Forceful, devastating. She handled it to his liking from the first time, although she slowed down a little later. River, the current champion of the Professional League, beat Central Córdoba of Santiago del Estero 3-0, at the Monumental stadium and started the defense of the title in the best way. Facundo Colidio scored twice at 6 and 30 minutes of the first stage and, in the middle of those two achievements, came the expulsion of Santiago Laquidaín, from the visiting team. Finally, four minutes before the end of the duel – already when Núñez’s team had lowered its intensity – Esequiel Barco scored third, celebrating with a defiant gesture to the crowd.
Beyond River’s victory, a separate case was the situation that Martín Demichelis experienced. This time they were more than just isolated whistles, generally of a lower intensity than the signs of approval that he collected: 20 days after the elimination against Boca, the return of River to the Monumental cost the coach the greatest rejection from the fans in his almost year and a half of management. When he was mentioned over the stadium speakers, the whistle was loud, the discomfort was more audible than ever. In his long fight to enter the hearts of the fans, Demichelis backed up lockers. Time, results and the Copa Libertadores will dictate if their situation is reversible or if this climate of tension will end up affecting River’s general ecosystem.
What did Demichelis say about people’s reaction? At the press conference he did not avoid the issue: ”I am responsible for the team and the fan has the freedom to express themselves and demonstrate. But my love for the club is very great and my respect for the fans will always be there. If they speak out and are dissatisfied, it means that we have to continue to strive, evolve and improve. That’s where we’re going to focus, with the pride that comes from being River’s coach. We will try to keep the team playing well and continue giving joy to the fans, which we gave them today. There are 55 full stadiums and with the support of the people for a large part of the game, I repeat that I am very happy with the third goal to celebrate more. “I will always respect the fan.”
In addition, he spoke about the team’s progress: “We are in a process of evolution although we have been repeating the tactical system in the last few games, regardless of the names. We are putting a lot of focus on that: finding, in the same system, some options within the party. We played a good game, that puts me at ease. We need everyone to compete until the end, which is very hopeful: two group games, an Argentine Cup phase that is not easy and this tournament where we have 26 more finals left and we want to be protagonists until December.”
Regarding the expectation generated by the youth Francisco Mastantuono, who entered in the 54th minute for Diablito Echeverri, he mentioned: “I talk to him, we have to be careful and measured in our praise. His qualities are visible to everyone, if those clubs are named it is because they are behind him. We will try to continue supporting him as much as possible, he leads a very earthly life, well sheltered in his surroundings, he is very sensible, very much at home… We are happy that he is part of it and we are part of the evolution of the “.
Also, Demichelis pointed out the objective of qualifying for the 2025 Club World Cup: “We have the last two home games of the group stage, we want to win to seal the classification and defend first position. By fulfilling that objective, the World Cup objective is fulfilled, but it is not my responsibility to talk about that competition because it is very far from the deadlines that we have as objectives to meet. “We want to win to maintain first place.”
And he spoke about Germán Pezzella, the world champion who plays for Betis and whose name was heard loudly last week to join as a reinforcement: “I didn’t have the chance to speak with him or with any of the names that are being announced. This is not the time to talk about reinforcements: after the blow of the League Cup and the second half the other day with Nacional, it is time to focus on the functioning of the team. The time will come to talk about reinforcements.”
