Tonight at 6pm ESTRiver Plate will host the San Juaninos at Huracan behind closed doors. River is serving the first of a five game sanction that will keep them from playing at El Monumental.
DT Matias Almeyda will likely be starting the same 11 players that won in Mendoza last weekend, marking the first time in a long time that a lineup is repeated for three games in a row. The tentative starters, again, would be: Leandro Chichizola; Luciano Abecasis, Agustín Alayes, Jonatan Maidana, Juan Manuel Díaz; Carlos Sánchez, Nico Domingo, Martín Aguirre, Lucas Ocampos; Alejandro Domínguez and Fernando Cavenaghi.
The fans, players and coaching staff are all eager to see the team captain Fernando Cavenaghi get his first goal of the season, and a lot of talk this week was how to get El Torito the ball more often.
Will we see any of the U20 players on the bench? What about Ledesma and Gonzalez, the last two pre-season signings? The bench players should be announced early Saturday morning.
Desamparados de San Juan are an unlikely rival for giant like River, but this is the reality of an unexpected season in the B Nacional. The San Juaninos won their first game and then lost last weekend at Chacarita 1-0. The good news for River fans is that Desamparado’s keeper, Matias Giordano is one of us! In an interview this week, Giordano confessed to being a lifelong Millonario and rabid follower of the unstoppable River teams of the 1990’s.
River has only played Desamparados once, and that was back in 1969. The San Juaninos didn’t have a fun afternoon that day getting crushed by River 7-0 with the legendary Oscar Mas getting four of those. Although they only have played once, Desamparados is a historic club with 92 years of history in the lower leagues.
And finally, the effort to install video screens outside Huracan has been rejected by the city officials, citing a lack of time to organize and ensure adequate safety precautions were taken. The main organizers, Movimiento Soy de River, have vowed to push through approval for River’s next game at Huracan.
