River Plate once again showed an opaque image tonight and drew goalless at home with Atlético Tucumán, in a match on the second date of the Professional Football League tournament.
It was River’s second consecutive 0-0, after the debut against Defense and Justice; and also the second equality followed for the Tucumans after the 1-1 with Colón on the initial date.
The match was played at the Monumental stadium and featured good arbitration by Fernando Espinoza.
River, despite the absences (the central defender of the Chilean Paulo Díaz and the Paraguayan Héctor Martínez, the Uruguayan midfielder Nicolás de la Cruz, all with their respective teams), came out to own the match with their usual weapons.
However, the first clear chance came from Tucumán, at 2m, when Pereyra stole on the left in midfield, saw Armani ahead of him and tried a nice shot that went past the goalkeeper but fell on the roof of the goal.
The locals responded at 6m with two shots from Barco, one that deflected to a corner and another that Lampe cleared very well.
After several very even minutes, River began to dominate the ball. He made himself wide with the projection of the wings and the continuous changes in front but he could not be deep, because the midfielders met little and Julián Álvarez barely intervened.
It had a shot from Palavecino that could have been more dangerous than it was and only approached with real risk at 29m, when Enzo Fernández combined well with Álvarez, received inside the area and lost to Lampe in one-on-one.
River did not have fluidity or dynamics for collective creation and neither did individualities give him a change of pace.
Those of Lucas Pusineri, meanwhile, bet high on the heads-up duels of Lotti and Menéndez against Maidana and González Pirez; Although the local defenders showed some difficulty in their movements, and even Enzo Pérez seemed to contribute to that defensive confusion, Armani hardly had to force himself once, at 41m, to take a shot from Carrera for the corner.
In the first moments of the second stage, Marcelo Gallardo’s team created two good chances to open the scoring. In both the definition was by Elías Gómez, the first with a header and the second with a very good scissors. Both were taken out by the Bolivian Lampe with notable reactions.
River grew in confidence and with the income of Pochettino and Paradela it was affirmed in the domain. During the following passages of the meeting, with the “Dean” resolutely lying down near his area, the local tried to overwhelm the sides and surprise with passes between the lines. But he continued to suffer from his lack of depth and forcefulness. There was no proportion or correlation between possession and scoring situations.
So, even though the second half took place almost entirely on the field of Atlético Tucumán (He went out twice towards the rival area and both times fell in an advanced position), River only had two more, at 32m, when Álvarez received from the right on the edge of the area, without a mark, and finished off wide; and at 39m, also a failed shot from the admitted Braian Romero.
On the next day, the third, River will visit Colón de Santa Fe, on Wednesday starting at 7:00 p.m., and Atlético Tucumán will receive Lanús, the same day but from 4:30 p.m.
