River Plate defeated Pachuca, from Mexico, 1-0, in the last preseason friendly played at the Toyota stadium, located on the outskirts of the American city of Dallas.
The team led by coach Martín Demichelis, this time with the possible starting team for the start of the official competitions, achieved a narrow victory, thanks to an isolated play that ended in a good definition by Colombian striker Miguel Borja.
The first half began with attempted attacks by ‘Millonario’, although with inaccuracies that ended up being frequent throughout the initial stage.
The Mexicans, led by Uruguayan coach Guillermo Almada, started rather expectantly, appealing to recovery in the middle and a quick exit that complicated a slow-regressing River.
The first clear chance came after 5 minutes, after an error by defender Leandro González Pirez, who executed a failed pass towards the middle, intercepted by Venezuelan Salomón Rondón.
The former River player controlled, observed a forward Franco Armani and shot from afar, but the world champion goalkeeper managed to deflect.
The Argentine squad spent the next 20 minutes with more ball possession, but with difficulties for midfielders Esequiel Barco (in a good first half) and Manuel Lanzini to connect to create clear situations.
At 21 minutes, the Mexican team put together a good collective play that ended in Moroccan midfielder Oussama Idrissi enabling Jesús Hernández inside the area, who launched a cross that Rondón barely missed.
For their part, the River Plate forwards were disconnected from the game, especially the Colombian Borja, while Facundo Colidio came down to contribute to the generation of play.
Photo: @Tuzos
At 40 minutes, River’s only clear shot in the first half came at the feet of Colidio, who received a ball after an error in the start of goalkeeper Carlos Moreno and Argentine defender Sergio Barreto, settled in and finished from afar with the goal. empty. But the ball went wide.
For the complement, Demichelis changed Lanzini (with discomfort in his right hamstring due to a blow), and the winger Enzo Díaz, for the nationalized Paraguayan David Martínez and for the midfielder Rodrigo Aliendro.
Núñez’s men surprised in the 6th minute, when Borja struck to look for a long ball, beat his newly introduced marker, the Ecuadorian Andrés Micolta, and finished crosswise with a powerful shot.
With the disadvantage, Pachuca reacted and almost equalized 3 minutes later, through a strong shot from forward Miguel Rodríguez, who had entered for the complement. But the shot was well saved by Armani.
The former Deportivo Merlo goalkeeper responded again by deflecting a left-footed shot from Colombian midfielder Nelson Deossa.
Demichelis’ team began to lose dominance due to the onslaught of the ‘tuzos’, so the coach appealed to the income of defender Ramiro Funes Mori, Uruguayan midfielder Nicolás Fonseca and midfielder Agustín Palavecino.
However, at 22 minutes, Pachuca almost tied it again, thanks to a good filtered pass from midfielder Pedro Pedraza to striker Alexei Domínguez, who crossed the goal and the ball went just outside.
At 23 minutes, the ‘millionaire’ coach sent 16-year-old midfielder Franco Mastantuono onto the field in place of Barco, who came out with discomfort.
The Argentine team retreated and Pachuca was encouraged to advance, but it was difficult for them to create situations, with numerous changes that were not decisive either.
Even so, with a minute left to go, Rodríguez overflowed from the left and launched a cross back that Rondón connected on the penalty spot, but Armani again blocked it, becoming the figure of the match.
There was only time for some interventions by River’s youngsters, midfielder Tobías Leiva and striker Agustín Ruberto, who had entered a few minutes earlier, along with Mastantuono, who shot across the field in the last of the game, but was blocked by the Mexican goalkeeper.
In this way, the Argentine champion of champions achieved a narrow victory in their last friendly preseason presentation, and this same night they returned to Buenos Aires, to begin preparation for the debut in the Professional League Cup against Argentinos Juniors, which will have place on Sunday the 28th, starting at 7:00 p.m., at the Monumental.
2024-01-21 00:21:00
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