River leads the Clausura Tournament

What started as a promising match ended with a victory for River but the violence shadowed River’s effort. With the game decided by one goal scored by Archubi, River went straight to the top of the league and is the only leader. The game was played in Liniers, which is Velez Sarsfield’s home stadium, and in front a good crowd, both teams struggled to maintain an exciting game. Before I go on, I would like to quickly comment on the violence between River’s supporters and the “barras bravas”, or “rough groups”. Seeing a bunch of supporters attack each other like a wild of pack animals is ridiculous. I saw people being punched left and right, people being thrown down stairways, and a whole mess of confusion. I hope they are able to control these supporters because this cause a lot of trouble for the team itself, such as loss of points and closure of the Monumental Stadium.

Back to the game, River played this match with a lot of reserve players. It seemed that Simeone was looking to conserve some players for the match against Club America on Wednesday night but one the most adored players, Ariel Ortega, had to watch the game from the side due to his absence from training earlier in the week. Arsenal did a good job in attacking as River’s defense, once again, looked weak. If it weren’t for Carrizo’s excellent goalkeeper skills, River would be in a lot of trouble. The Argentine press recognizes that Carrizo has been the hero of many matches and his absence in the near future is going to hurt the Millonarios. The only goal of the match came at the hands, or should I say feet, of Archubi. He hasn’t been given many matches to prove himself but out of the few matches that he has played, this by far has been his best. The last 10 minutes of the match was incredible. Both teams counter attacked each other and easily took advantage of each other’s mistakes. River was able to maintain the lead and secure the three points for first place in the tournament.

River’s next match is on Wednesday, the 2nd of April, and River visit Mexico City to play Club America for the Copa Santander Libertadores. Club America has been on a downhill since the beginning of the year. They are last place in their tournament and their president and head coach have called it quits. River definitely looks to be the favorite!