Superclasico 2009: River Plate 1 – 1 Boca Juniors

By: Christian | October 27th, 2009

marcelo_gallardo

Photo courtesy La Página Millonaria

River Plate had one of their strongest performances of the year during Sunday’s Superclásico, but despite several opportunities to win the game, los millonarios could only manage a 1-1 draw with Boca Juniors. Marcelo Gallardo would give River an early lead off a beautiful free kick, but Martín Palermo would pull one back for Boca in the second half. Both teams would end the match with 10 men.

While the final result was certainly better than a loss, it was frustrating to see River not come away with what should have been a deserved win. In the first half alone there were three opportunities that River should have converted. One such opportunity came as early as the 6th minute, when Nicolás Domingo, making his return to the starting lineup and having a spectacular day, came within inches of giving River the lead when his shot just missed the far post.

The next chance came amid some controversy when in the 24th minute River was awarded a penalty after Luciano Monzón fouled Diego Bunanotte. But the referee should never have called the penalty after replays showed that Buonanotte had handled the ball with his elbow just before the foul. Despite protests from Boca, the call stood and Ariel Ortega stepped up to take what should have been an easy goal, but el Burrito’s shot was blocked by Roberto Abbondanzieri. To make the whole sequence even more unbelievable, the penalty should have been retaken after Abbondanzieri clearly stepped across his line. A missed, non-existant penalty that should have been replayed – only in Argentina.

The missed goal stunned the home crowd, but Gallardo would give them reason to cheer five minutes later when he converted a beautiful free kick to give River a deserved lead. It was nearly identical to the goal he scored during the previous Superclásico during this year’s Clausura at the Bombonera, right down to the side of the field and with Abbondanzieri in net. Matías Abelairas had a chance to make it 2-0 before the half, but his shot at the near post was blocked by the keeper.

The second half would see River revert to their usual ways, falling further and further back and allowing Boca too much space and possession. Left back Cristian Villagra didn’t help matters when in the 47th minute he earned his second yellow after a late challenge and was sent off, leaving River a man down.

Boca went right to work trying to find their equalizer. Osvaldo Gaitán terrorized River on the right hand side, and on several runs he slipped through so many River defenders it was a surprise he didn’t score. Boca finally leveled the match in the 18th minute with a goal from Palermo, assisted by Juan Román Riquelme. You’ll recall in my preview of Boca last week I stated that River would need to keep these two in check if they were to win. I’m guessing Leo Astrada doesn’t read my blog.

Boca also went down a man after Julio Cáceres was issued a straight red card after “hitting” Ortega in the face, by which I mean he slapped him in the chest and Ortega fell to the ground writhing in mock pain. Even with 10 on 10, Boca were simply the stronger team throughout the second half, with River spending most of the time in their own half of the field. But it was during one of their few chances in the second half that River botched what should have been the game winner. Abelairas found himself in front of an empty goal with the ball thanks to a superb pass from Buonanotte, but his shot deflected off the far post! It should have sent the crowd into a frenzy and put Boca down for good, but it was not to be. The game ended without much incident after that, with River Plate players and fans wondering what if.

Let me be clear: River should have won this game. Whether it was the penalty miss or the ball hitting the post in the second half, River had the chances to win, but in the end they could not finish off Boca. Despite that, I will say that the River that took the field yesterday was miles above the one we’ve seen this year, and there were several individual performances that stood out.

Daniel Vega proved he should be our number one keeper. He had at least two critical saves that kept us in the game. He lacks the physical presence of a Juan Pablo Carrizo but he makes up for it with his speed and quickness. I worried about how our age might be a liability, but I was proven wrong by Matías Almeyda. He played like a man reborn and was an anchor in the middle of the pitch. As I expected, Marcello Gallardo did indeed have a hand in the game with his sensational goal.

Abelairas’s two misses aside, el Pitu did have one hell of a match. I honestly did not expect him to start again after seeing him earlier in the season, but he made a case for returning to the starting lineup. Diego Buonanotte still has some work to do, but I was impressed with his effort. It was his foul that setup Gallardo’s goal, and he was active in nearly every goal-scoring opportunity we had.

We continue to have our issues. I hate to say it, but it was evident to anyone watching that Ortega is on his last legs. Yes, he flubbed the penalty, but he didn’t seem to rebound from it, and he was ineffective as the game wore on. He gave the ball away far too easily and when he was substituted in the second half, he looked exhausted. It seemed like before Ortega could give River 60 strong minutes of football; now, I’m not sure he can give 45. Cristian Villagra is a kid who I’ve seen improve greatly over the years, but he was a moron yesterday with two dumb fouls that led to his ejection.

The team as a whole fell apart in the second half where they needlessly let Boca take control of the game who until then had not shown much. The lack of depth in the squad was also apparent as our late subs Maximiliano Coronel, Cristian Fabbiani, and Mauro Diaz provided absolutely nothing. As it stands now, there is no one on River’s bench that can come in and change the course of a game.

Despite the result and the missed chances, there was a lot of good to take away from the game, and I believe if River had applied their performance on Sunday to games earlier in the season, we would not be in the position we are in now. They clearly showed up for Boca and the Superclásico, however to win titles you need to work as hard in week 1 as you do in week 10. Leo Astrada got a glimpse of what his team can accomplish. It is up to him now to make sure we see more of it in the next nine weeks.

2009 Apertura Fixture 10
River Plate 1 – 1 Boca Juniors

Scoring Summary:
Marcelo Gallardo (RP), 29th
Martín Palermo (BJ), 63rd

River Plate:
Daniel Vega
Paulo Ferrari, Gustavo Cabral, Nicolás Sánchez, Cristian Villagra
Nicolás Domingo, Matías Almeyda, Matías Abelairas
Marcelo Gallardo
Ariel Ortega, Diego Buonanotte

Substitutions:
Maximiliano Coronel for Gallardo, 59th
Cristian Fabbiani for Ortega, 77th
Mauro Díaz for Buonanotte, 86th

Highlights: