2024-07-25 12:33:37
River can’t lift its head. And although Miguel Borja He scored his eighth consecutive goal, and not even the goalscorer’s effectiveness could rescue him. Godoy Cruz beat them 2-1 in Mendoza at the end of a night in which all the questions were left even more open. A 22 days before the match against Talleres de Córdoba in the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores, the coach Martin Demichelis He still has not found the individual responses and the performance that his team once had. With one aggravating factor: reinforcements arrived and everything is as it was then. As if time had passed in vain. The Mendoza team, with its realistic plan of waiting and counterattacking, achieved its first victory in the championshipThey could have even done it by a bigger difference. River Plate’s confusion gave rise to everything.
There were serious problems defending for River that made the night more complicated. They had started very well with Borja’s new goal after 10 minutes and seemed to have the formula for the goal scorer to be one on one with goalkeeper Petroli in the precise passes from Mastantuono and Colidio. But There were two issues that he was unable to resolve: the runs of right back Arce (Colidio ran him off until he was injured) and the insecurity of a defense that from all sides, from above and below, offered vulnerable flanks.The River Plate area was never well looked after.
At 25 minutes, Arce sent in a cross from his side and Poggi charged in, beat Simón to it and scored the 1-1. And three minutes later, almost the same thing happened: Arce sent in another cross, Armani was left hanging in the air and Poggi turned the score around with a header.River’s defensive sluggishness could have been even worse; at 45, Armani redeemed himself from his poor exit from the goal and blocked the third from Uruguayan Roberto Fernández.
Demichelis moved the bench for the return: Paraguayan Bareiro and “Nacho” Fernández came in and Solari and Aliendro left. And River had more possession. But without any sense. They spent it with commitment. And not even the new desperate attempts of the coach, who ended up with three center forwards (the kid Ruberto came in for Mastantuono) They were able to alter the routine of crosses and long balls with which they tried to pierce the strong defense of Godoy Cruz to tie the game at all costs.
But the people of Mendoza did not stop at endurance and resistance. As long as they had enough legs and air in their lungs and clarity in their minds, they waited and counterattacked. And by that means, taking advantage of the disjointed retreat of the defense, they could have finished the match: Armani blocked another one-on-one with Pino, Moreyra saw him ahead of the goalkeeper, shot from the middle of the field and the ball went just over the crossbar and a header from Uruguayan Salomón Rodriguez went wide of the left post. River has won only one of its last eight games as a visitor. In Mendoza he played so badly that not even Borja’s goals could save him from another dark night.