The Last Days

It is going to take a miracle for Daniel Passarella to survive as head coach through week 19 of the Torneo Apertura 2007. The way the papers describe the current situation, he may not even make it to the weekend if Thursday night's return leg against Botafogo goes wrong and we're bumped from the Copa Sudamericana. The problem is it may be a bit inconvenient to bid El Kaiser a fond farewell this week keeping in mind that the Big One is only a week and a half away. 

The worst part of all is that we have that bad feeling that we've seen this horror show before. On the eve of a decisive international game, our squad is full of uncertainty, player and managerial turmoil, all mixed in with a few moments of false optimism. How times have changed in three weeks. We came off our outstanding 5-0 victory over Velez with a renewed sense of confidence that had Ortega making quotes to the papers about our title chase. The press went along and told us that our sleeping giant was wide awake. That lasted all of 3 days, as that game was followed by an uninspired loss at Arsenal. Our season already has seen us draw to Gimnasia de Jujuy and lose to BOTH of the newly promoted teams, San Martin de San Juan and Tigre. So maybe the lopsided victories over Velez and Lanus were the blips, and now we're back to our reality.

This all reminds me of how enthusiastic everyone was when we eliminated Corinthians last year from the Libertadores only to come back to reality and get eliminated by Libertad of Paraguay. The elimination exposed River for the team they really were at the time, and somehow the results against Arsenal, Botafogo and Tigre seem to do the same. In reality what it is exposing is how incapable Passarella is at managing this squad. The constant rotation of starters is even beginning to bother the players to the point that some have began to grumble to the press. This week, minutes before the game against Tigre, Passarella announced that Juan Pablo Carrizo would start over Juan Ojeda in goal. Ojeda had been the starting keeper throughout the Apertura, and by now had even won the hearts of the fans, whereas Carrizo had only recently returned to the club after his transfer to Lazio encountered complications. Needless to say, the fans as well as the players were surprised by this decision and allegedly Ortega and 2 other teammates approached Passarella before kickoff to voice their displeasure. The Kaiser had begun to lose his grip on the reins.

During Sunday's 4-1 humiliation you could actually see the look of resignation on Passarella's face every time the camera zoomed in, and of course the vultures at TyC didn't miss an opportunity to do just that. Before the season started, our Kaiser had promised to leave the club if he could not produce any silverware by the end of December. That means winning either the Copa Sudamericana or the Torneo Apertura. As things stand today, in the Sudamericana we're trailing 1-0 after the first leg to Botafogo, and in the Apertura we're a worrying 7 points behind the league leaders Independiente. 

Thursday's match against Botafogo will begin to clear things up. A win by 1-0 sends us to penalties, a 2-0 win puts us through to the quarterfinals. Any Botafogo goal could be one of the final nails in the Kaiser's coffin as the away goal rule is in effect. On the domestic front, we have two season defining matches coming up. The Big One on October 7th and then three weeks later we face front running Independiente. The thing is, even if Passarella is able to produce a miracle and turn things around before December, I still beleive he will leave the club during the holiday break. The million dollar question is who will be his successor?

And as if things weren't already tough to watch, we found out early this week that the most promising player we've had this season injured his ankle and will not play again for three months. Alexis Sanchez, who has become a sensation at River Plate in so few games that he has even become a starter for his national side of Chile, suffered torn ligaments in his left ankle. Let's hope that Alexis doesn't suffer the same fate as Radamel Falcao, who was also causing a lot of excitement at River until he tore an ACL and was out for 6 months. Falcao has not been the same player, and it would be real shame if the same happens to Alexis. 

If I had to pick my probable starters for Thursday I would say I'd probably only get about 6 out of 11 right. This is one of the big factors we can attribute to our poor performances. Passarella has players playing out of position (Ferrari on the left? Ponzio on defense?) and you never know who will come out of the tunnel. I only hope we get to see a bit more of Zarate up front. I'll save my opinions on Villagra, Ahumada and Falcao for a later entry. 

Not all hope is lost though and we will have Ortega and Belluschi on the field Thursday night. We are playing at home where we have been able to string a few lopsided victories together recently. Let's hope River prolongs that streak.