Pretty soon, all the talk will be over. Boca Juniors host River Plate on Sunday, and now the weekend’s other football is finally upon us, the talk is all but over. The match will kick off at 4:10pm in Argentina (8:10pm British Summer Time). For more details on this and a full list of the weekend’s other fixtures (yes, there are other fixtures), read on.
On Thursday, the two clubs’ training sessions had vastly different outcomes, after Boca’s starters put 5 past their substitutes whilst River’s could only draw 0-0 with their backup side. The inevitable headlines in Friday’s papers were ‘Boca 5 – 0 River’. 57% of the 100,000 respondents to Olé‘s online poll this week have Boca as favourites to win, and they’re certainly looking confident, although keeping relatively quiet.
Daniel Passarella insisted on Friday that the match was River’s chance to re-start their title challenge, but it’ll have to signal a big change in performance. A comprehensive win against Boca in the Monumental during the Apertura was thanks to a performance that went unmatched for the rest of the campaign, and thus proved in vain. There’s just a chance, it is whispered in some quarters at the moment, that El Kaiser could need a win this weekend if he’s to keep his job for much longer.
One man doesn’t think it’s such a foregone conclusion. Ricardo Gareca concedes that Boca are ‘footballistically’ (a fantastic Spanish word which I think should be incorporated into the English language, and aim to champion from this day forth on this site) on a higher level than River at the moment, but that he still has a feeling the match will end in a draw. A bit of background information? Gareca played for both Boca and River during the 1980s.
Diego Maradona, who only played for one of them, seems doubtful to attend after suffering a relapse and having to be taken back under observation due to strong abdominal pains. Doctors insist his life isn’t at risk, and reports on some (English language) websites today that he’s been taken into intensive care seem to be exaggerated.
Elsewhere, Quilmes’ match against Arsenal has been cancelled due to security problems. CoProSeDe, the security force for the Province of Buenos Aires, refused to guarantee security at the game if it went ahead in Quilmes’ ground, and it’s too late to sort out arrangements for an alternative venue. This follows Quilmes’ cancelled match against Racing two weeks ago, which should have been played in La Plata due to the home side’s suspension from their stadium.
Fixtures in full:
Colón de Santa Fé vs. Racing Club
Quilmes vs. Arsenal de Sarandí
San Lorenzo de Almagro vs. Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata
Independiente vs. Godoy Cruz de Mendoza
Banfield vs. Vélez Sarsfield
Rosario Central vs. Nueva Chicago
Belgrano de Córdoba vs. Newell’s Old Boys
Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy vs. Argentinos Juniors
Boca Juniors vs. River Plate
Estudiantes de La Plata vs. Lanús
Soccer Blogs
The Football Directory
As bad as the last month has been, I can see River scraping a draw. It would have to be a low-scoring affair, of course: 0-0 or 1-1. River seem entirely incapable of scoring more than one goal these days.