Riquelme is a living legend. What a great player he is! Very good performance by Boca. Bring on Gimnasia de Jujuy!
Datolo >>> Cardozo as for Banega, he had a bad game, but Orteman played awful against Quilmes so he wasn't a good option to start and Battaglia needs to get some more playing time and continuity in order to get better. Riquelme. I can't find words to describe his play
Cardozo seems to have lost his form since the injury. At the beginning of the season he was on fire. At the same time Datalo is playing excellent. Good to know he's shaping up to be a very good player.
Yeah, he's always been a great player: ever since his Banfield days. I was surprised to see how bad his career started off in Boca. Hopefully he returns to that level of play again.
He had some good games when he first joined Boca. He just suffered the same problem most pibes do, holding on to the ball for too long trying to dribble past everyone. But Datolo does have great ball control and he's improved his crossing a bit which was also a problem when he first joined. A little more time to develop and he'll be a great winger.
As I wrote in the Radio Show blog a couple months back when Ledesma proved everyone (except Russo til then), in that game in La Plata against Estudiantes, that the midfield at that stage of the campaign had to be the one we have been seeing in these days: Ledesma - Banega - Neri + Roman. The experiment with Ledesma as the holding midfielder a few games back, against Arsenal, gave us a clue of the difference in presence in marking for the zone. Tonite I would have to bet that Russo has found the defensive midielder for the "possibly" last 4 games of this Libertadores. Banega has had his chance. Has delivered in the first segment of this campaign, but now his importance has diminuished ... the rivals know his strengths and weaknesses and take advantage of his lack of experience and speed. I would leave Banega in the role for the local tournament ... not for the Libertadores games that can come. To find the right player for the right of midfield will be crucial, specially for the game in Cucuta. Could it be Orteman? Or the speed of the Colombians is too much? Could it be Neri ... and leave Datolo in the 1st team playing the left? I think that this should be the team for the home game in the return leg. Battaglia could be too. Bottom line is ... Boca needs experience. And needs good ball handling in the DM. Ledesma provides both. There is no more time to waste. .
I'm surprized Paul_NL hasn't posted anything regarding this game. Oh wait I just remembered, he's been banned from the Argentinean forums.
I tihink Paul_NL is finding it difficult to post, it's not easy typing when you are strapped into a straight jacket.
Watching the replay now. I didn't think Cardozo did that bad. I mean Datolo did improve the team alot when he came on but Cardozo still kept on doing good. It'll be interesting to see that line up with Datolo, Neri and Ledesma. Banega was mediocre. His problem is that he gets too many yellows. When he gets one he changes his game. Riquelme was brilliant and Palacio was a constant threat. Sometimes they need to play with Palacio more. He's very dangerous and sometimes he fades out of games because the ball isnt played to him enough. Morel was excellent as usual.
Any news on Morel's injury? I just love that guy. He is very smart and has brilliant technique to be a defender. And any idea how many Boca fans there were in the stadium yesterday? It looked like it was a very huge amount of argentineans (or eventually paraguayan Boca fans), and La 12 outsung the fans of Libertad easily.
I agree. The anouncers were getting on Cardozo a lot, but I though he was doing ok. He didn't play as well as he can, but much better than he's been playing lately. He participated in the play quite a bit, although at times was imprecise. As far as Banegas, we have to remember that he is so young. He got the yellow for a stupid retaliation foul, and it seemed like he couldn't handle playing with a yellow. I think the kid has great potential, but we cannot expect him to step in like Gago and take control at such a young age. Gago is one of a kind. Banegas is valuable, but I'd save him for the Argentine matches and use the veterans in libertadores.
Amazing. And it sounded like more than 10K. It sounded like the whole stadium was singing for Boca. What an amazing display by the fans!
Here is Riquelme's goal. Enjoy. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x22lw5_libertad-02-boca-juniors-01-riquelm
The problem with Cardozo is that he never plays with 'huevos'. He never defends or tries to recover a ball when he loses it, everytime someone comes into he avoids contact etc etc. And now that Datolo is finally recovering from the LaVolpe era, he should get the chance. Remember, Cardozo also had some bad games early in the season but managed to redeem him self with some goals. now that he can't even score that goal despite playing bad, everyone realizes how bad he actually plays
This is way too harsh. Cardozo was in excellent form at the beginning of the Clausura and he also did quite well when LaVolpe was in charge scoring a few key goals. He got injured and hasnt come back to his best but he has still scored some goals. He has 6 in the Clausura which is excellent for a midfielder. Even thouh he hasnt looked as good as the beginning of the season to say he plays bad is way over the top.
