 5 fixtures remaining.

By “old” I mean the River we were used to seeing at the beginning of the season – shocking one half than the exact opposite the next, terrible defending but scoring goals on the other end. In the first 45 minutes River looked as if they were still in a daze following their embarrassing elimination in the Copa Libertadores last week, and the first goal conceded in the 26th minute was unfortunately only a matter of time. Matias Abelairas, who had to be River’s player of the match, equalized with a beautiful strike 10 minutes later, but it was Gimnasia’s second goal that pretty much summed up River’s defense in 2008. As el lobo lined up for a quick restart, River’s backline not only had their backs to the play, but didn’t even seem to realize that the kick had been taken until it was too late.

Then came an incredible second half, where yet again, it was a completely different squad that took the field. After Ariel Ortega was brought in as a sub, the offense came alive, scoring 3 goals from Buonanotte, Abelairas, and Ortega, and Gimnasia could barely keep up. When the whistle finally blew after 90 minutes, River had won 4-2 and managed to stay alive in the league, and for at least a day, were able to make us all forget about the horrible week and a half we’ve just experienced.

Next week’s fixture will be huge in Argentina, with must win games for all the top teams in the table. River will travel south to face Independiente, while Boca will host Racing, San Lorenzo will take part in their local derby against Huracán, and Estudiantes will face off against this very Gimnasia side in the La Plata clásico. While it’s inevitable and probable that all of these teams in the top half will drop points in the final remaining fixtures, River absolutely must find a way to gain as many points as they can if they hope to win the title. As we saw last week, anything is possible in football, but hopefully in the league, luck will be on our side.

NOTES: The real story yesterday was the hostile reaction from the home crowd, still fuming from the game against San Lorenzo. The squad came on to the pitch prior to kickoff greeted by angry signs (”More heart and less disillusion!”), chants against the players and the board of directors, and even projectiles such as diapers and corn, the later a reference to River’s “other” nickname las gallinas, or the chickens. While it’s fair to still be upset, I personally always preferred the stance of “en las buenas y en las malas” to describe my feelings for the shirt, and to leave the taunting to the opposition.

River Plate:
Juan Pablo Carrizo
Paulo Ferrari, Danilo Gerlo, Gustavo Cabral, Cristian Villagra
Leonardo Ponzio (Oscar Ahumada, 45th), Matías Abelairas
Augusto Fernández (Ariel Ortega, 45th), Alexis Sánchez, Diego Buonanotte (Rodrigo Archubi, 76th)
Sebastián Abreu