River was superior to Sevilla in the first half. Pezzella had a few good chances as did Simeone, but we are doing very well. Its amazing to think with a group of Solari, Vega, Boye, Simeone, Chiarini, Driussi, Mammanna, we are doing so well... Now, Kaprof is coming in for Mercado so we will be even more offensive
One thing that this game is showing me is that many of River's players could easily be playing over in Spain. Pisculichi and Ponzio both played over there and are doing really well tonight, and could definitely be playing over there. Solari is playing a hell of game right now, just had a brilliant run through the middle but then lost control. Damn this pibe is really turning it on the last through weeks
Guido did a nice job with the little takeaway, though. Man, this team played good. We needed this type of win to get our spirits up. Hopefully the rest of the season turns out well.
Great games by Solari and Vega above the rest IMO, especially Vega who was playing out of position. Amongst the veterans, Ponzio was very good, Piscu great in the first half, ran out of gas. Also Boye actually looked somewhat competent, He didn't score but had a goal out for off sides. And what can you say about Kaprof? Zlatan Kaprof. Amazing kung fu kick goal. Honestly, I think River would do very well in the spanish league, the style in that league would be easy pickings for us rather than getting teams like boca or falcioni's quilmes that just shit back and kick the shit out of you. You could tell Sevilla wasn't used to the high pressing or physicality tonight they would get playing the likes of getafe, eibar, or levante. The spanish game is so different. Its played at such a slow pace and the slightest touch is considered a foul. I'd love to see River play a rematch in the Sanchez Pizjuan and I'd honestly do all i could do go to it. Sevilla is an awesome city, and it would be great to see both clubs have their full rosters, us with Teo, Balanta, Sanchez, Mayada, Barovero, etc. them with Bacca, Banega, and whoever else they were missing. Mientras tanto... Los bosteros se sacan las camisetas del sevilla q compraron ayer. Que asco q me dan!
Looks like the Cordoba super has been postponed til October http://www.ole.com.ar/futbol-primera/suspendio-Super_0_1370263304.html
Summer 2016 schedule ● January 18: River vs. Independiente (Copa Ciudad de Mar del Plata) ● Jan 23: River vs. Boca (Mar del Plata) ● Jan 26: River vs. San Lorenzo (Copa Ciudad de Mar del Plata) ● Jan 30: River vs. Boca (Mendoza)
Looks like we're going with subs today vs Sao Paulo, who is expected to field their best. Good chance for Mayada, Mora, Rossi, and Rodriguez to prove themselves. Golden opportunity for 17-year-old Facundo Medina, who if I'm not mistaken will be making his debut today
So Sao Paulo won in a penalty shootout (8-7) after a 0-0 tie in the 90 minutes: Observations: - Medina, the 17-year-old who debuted today, gave away a silly penalty barely 2 minutes into the game.. I didn't see the whole match, so I can't fully judge his overall performance, but I imagine this officially cements Olivera --who performed pretty well vs Boca, Central (Copa Argentina final), and Millonarios-- as Casco's first alternative. - Bologna ended up stopping the aforementioned penalty, winning himself some merits. He later made multiple great saves throughout the match, being fundamental to maintaining the clean sheet. Many questioned him when he arrived and hardly anyone pictured him even getting any minutes, but with Batalla's string of questionable performances and Bologna's good display today vs. a top team, maybe it isn't farfetched imagining him as a starter come February? - River didn't have much offensive prowess today. Besides a long-range shot from Denis Rodriguez in the first half and a shot by Pity Martinez in the last minute that hit the crossbar, the Brazilians were never really troubled by our guys. Granted it was all subs playing, I still expected a bit more. Defensively the team left muuuuuch to desire as well. Like I said, we faced a top team that's filled with talented players with our subs, so a 0-0 tie isn't necessarily bad, but these guys have a lot of work to do if they want to work their way up to the first team. P.S. -- Look at Chavez's face of pure happiness after winning a friendly match by penalty kicks vs. our subs and pibes... That's the face of "todavia la tengo adentro... 2 veces en 6 meses"
The team for today vs. San Martin: Batalla; Moreira-M. Quarta-Mina-Casco; I. Fernández-Ponzio-Rojas Andrade; Mora-Auzqui Rojas to make his debut since his return.. Andrade getting an ideal opportunity to control the strings in a team that should play simple and short (Rojas, Ponzio, and Nacho all sharing this characteristic -- perfect for a playmaker), yet still has the capacity to switch up to a more dynamic, fast game through the sides with Moreira, Casco, and Auzqui. Up top there will be no reference in the box since both Alario and Alonso are out today, so we should see somewhat of a different style of play as we normally see. I wonder if Larrondo will get some minutes in the second half. His arrival has been a complete failure so far, but we need him to succeed and find his best form specially with Alario expected to leave in the near future. Should be interesting... Lets see how it goes.
Larrondo made his first positive contribution to the club when he nodded down the corner for Auzqui to score his first goal from the club. Battalla made a good save in the shoot out and all our players scored. Hopefully, this is the last friendly and next week the real action gets underway, but this is worrying as River was horrible. Pity Martinez was a complete train wreck as usual. Had one long shot and misplaced about 5000 passes. He is what is holding us back from being able to create football. The defense was also completely cut apart various times by the Mendocinos. Very worrying indeed.
Scocco, Barboza, and Alario on the mark today in our 3-1 win vs Orlando City. Good to see Scocco getting off to a good start, first with a goal in his official debut and now another in the following match. He's always been a helluva player, albeit with his ups and downs, but if he can bring his A game he will end up being important. Also interesting to see Barboza score, a trait he seems to have developed quite well in DyJ last season.
With this weekend's superclasico in mind, Gallardo has been trying out some changes. In today's practice, he tried out Montiel in Moreira's position, Barboza as a CB (replacing Pinola), and De La Cruz up front alongside Scocco...
I'm excited to see De La Cruz, but would be surprised to not see Borre who has already had some match time and looked pretty good.
Its a beautiful day here in Buenos Aires, I feel so guilty about being inside watching a friendly, but here I am so please make this worth it! Vamos carajo! I'm excited to see De La Cruz and Barboza, and hopefully we will see Borre for significant minutes in the second half.
Really impressed by the pibe. He came into the game well and his free kicks are absolutely perfect. Now we need to get him taking the corners instead of Pity. Ok, he didn't tear it up by any mean and the whole half was piss poor from both teams, but lets remember he is used to playing in front of like 500 people for Liverpool to playing in a Superclasico. Its a lot of pressure and he's shown he's up for it and will only grow. Most people would be shitting themselves coming from such an incredibly tiny team The team as a whole though was complete shit. Luckily, Boca was equally bad hopefully we will see a better second half
An alternative team composed of players like Lux, Casco, Rossi, Auzqui, etc. lost to an amateur, third tier American team (Miami United) in a pre-season friendly today. Dear lord... offload these muertos once and for all. If they can’t even compete with high school level players, how can we expect anything from them in the Libertadores and Primera Division? Edit: Well the starters came in for the second half (technically a separate game since the XI were swapped) and quickly flipped the score (Borre and Pity). In the same amount of time the useless subs couldn’t score even one goal, the starters netted 5 on these scrubs. And Pratto didn’t even play.
Ponzio, Saracchi, Pity Pinola was also pretty solid.. maybe with a good pre-season (and alongside a younger player, rather than Maidana) we can see him return to his prime Nurnberg/Central form. Auzqui, please... just leave. De La Cruz was very poor as well, but I still have hopes in the kid if they take him little by little. Anyway, no Casco and of course we win...
Good, better, best What a far cry from the days of yelling at Pity; his vision and his bravery have improved, and he's looking like every bit the player we were promised. Saracchi meanwhile is crack, hopefully he'll spend more than a year here. Pinola didn't have any major errors! He wasn't caught out of position! I think letting Martinez Quarta come forward to close down forwards and midfielders, letting him hold back and anticipate the play will help his performances -- which highlights that IMO Martinez Quarta is the most important reinforcement we've gotten this summer. Auzqui is trash; it's a shame he got the spot on the bench instead of Pratto or even Rollheiser. As for De La Cruz... I don't understand why he was playing up top, he basically plays the same as Auzqui (allegedly) does, we ended the match without a striker. Hopefully for the last time this season.
As Argentina's world cup is over, we can start looking back to the important thing in life. River has already started its preparation for the huge Copa Libertadores series next month against Racing. Here is our preseason schedule in Orlando and Miami: River - Deportivo Saprissa (amistoso): domingo 8 de julio, en Orlando. River - Millonarios (amistoso): viernes 13 de julio, en Orlando. River - Independiente Medellín (amistoso): lunes 16 de julio, en Miami. River - Central Norte (Copa Argentina): domingo 22 de julio, a las 15 horas, en cancha de Colón