Copa de Verano: River Plate 0 - 2 Boca Juniors

By: Christian | January 26th, 2008

The first real test for the 2008 edition of River Plate ended in a 2-0 loss to rivals Boca Juniors tonight in the Copa de Verano, a bitter defeat that may pose some serious concerns ahead of the start of the season.

Fielding a near full strength squad and featuring the debuts of recent signings Rodrigo Archubi, Gustavo Cabral, and Sebastián Abreu, River came out of the gate early in the opening minutes in Mar Del Plata, showing drive and speed, and appearing to have adjusted to Simeone’s controversial 3-3-3-1 formation. However, some sloppy foals led to far too many advantages to Boca, and River paid the price with a 19th minute goal from Sebastián Battaglia off a setpiece. Ariel Ortega, who spent much of last week in a well publicized war of words with Boca players after suggesting River would wipe the floor with them, had some very fine moments in his debut as captain this year, and had River’s best chance at goal in the first half when his shot went wide of the post in the 32nd minute, and heading into halftime things looked promising.

The second half was a completely different story however, as River simply collapsed, not showing any sense of direction and looking completely lost. After securing their second goal off a Martín Palermo header in the 52nd minute, Boca simply took over the match, controlling the tempo of the game and most of the possession, leaving a middling River trying desperately, and failing, to catch up.

While the sting of losing to the bosteros is maddening, there is still time before the season begins to fix some of the problems seen tonight, and yes, there were positives. I was very impressed with Alexis Sánchez coming back from injury, and Tuzzio, Fernández, and Rosales all looked in good form. But Ortega, for all his individual skill, was simply not convincing, as he often held on the ball for far too long only to lose it, and by the second half, he was a non-factor. I’m certainly not losing faith in el Burrito, but after spending the last week talking the talk, I expected a little more stability and presence from our captain.

But the hot button issue right now is Simeone and his 3-3-3-1 formation. If you consider that there was some controversy last year at this time when Daniel Passarella started with a 4-4-2 before later abandoning it, it’s starting to feel like a bad case of deja vu. Three games into the Copa de Verano, El Colo’s tactics have left me unimpressed and clearly the players are not comfortable in their roles. Boca are by no means an unbeatable team, but when you have players in an unfamiliar formation giving away cheap foals that lead to setpiece after setpiece, you’re inviting yourself to disaster.

One of the match announcers on Fox Sports Español said it best: River have some great individual talent, but as of yet they have no team. Time is running out before la banda starts what should be a very competitive Clausura and the Copa Libertadores, and should they have any thoughts towards winning either competition AND the confidence of their fans, they better act fast before another year slips away.

Notes: Martín Palermo’s goal should NOT have been allowed, after replays showed that he clearly held on to the crossbar to make the header into the net. … To add salt to the wound, tonight was the return of Paraguayan defender Julio Cáceres, but unfortunately for us he was wearing the wrong colors, having joined Boca in the off-season. His welcome back present to River? An elbow to the face of Ortega. This may sound like sour grapes, but Cáceres, “sos un hijo de puta, la puta madre que te pario.”

River Plate:
Juan Pablo Carrizo
Danilo Gerlo, Gustavo Cabral, Eduardo Tuzzio
Augusto Fernández, Leonardo Ponzio, Rodrigo Archubi
Ariel Ortega, Mauro Rosales, Alexis Sánchez
Sebastián Abreu