Disastrous. Absolute worst way possible to arrive to the CWC. I wish we were in our Dec 2014 form for it. Mora has been extremely poor for months now (what was his last good game? The semi vs Guarani?)... Kranevitter, as much as I love him, has been unrecognizable lately... Even Sanchez, despite his goals vs Chapecoense, has taken a big dip in his level. Lets not even get started with the defense.... dear lord I just dont know what to say.. To make matters worse, as we arrive in our worst form in the last two years, Barca arrive in their best in that time. And thats if we reach the final, because playing like this we cant even beat the local u-12 side
After my criticism of his recent form during half time, Mora appears with two golazos to give us life Vamos RIVER... Botafogo pt 2?
And luchos quality is out of this world.. His assist in the second goal was pure class, as was his chip pass that left Alario one-on-one with the keeper earlier. He is what we were missing in the first half, when not one of the 11 players on the field could set up even a simple, basic pass What a player. Crack!
It's a shame that two completely ridiculous errors are leaving us out of the copa in the end (Casco's inexcusable mistake that gave them the goal in the first leg and Barovero's ********-up that gifted them the lead early today), but it is what it is. Atleast the team put up a fight in the second half and showed some passion, unlike in the first 45.
The money spent on the likes of Casco and Pity Martinez is maddening. They tell us the club has no money, yet they spend 3 million dollars on Casco. I don't care that he only signed a few months ago- he needs to be gone before preseason. I don't want to see this guy in the Libertadores squad. I also feel that in the future, we should never play anyone who has been sold or signed with another team already, i.e. Sanchez and Kranevitter. Sanchez is just not all there. What was he doing with the ball boy? Apparently he can't be suspended for the mundial de clubes, but that kind of infantile action makes me think he doesn't even want to go. Kranevitter has been a complete shell of the player who won the Libertadores. Obviously, if fully focused, these two guys are our best two players arguably, but they are more concentrated on their new rich contracts abroad and playing for their national teams. Agree with you loco about Lucho. The guy is a wizard. Lucho and Pisculichi are the only two players we have who give pause to the game and no how to think. On Mayada- I think he'll be very good when Sanchez goes and he can be used in his natural position. He's only got to play there a few times and has looked good. We need to have faith with him and give him confidence before next season. Its really frustrating especially considering this Sudamericana was a lot easier to win. Oh well, now on to Japan. I'm honestly terrified of the semifinal game.
Casco can go ******** himself. He's done nothing to deserve wearing the shirt. My boy Mora took his sweet ass time to wake up but too little, too late. I hope Barça is on vacation mode next month at the CWC cuz it's going to be painful to watch River play with this shitty momentum in Japan.
Que pesar, estaba ilusionado por ver la final aca en bogota para ver al campeon de libertadores romperle el orto a las rosadas. Ahora hacerle fuerza a huracan, mas como bogotano que como hincha de river.
The botafogo game will probably never be equaled. It was truly magical. Last night Mora almost played the falcao role- the problem was there was no one to play the Ortega role. Pisculichi's importance really cannot be stated enough. If he's not ready by Japan I seriously don't know if we can win the semi. I mean huracan is a team that was fighting to not go down in a 30 team league and we couldn't beat them in 4 matches this season. Without sounding like a true pessimist, I think our goal really needs to be go to Japan and make winning the semi our goal. In the past, Inter and Atletico Mineiro both lost against African teams who we know won't be easy if TP Mazembe makes it. As for Barcelona, well we shouldn't even think about them. Of the 5 best players in the world, 3 of them are in Barcelonas front line. It's literally scary to think about
So the surprise is that Sanfrecce Hiroshima demolished the Congolese side 3-0 and will therefore be our rivals in the semifinal on Wednesday. The Japanese side, current J League champions, had previously defeated Gamba Osaka (4-3) in the Japanese final and Auckland City (2-0) in the CWC playoff stage to get to this point. On the other side of the tree, there's also a surprise as Guangzhou Evergrande (who have the Brazilians Robinho and Paulinho in their squad, among others) defeated America (MEX) by 2-1 in the 93rd minute. The Chinese side will go on to face Barcelona to decide the other finalist. Things begin to get realer... VAMOS RIVER!
I'm relieved not to play Mazembe to be honest. Not to say the Japanese won't be a problem- we know better considering what happened to Mineiro and San Lorenzo barely beating Aukland City- that no one can be underestimated in this tournament nowadays, but we did beat Gamba Osaka 3-0 without breaking a sweat just 5 days after the Copa Libertadores Final without any time to recover from jet lag- let alone the hangover from the celebrations. Mazembe's physicality and speed I just feel would have been tough to handle- not to mention they have the experience of beating Inter just 4 years ago in this very competition. As for America, well what else is no, a failure of a mexican club/national team on the world's stage is common place. Evergrande looks like a real future power with big names likes Robinho and Paulinho plus Filipao coaching. Right now we need to just focus on our game. I'd start Piscu AND Lucho and leave Ponzio out. We don't need his rough house and pressing for the japanese, we will need to create and having Lucho and Piscu link up is the most football we can create. Ponzio would be needed against Barca, but I don't like him for this game
Agree mazembe una vez elimino al inter si no estoy mal. curioso,, son del congo.....pais que nunca he visto a su selección en el mundial
Barovero is a complete legend, but what a strange player. We would have lost this game 3-0 if not for his heroics, the first save in particular was out of this world. Then he's also capable of having a complete stinker like against Huracan, but in the MASSIVE games, he always shows up big. Grande trapito! Alario has no score in the Copa Libertadores semi+final and Mundial semi. He's already a legend and he's only played 15 games for the club- with 8 goals. Lots of things to worry about before the Final. Balanta and Maidana looked out of order. Piscu was horrendous. He needs to come out. Mora was invisible except for a horrible miss with a wide open goal. I liked what Lucho and Viudez brought to the game. I'm not sure if Viudez should start though... If he does, we don't have too many impact players left on the bench. I'm not sure i'd trust Pity to play against Barcelona... Even less sure about Driussi Oh well lets just enjoy this. Who knows when if ever River will play the Final of the Club World Cup. I personally will be rooting for Barcelona. Even though we'd be strong favorites to play the Felipao, Robinho, and the Chinese, I'd rather play the best team in the world.
Piscu did suck but I think the whole team sucked offensively against a very organized Japanese squad. They bunkered and were lethal with their counterattacks in the first half. Thank god for Alario. The most clutch goalscorer we've had in years. I'm just hoping for a quality game from our guys against Barcelona. They won't be bunkering and I'm worried about the holes in our defense. Our back 4 barely withstood the Japanese counter, I can't imagine Barcelona, and Barovero isn't going to save every shot that Barca throws at him.
Voy a estar viajando a mexico durante el partido, me la pierdo, espero salir del avion y tener buenas noticias
I thought the first half performance was very good. Balanta, Ponzio, and Barovero were all huge IMO. The only thing between River and Barcelona at the end of the first 45 was the best player in the world's failure to miss the opportunity presented to him. Despite the fact that they have unlimited spending funds and can buy practically any player they want, they didnt run us over as everyone was expecting. That late goal, though, caused a change of plans that ultimately ended up being River's demise. Gallardo f'ed up by being so quick to take out Ponzio and Mora and bring in Pity and Lucho, something he wouldnt have done (atleast not so early) if Messi didnt score that goal right before the closing of the first half. In the end, Gallardo's decision practically sealed the game for Barcelona as it allowed them to finally find the spaces they couldnt find earlier to play their usual game. Although I immediately got a bad feeling about the subs when they were about to be made, one cant blame el Muñeco... afterall, if it had worked out in our favor we'd be dubbing him a "tactical genius" for the same substitutions that in the end worked against us. There were two players I was disappointed with, though. Sanchez, who tends to be an incredibly irregular player, played a very poor game and did nothing but give away the ball. We needed his "A" game, but unfortunately he showed his worst side. In fact, it was his poor pass (when he wasnt being pressured and had 3 or 4 open teammates to pass to) was what gave Barca the second goal right when River seemed to be adjusting and getting more in control. The other player I was not happy with was Vangioni, who brought nothing to the pitch. He played absolutely horrible vs Huracan in the Sudamericana too, as he has practically this whole season to be frank. 3-0, "goleada", "a japon de visita"... The bosteros can say whatever bs they say, but I'm proud of how River did.. It isn't easy facing this Barca: just ask Real Madrid, who conceded more goals than we did when they faced them a few weeks ago (..and in their home stadium.. ..and with messi on the bench), or any of their other European victims. As for South Americans, lets not forget that some of the others completely soiled themselves in front of the blue-and-red jersey (Boca suffered a historic 9-1 defeat, while the Brazilian Santos lost 8-0 to them) I do however wish we were able to play them with the original 11 for a bit longer than only one half, but atleast we can take pride that our coach had the balls to go all in or nothing rather than settling with a modest 0-1 defeat. Los bosteros y antiRiver me chupan bieeeeeen un huevo... Somos lo mas grande que hay! Sigan mirando por tv. Gracias RIVER!