The metamorphosis of River Plate’s new goalscorer: the day Hernán Crespo made Braian Romero No. 9

There are moments that are a hinge in athletes. In footballers it can be a game, a goal, the conquest of a title, but also their attitude of wanting to prove themselves in training in a position that is not theirs. There, the vision of his coach and the player’s predisposition and confidence towards his DT converge to want to take risks. That happened with Braian romero, today a brand new scorer of River Plate whose performance made that little by little his fans do not miss Rafael Santos Borré.

Romero, 30, had his explosion in Defense and Justice and it was during the stage in which Hernan Crespo was in charge. Together they starred in the most glorious hour of the Halcón de Varela by winning their first title and no less than at the international level, in what was the South American Cup 2020.

In January 2020, the former footballer took over as coach of the southern team of Greater Buenos Aires. There were a few games until the pandemic arrived, but in the restart of the activity, which was at the international level, the break came for Romero. In those meetings of the South American, Braian began to break the nets and it was thanks to Crespo, who saw something that no other coach had seen before in the one born in San Isidro on June 15, 1991.

“Braian was brought in as an outsider and one day, in training, I was in the tower with a manager, because when we play football I like to look at them from above. And the first half hour did not close me, we needed to be a little more spicy. And I went downstairs and talked to Braian and said ‘look, we’re going to do a second half, half an hour, I want to see you as No. 9, I want to see you with two players who can give you a game,’ ”Crespo recalled in an interview in ESPN after winning the Copa Sudamericana.

“By tactical drawing they were Pizzini (Francisco) and Hachen (Gabriel). We tried and saw what he gave us in the last meters, which was that explosion. I asked him if he liked it, he said yes, and in 15 minutes he had already scored two goals and had had heads-up”, He stressed.

The result and quick adaptation convinced Crespo, who later polished some points with Braian. “Later we began to work on the details, on the movements, on oiling everything that came to be, but without his predisposition, there is no way, there is no way; this is from the player. We can have a thousand ideas, but if the player is not willing to learn and make mistakes … Because you also have to have the courage to expose yourself to all that and it is not easy “.

“The Braian thing is so particular and so explosive that it also happened with him Cork Rodríguez of Nº 5 in Banfield. It was central. We did not have 5 because they had all left due to the end of their contracts and we spoke with Cork and we also understood that he could occupy that position, that he could play, pass, exit. And the technicians passed and they continue to maintain it, ”he explained about another case where he was able to empower a soccer player, to the point that he was later transferred to Estudiantes de La Plata.

“These are small results. Of course, we all want to win, but what most arises and worries me is that they are better professionals and players.. And if tomorrow when they retire they say ‘look, Hernán added one percent to me in my career’, for me it is a heap, “he reflected.

Hernán found solutions without having to go to the market. Because six months after his arrival in Florencio Varela, things were not easy either in the middle of the pandemic and with a drain on the campus. “Last June (2020) twelve players left and three came,” he said.

It is possible that because of his past as No. 9, a role in which Hernán got tired of breaking the nets playing for River Plate, the Argentine national team and various clubs in Europe, he has given him that nose to discover a dormant talent in Romero, whose career He had a before and after with that test that Crespo proposed to him.

Braian, in the first half of 2021, scored seven goals in 13 games played, between the Professional League Cup, Copa Libertadores and Recopa Sudamericana. In Defense and Justice, he specified a total of 21 goals in 33 games and 18 of them were in the same number of international matches. That is, 85.71 percent of all his goals were in Conmebol competitions..

He was the great figure of the South American Cup 2020. His name was present in the network in 10 chances in 9 games and was the tournament’s top scorer. Only Eduardo Vargas, with 11, converted more than he in an edition of the Copa Sudamericana. It was in 2011 with the University of Chile.

But when he reached River Plate, all his achievements were enhanced and more with his irruption. In his third game he made two goals and they were nothing less than in the return match for the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores, as a visitor against Argentinos.

Then he scored another this Sunday in the win against Unión de Santa Fe and in his debut at the Monumental (with the millionaire shirt) he already converted. There were 3 goals in 4 games. If you take the aggregate of Defense and Justice and River Plate, there are 24 goals in 37 matches.

For now he was very comfortable with Matias Suarez, the other attacker of the gang. His trainer, Marcelo gallardo, trust you have a good partner up front.

It all started in a practice, with the vision of a coach and predisposition of the player. That day Crespo discovered Romero as No. 9 and it was the take-off of the current River Plate striker.

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