The Copa Santander Libertadores continues to be a challenge for River. Last night was no exception as River headed to Montevideo to face Nacional. Both teams needed a win to ensure power in the group standings, especially for River who lost the previous Copa match. Unfortunately it wasn’t River who was favorable in this match as the Millonarios lost to Nacional with a score of 3-0. River was not the same team that it showcased to be in the local tournament although it had the same players in the line up. The Millonarios looked lost and could not take hold of the match. Around 3,000 fans travelled from Buenos Aires to Montevideo to watch River perform and the same amount of fans went home with angst and stress at the final whistle.
As mentioned before, River was not the same. Right from the beginning, there was trouble maintaining possession. The battle was closely fought in midfield and Nacional seemed to know where to position themselves each time they had possession. River could not break through this line and when it did, it was rapidly stopped by the Uruguayan defense. One player that was of great attention for Nacional was Federico Dominguez, an ex-River player from the past. His dominance in midfield greatly pushed the Uruguayan side up the pitch creating a lot of work for River’s defense. River did manage to reach Nacional’s goal area thank to Cristian Fabbiani but it was not enough. Marcello Gallardo and Radamel Falcao were key targets and both players could not move freely. This gave way for few chances to score but most these chances could have resulted in a goal if it wasn’t’ for last second errors. Rubens Sambueza played a good match although his performance lacked the quality it had in the previous game with San Martin. At the 40th minute of the first half, Nacional went ahead in the scoreboard of a deflected clear from River’s defense. This goal, in my opinion, diminished River’s aspiration to win the match.
Before the second half started, I was thinking about any possible substitutions and could not think of one. River had a solid team and was capable of overturning the result. Should a substitution right from the start be beneficial? Well, Coach Nestor Gorosito had the same inclination I had and made no substitutions. Right away, River went on full attack mode and Nacional had to take a step back. Rubens Sambueza seemed to revive and managed to push the team forward but it stopped short of a shot. Radamel Falcao gave his best to tackle on two or three players around him but he quickly lost possession. Gallardo disappeared in the first few minutes and was replaced by Diego Buonanotte. With River now desperate to score, Nacional just waited for the perfect opportunity to counter attack. Nacional’s second goal was a result of this opportunity although River’s goalkeeper, Mariano Barbosa, had an unfortunate factor in the goal. His deflection of a shot rebound over him and it was too late to recover causing him to receive an own goal. With the score 2-0, time was running out. Eventually time did run out for River but not before an extraordinary free kick goal by Nacional to seal the loss for River and complicate its chances to qualify for the second round of the Copa Santander Libertadores.
