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ESWinning football: River romps to debut win in the championship The team managed by Martín Demichelis was superior and had a good collective performance, beating Central Córdoba 2-0 in Santiago del Estero. Great goals from Nacho Fernández and Pablo Solari.
In this year’s official debut, River stepped onto the field determined to display its game model. Pressing upfield and setting up triangulations, River got off to a good start. The team started having more clear and dangerous scoring chances. Milton Casco tried to score from outside the box and Nacho Fernández twice smashed shots against the woodwork. The home team barely threatened Franco Armani with a shot from Ciro Rius.
José Paradela had his chance with a left-footed shot on goal that was saved by the keeper. River had another clear chance: off a corner kick, Miguel Borja won the header, but his shot went just wide of Marcos Ledesma’s right goalpost. Before the end of the first half, Lucas Gamba had his chance and Nacho opened the scoring: a great collective play, followed by Pablo Solari’s finesse and on-target left-footed tap, set the score at 1-0.
River tried to remain superior in the second half, which was a bit tougher in the midfield. River still responded well on all lines, as when Armani quickly came off his line to block Gamba as he approached the goal. Right after the 60th minute, Solari almost set the score at 2-0: he moved from left to right and struck a low right-footed shot that was saved by the keeper.
Demichelis’s team kept going for the second goal and was very close to scoring it with a header from Rodrigo Aliendro that smashed against the goalpost, off an on-target cross from Andrés Herrera on the right-hand side. On the next play, Nacho failed to score from outside the box and Herrera, after collecting the rebound, missed well over the crossbar at the edge of the penalty box. Having so many chances, River finally set the score at 2-0 with a great goal from Solari: right-footed crossed shot into the left corner of Central Córdoba’s goal.
River renewed the air when Bruno Zuculini and Franco Alfonso came onto the field. It was the youth midfielder who set up a play that almost resulted in the
third goal; however, the keeper blocked Borja’s shot and player No. 9 collected the rebound, smashing the ball against the crossbar. Thus, the team had their first official win with Demichelis as River manager. On the next matchday, River will be the away team again, playing against Córdoba’s Belgrano on Saturday.
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