Tiros Libres: Feeling Down Under

By: Christian | May 29th, 2009

Let me take this opportunity to send a warm welcome to the members of the River Plate Football Academy of Australia (motto: There is a place for everyone at River Plate), who I was just told are regular visitors to this blog.

A comment this week from one of their members asked about the recent lack of posts and whether it was related to the poor performance of the club. While the current state of River is indeed sad, I assure you that en las buenas y en las malas, this blog will continue to exist. No, the reason for the lack of posts has been purely personal as I’ve been dealing with a stubborn injury (I hurt my knee training for a marathon) and the rehabilitation as taken up most of my free time.

Let me say how truly awesome it is to know that there is a community of River Plate fans worldwide who follow our club from every part of the globe, from the U.S. and Great Britain, to Israel and Australia. I hope that we can all continue to stay in touch as we look forward to better days ahead for our beloved River.

Let me catch everyone up on what has happened the past two weeks:

Fixture 14: Huracán 4 – 0 River Plate

Normally a 4-nil loss would be reason for both shock and concern. But with River finished this season and facing a red-hot Huracán at home, the result was simply par for the course. River managed to get to halftime only down 1-0, but Cristian Villagra was sent off in the 59th minute, and it was only a matter of time before the goals kept piling on.

Fixture 15: River Plate 2 – 0 Independiente

Finally some good news. After going 0-2-1 against the other “Top 5″ clubs (two losses to San Lorenzo and Racing, a draw with Boca), los millonarios finally had the upper hand against one of their city rivals, snapping a tree game winless streak in the process.

Despite both teams underperforming this season, the Monumental was packed with 45,000 fans who witnessed a wild match. Diego Barrado and Radamel Falcao would put River ahead 2-0 in the first half (Barrado’s goal in particular was quite impressive) and for once the team was actually able to hold on to the lead. Falcao would miss the chance to add another goal when his penalty attempt sailed over the crossbar. Independiente had their own opportunity at a penalty, but it was saved by Daniel Vega.

The fans were clearly happy for the win, although perhaps for the wrong reason. On a survey taken on La Página Millonaria, 48% of those polled said that the victory was only the result of River playing a worse team. Ouch. Not exactly a vote of confidence.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños!

River Plate celebrated its 108th anniversary this past Monday, the 25th of May. Our stadium, the Monumental, also had a birthday this week, “turning” 71 years old.

Finally, let me congratulate Mark, a frequent visitor to this blog, whose Rangers recently won the SPL. Mark may be the only Rangers/River Plate fan in the world that I know of, so I’m glad he gets to enjoy something this season.

Thanks again for all your support. Check back next week for my take on our weekend clash with Argentinos Juniors.