What is the true face of Independent: That is the question. If it’s the team that scratched the basement and with Carlos Tevez emerged or, in that kind of continuity, the one that fails to make the definitive leap in quality. He rarely plays very well. It is usually a bland version, with passages of strength. The 2-1 with Argentinos and a 1-1 with River are the best versions of a 2024 in which he aspired for more. To much more. Now, however, he can add one more reason. He beat Banfield, in the South, with a disputed penalty. He is not only in the qualifying zone: he even postponed River, although with one more game. Far from being a wonder, Independiente is alive.
Carlos Tevez does not have variety and quality: it is fair to recognize it. And he carries on his back the weight of an enormous history, nuanced by the mystique of so many Olympic laps, which at this point (in the last two decades, at least) are an excessively dense burden. It has been difficult for Independiente to be Independent for a long time. The Independent who it was almost a lifetime.
Apache said, days ago: “Not everyone catches Independiente on fire and gives it an identity. We are building in a swamp. The elected president and the vice president left, to (Iván) Marcone and other players who today are references of this team before they were insulted. We are saved from relegation before Atlético Tucumán and we were left out on the last date, otherwise we were going to be candidates. “Then we continue building.”
The best of Independiente’s victory
The construction, however, has no noble foundations. Beyond the fact that the captain was left out of the match against Banfield, another victim of dengue, everything costs Rojo a victory. In the South, he clashed almost all the time against a team without many parchments, with the kid Rivera as the talent of the future and Barovero Rag, at 40, as the owner of the bow. He was independent, he insisted. They are not far from qualifying for the quarterfinals of the League Cup. In numbers, at least. What he shows on the court, however, is truly little. Therefore, there are triumphs that invite the future, beyond the present.
“We didn’t know what budget we had, so we presented different options. I told them: ‘Bring what we can.’ I joined the club. Since we grabbed, we were, along with River and Racing, the ones who got the most points. I understand the Independiente fan, but we are building, we don’t have to go crazy. We want to be champions and qualify for the cups, and we know that we have to take charge of this illusion that we give to people,” Apache accepted, in a talk with Juan Pablo Varsky.
It is the only major that does not play an international tournament. Neither Copa Libertadores, nor South American. Without the physical and mental wear and tear of journeys and rivals of all kinds, Independiente seeks to assert itself in the local tournament, between doubts and a handful of certainties. In those two games, with Argentinos and against River, showed growth credentials. Maybe some interesting things with Instituto and Central. Of 14 games in the year, very little. A left-footed shot from Canelo that passed close during the gray first half with Banfield was a warning like in much of the year: a glass of water in the desert.
Tevez insisted, in that very good interview: “Today I am in a big club like Independiente where decisions have to be made and I don’t have even a year of experience. I tell the boys that we have stability and we are building. Sometimes we play better than others, but we are improving. We are the 16th team in terms of squad value. In Argentine football If you win a match you are Guardiola and if you lose the next time, you don’t know anything. “You have to maintain a management line.” This exaggeration, so Argentine, does not absolve him of responsibilities: Independiente must play much better. Being the protagonist of a contest in which few dare to measure up. It is now, without a doubt. It is now, after the essential victory against Drill.
Independiente’s insistence had its reward with an unexpected penalty, warned by the VAR: a slight grab of Love Laso. Quiñonez, the manager, touched the ball with class, at the end of a first chapter that showed him best.
With the result in their favor and the desperation of an opponent with low averages throughout the championship, Independiente felt increasingly lucid. It was not an invitation to dream, but a dose of confidence and winning conviction are not a bad thing.
In the end, he knew how to suffer. Which is no small thing: the future of Red reveals a small portion of hope.