Maximiliano benozzi
09/16/2021 3:24 PM
Clarín.com
sports
Soccer
River plate
Updated 09/16/2021 3:25 PM
River has not lost six games in the Professional Football League, with four wins and two draws.
And after the thrashing of Newell's in Rosario he was third, two points behind the leaders Talleres and Lanús.
There are still 14 dates to go - a lot - and Marcelo Gallardo's team still has to be collectively ordered, but so far the numbers close and he is on track to fight for the title that the Doll is missing.
The coach, anyway, does not seem to lose sleep. This is how he feels and expresses it. Although, perhaps, he seeks to take pressure off his players. “
I do not have that pending account. I want to win it, I have that wish. But the floor does not move me
, "said Gallardo after 4-1 against Newell's, a match he defined as" rare ", since" we were forceful without having control of the game. "
For Gallardo, used to raising promissory notes, the League is not a bill to settle, according to his words.
Is it
an obligation for River to win it since it is the only competition that plays between now and the end of the year
?
The red band demands obligations, nothing new.
The Doll knows it more than anyone.
And indoors, there is a coincidence in River: they consider that their successful cycle, which has been going on for more than seven years, deserves to win a local tournament.
And all the cannons are aimed there,
Endless: Scocco and Ponzio, two who were part of Gallardo's winning cycle, now facing each other Photo: JJ García (Rosario)
There are arguments to think that Gallardo's phrase is sincere
. In fact, the coach may not have been disturbed at any time by winning the local league, unlike what happened to him with international competitions, especially with the Copa Libertadores. Shortly after assuming as a coach, in mid-2014, in an interview with Clarín he had set the course for his cycle. In that note, the Doll said - more words, fewer words - that
River's pending accounts were with the Libertadores, generally elusive in the rich history of Millionaires
.
And in practice, their decisions went that direction.
Just remember.
In November 2014, River was at the forefront in the local tournament but before the guard Racing
, who later passed it, he went to play at Cilindro de Avellaneda with a team made up of a majority of substitutes because four days later he was playing the semi-final back of the Cup South American against Boca.
From there, each time the Doll had to choose, he chose to always put the best in international competitions, to the point of being relegated in several local competitions.
It was not bad, of course.
He obtained seven international titles, including two Copa Libertadores
.
And locally he was also a cupbearer, with three Argentine Cups and two Super Cups.
The caravan of 9-12, when River won its second Copa Libertadores.Photo: Fernando De la Orden
In addition to that 2014 tournament, there were two others that River was close to winning with Gallardo.
The 2016/17 Super League, in which he ran from behind and was close to passing Boca but failed in the last section and fell and the 2019/20, in which he was one goal away from obtaining it, with a muffled cry , when he drew 1-1 against Atlético Tucumán on the last date and ended up taking Boca, who beat Gimnasia 1-0.
In those competitions there was a coincidence: in the final stretch River was able to penetrate the League alone.
Something similar happens in this tournament, with the difference that there are even more dates of exclusive dedication, to the point that Gallardo only thinks about the tournament and postpones the decision of his future.
"I will be this time with my head busy putting together puzzles to form the best possible team and try to win this league. I have energy in everything I said so far, I try not to think about the end of the year because it avoids a great mental exhaustion It takes energy out of me ", confided the coach.
According to his words, there is a conclusion: Gallardo may "not move the floor", but somehow, his desire and desire to win make the League begin to become an obsession.
After all, it is a competitive animal.
The compliments to Julián Álvarez
Julián Álvarez is one of Marcelo Gallardo's fetish players. "He is the footballer that every coach wants to have and train," the 21-year-old Doll from Cordoba, born in Calchín, had said when he was promoted to First. And after Newell's beat Rosario, in which Álvarez was a figure, by scoring two goals and giving two assists, the River coach praised him a lot.
“Julián is a player who caught our attention a lot.
I know him from much younger, we saw a huge potential when we raised him to First.
Like any process of a young player, it goes through ups and downs, it happened to all of us in the race.
Like any 18, 19-year-old human being going through a stage of maturity.
He is having the possibility of growing, of hitting himself, of getting out of the low moments.
He is an elite player, he has a lot of potential, "said Gallardo.
Visit up!
Goal by ⚽️ Julián Álvarez to put the 2 to 1 between #River and #Newells for # Date11 of the #TorneoSocios 🏆 @ Newells 🆚 @RiverPlate pic.twitter.com/VlShAletq4
- Professional Football League (@LigaAFA) September 16, 2021
By the way, when talking about Álvarez, the Doll also downloaded a message about what are the keys for a player to improve and strengthen himself. "How do you improve? With taking risks: if the players don't take them, they can't discover what they are capable of doing. It is taking risks, believing that they have those capacities to solve situations that in football are more and more It is difficult in Argentine soccer because we play as we live in a country that is complex to live, sometimes they want to make people believe that soccer is a kind of island where it is sometimes difficult and we insist that the players can take risks and accompany them in that growth. Today more and more in this football, where you have to play with younger players who take time to mature and today the maturation is much slower ", analyzed the Doll.