The final date of the 2023 League Cup has finally arrived and Institute has a huge challenge ahead: will visit the leader of Zone A, River Plate, this Sunday the 26th November, from 6 p.m. on the Independiente de Avellaneda field.
This matchday 14 will find many teams playing important things, between qualifying for the quarterfinals and the fight to avoid relegation.
The Alta Córdoba team has already achieved the first objective of saving the category and will now try to advance one more place: beat River and wait for results (that Colón, Rosario Central and Banfield do not win their respective matches) to achieve qualification for the quarterfinals.
El Albirrojo currently has 19 points in 13 appearances (they won four, tied seven and lost only two matches) and is precisely as a visitor where he achieved his best performances.
In that condition he has gone seven games without losing, with three wins and four draws (this entire championship). And in an imaginary standings playing away from home, It is the best team in the competition with those 13 points. Racing and Independiente follow, with 11.
The only games that Instituto lost were at home: both 0-1, against Banfield (date 3) and Vélez (date 11).
Institute and its preparation to play against River
This Tuesday, coach Diego Dabove meticulously worked on different aspects to take precautions against the difficulty of the upcoming rival, Demichelis’s River.
On August 22 of this year, in Dabove’s second match on the albirrojo bench, Instituto suffered a 3-1 defeat against River at the Monumental, on date 21.
That night, Glory faced an overwhelming rival, which generated many goal situations. They started winning with a goal from Santiago Rodríguez and then came the goals from Nicolás De la Cruz, “Nacho” Fernández and Lucas Beltrán.
Dabove worked with his players imagining the upcoming match, where Instituto will try to hit but they understand that for long moments they will have to “hold on.”
“Today we had a very intense practice, but also of very good quality. We seek to generate real situations that have to do with the game and the DNA of the team. Direct attack, defensive transitions, aerial duels, crosses from the wings, defense in numerical inferiority. And in the other job we did 1 vs. duels. 1, 2 vs. 2, 4 vs. 4. An intense and exhausting morning, tomorrow moving on to more extensive work 9 vs 9″, Dabove said about the tasks one hot morning at the La Agustina property.
“Against River you will see the Institute that was seen throughout the championship. This is a team that has been adapting to the different moments that the game is having. There are moments where it is warranted and allows us to go a little higher and the team adapts well. There are moments where both teams are in three quarters and we have settled in well. And there are moments in the game, especially with this rival, where we are going to have to defend very low and when we had to adapt to that situation we have done well. The most important thing as this whole semester has passed since we have been here, is that the team has been learning to play the different moments of the game with a lot of maturity,” Dabove concluded.
Institute’s losses against River
El Albirrojo will not be able to count on two players from its squad to visit Millonario.
It’s about the midfielder Jonas Acevedo (he suffered a micro tear last week) and the Ecuadorian striker Djorkaeff Reasco (ankle pain). Both are already ruled out.
The bad news of the day was that the central midfielder Nicolas Linares He felt pain again after a sprained ankle and is in doubt.
“Reasco and Acevedo I don’t think they will arrive. They are working differently with (Jeremías) Lázaro, with the medical department, with different injuries and stages. I don’t think they will arrive. And today at work Linares felt pain in his ankle again. “I didn’t talk to the medical staff to see how serious it is… If it was just a sprain or something more serious,” the coach explained.
In any case, Instituto will have the majority of its squad to face this decisive match against River.
El Albirrojo has been evolving as a team under the guidance of Dabove and after achieving permanence, the team took off an important backpack. The team gained maturity and different aspects of the game, such as defensive solidity. Elements that will help you go for victory in Avellaneda.
“The most important thing is the mutual knowledge we have with the team. In that first game that I had to face River, we had six days with the group, after having played with Racing. We were fully aware of the squad. Apart from that knowledge, today the team has a different maturity. We are going to face a very complex rival, but we have also grown a lot in a lot of aspects of the game and we know that by winning we can get into the top four. That’s what we’re going to go look for,” Dabove said.
And he completed the DT: “We have and are working with that mentality and that ambition. It is what we have been generating together. You can see the boys with a lot of enthusiasm and motivation. Hopefully we can have a good close to the tournament and we can continue.”
