River continues its journey through the B Nacional with another game for the history books. Saturday they face Defensa y Justicia for the first time ever in an official game. Kickoff is at 6:10pm EST from San Lorenzo.
Matias Almeyda is forced to make one change to the starting lineup that had started every game so far. Luciano Abecasis is out with an injury, so that means Luciano Vella will make his debut for La Banda. The starting 11 will be: Leandro Chichizola; Luciano Vella, Agustín Alayes, Jonatan Maidana, Juan Manuel Díaz; Carlos Sánchez, Nicolás Domingo, Martín Aguirre, Lucas Ocampos; Alejandro Domínguez y Fernando Cavenaghi.
Domingo will get the start again despite having his worst performance so far last weekend against Quilmes.
Almeyda has named Venezuelan Cesar “El Maestrico” Gonzalez to the game day roster for the first time. Daniel Vega, who lost the starting keeper spot to Chichizola, is recovered from his injury but was not included.
Aguirre stated this week that River will benefit from the larger field of play at San Lorenzo, arguing that it will allow the team to keep the flow of the game to their liking.
River faced Defensa y Justicia in a friendly last year and won 3-1, with goals from Funes Mori, Lanzini and Ortega.
Defensa y Justicia enter the match right in the middle of the table. They won their last two games against Desamparados (1-2) and Chacarita (3-0) after dropping their first two games of the season. River of course is top of the table with Rosario Central and Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy.
Defensa y Justicia are from Florencio Varela, located in southern greater Buenos Aires. They are the longest running team in the Argentine second division, gaining promotion to the category back in 1997. Their colors, green and yellow, were adopted in 1981 when the club was sponsored by a local bus company.
Among the players on the roster for Defensa y Justicia is Rolando Zarate, who had a brief and forgettable spell at River Plate in 2007. Zarate is not expected to start.
