Clausura 2010: Colon 1 – 0 River Plate

By: Christian | February 17th, 2010

River Plate’s chances in the Clausura took another blow this past Sunday in a tepid, 1-0 loss to Colón in Santa Fe. Only four games into the campaign, los millonarios are playing without ideas, and unless things change quickly, the squad could find themselves out of the running for the title, or worse.

After watching this latest performance, a game so dull that the match announcers on TyC Sports spent more time reading fan emails then commenting, I can only marvel that River haven’t started the season at 0-0-4. That might very well have been the case if not for Daniel Vega, the young keeper who has by far been our best player.

So it was unfortunate that the lone goal on Sunday came on a penalty which Vega was unable to stop. It could have been a much worse first half if not for some key saves from Vega. Offensively, River had only one real chance in the 31st minute that they failed to convert. Their only other contribution to the game was a Facundo Quiroga red card in the 80th minute; River coach Leo Astrada also was ejected following an outburst after the final whistle.

Whatever hopes fans had in the pre-season of seeing a new and improved River have all but faded. It isn’t that the title is out of our hands; as it stands, the club are in 14th place with 4 points, as many points separating them from the leaders with 15 games left. But with our veterans Almeyda, Ortega, and Gallardo under-performing, and our youngsters like Funes Mori and Villalva consistently absent, there is little hope for a quick turnaround.

River will host Arsenal this Sunday in a must-win game.

2010 Clausura Fixture 4
Colón 1 – 0 River Plate

Scoring Summary:
Esteban Fuertes (C), 43rd

River Plate:
Daniel Vega
Nicolas Sanchez, Alexis Ferrero, Facundo Quiroga
Paolo Ferrari, Juan Diaz, Matias Almeyda, Marcelo Gallardo
Rodrigo Rojas
Daniel Villalva, Gustavo Canales

Substitutions:
Diego Barrado for Sanchez, 62nd
Mauro A. Díaz for Gallardo, 64th
Rogelio G. Funes Mori for Rojas, 74th

Highlights: