Boca dominated the first half of the first competitive superclásico of 2007, but couldn’t make the most of their numerous chances. They might have led 3-0 at half time, but as it was they had to settle for one, Pablo Ledesma stroking home a Juan Román Riquelme through ball after just 43 seconds.
In the second half, River came out all guns blazing and equalised through Mauro Rosales in the 49th minute. The rest of the match was really enthralling, played for the most part at breakneck speed, and saw a vastly improved showing from River over anything they’ve given their fans in the last couple of months. At the death, either side could have won it, but Martín Palermo missed a couple for Boca, and Marco Rubén did likewise at the other end.
River will take some small satisfaction from preventing their rivals going back to the top of the table – Boca now trail San Lorenzo by 2 points – and the Millonarios are now unbeaten in their last six meetings with Boca, but will the second half performance be enough to give their own title hopes a boost?
Check back here in the next couple of days for the goals from the match, along with our regular roundup of all the weekend’s goals and talking points.
Photo pinched from 26noticias.com.ar
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The good news is, as you say, the second half performance, which was the best River have looked in a long, long time.
The bad news – just looking at the math, there are too many teams ahead of River by too many points with only 9 games left. Barring a miracle, that’s the end of the Clausura hopes.
The worse news: with European clubs already keeping track of Carrizo, today’s incredible performance will only increase that interest and hasten his departure.
You know what, I’m going to be optimistic and retract that statement about title hopes. If we win the game in hand, we’re only 5 points back of San Lorenzo, and 3 back of Boca. So the title hopes are not dead yet – as long as we go on a nice winning streak.
Even if River do find a winning streak from somewhere, we’d still be relying on the other two slipping up. A (unlikely) victory against San Lorenzo could hand Boca the title.
Right now I’d take a few spirited performances like the second half on Sunday. I’m not too optimistic at the moment but a few wins (preferably not last minute flukes) might change my mind I suppose.
Que ponga huevos, ponga mas corazon!
Justin – Well done on the score prediction by the way. Any chance you could predict a 4-0 spanking of Banfield?
Haha – don’t I wish.
This is the seaosn where River plays up, or down, to the level of their opponent. Winning at Colo Colo and a brave draw at La Block of Flats on the one hand, losing to Jujuy, Caracas, Argentinos Jrs, on the other. Perhaps we’ll do better with the likes of Estudiantes, San Lorenzo, and Gimnasia LP than we’ve done against the bottom half.