A twelve-game losing run is difficult for any team. For Argentine powerhouse River Plate, one of the most prestigious and successful clubs in the world, it’s nothing short of a catastrophe.
Los Millonarios, who have only one victory, are now last out of 20 clubs in the Argentine First Division. This season has been the worst for the team in its 107-year existence, and they face losing the Copa Sudamericana as well.
The team’s morale is terrible, and to make matters worse, coach Diego Simeone, who only five months ago guided River Plate to the Clausura Championship, announced that he would step down from his position if his team didn’t advance to the Copa Sudamericana semifinals following its match against Chivas de Guadalajara following Thursday’s second leg in Mexico (River is down 2-1 after the first-leg result in Buenos Aires).
Radamel Falcao Garca, a famous striker for River, stated on Tuesday night from his hotel room in Guadalajara, “We can’t find many answers; there are lots of elements behind it, but no one.” “We acknowledge that we handled things poorly. To restore order, nonetheless, we are working very hard.
We are low on the standings and that hurts, it affects our confidence, the 22-year-old Colombian international stated.
However, our desire to get out of our current predicament is what motivates us. Nothing like that has ever happened to us, and River isn’t used to being in such a precarious situation. We too want to go as soon as possible.
River is struggling with a serious problem that doesn’t appear to have a remedy. The squad has struggled to find any form of consistency this season, and to make matters worse, it just lost a disheartening home match to archrivals Boca Juniors in the Argentine Superclásico at its own Estadio Monumental de Nuez.
Despite having a strong scoring history against Boca, Falcao acknowledged that it was challenging to lose the match. We constantly work to overcome Boca, who are one of our main competitors. This game was something we always wanted to win, but we fell short. The men were quite disappointed.
The loss of several key players during River’s successful title run the season before was the apparent reason for their rapid turnaround. Poor management led to the dismissal of talented forwards Alexis Sánchez, Sebastián Abreu (who has since returned to the club but is only authorized to play in the Sudamericana), and goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo. Simeone also asked that the inspirational midfielder Ariel Ortega be controversially assigned to a squad at the lower level because he wanted him to get help for his worsening alcoholism.
“They are essential players who went,” asserts Falcao, “and they helped us win the title last season.” Their absence is apparent to us. The team hasn’t been able to replace them because they were the team’s basis.
Falcao, who led River in scoring last season with 11 goals, has undoubtedly been impacted by the losses since he has only managed to score twice this year. Since joining River Plate at the age of 14 (and making his debut for the River’s first squad in2005), Falcao has consistently scored goals. He claims that the main reason for his lack of goals this season is River’s precipitous deterioration in form.
Without a great team effort, scoring is more challenging, but I’m confident in my ability to return to my scoring ways to assist the team, he added. “However, it doesn’t matter who wins; under this trying circumstance, we are all hoping to be able to help. But if I succeed, it will be much better.
El Tigre has to start scoring straight away since River needs to defeat Chivas by at least two goals to proceed to the Copa Sudamericana semifinals at the Estadio Jalisco. Simeone’s team must be very effective in front of the net. In Argentina, the river played its best game of the campaign. It completely outplayed its opponents, but despite this, it lost the game because it failed to take advantage of all of its scoring opportunities.
“We did really well against Chivas,” said Falcao.
We were in charge of the game’s tempo. We tried to score goals all the time, but we couldn’t. It was quite tough for us to get back into the game after Chivas’ quick goal.
On Thursday, Falcao said, “We want to play with the same mentality and be more lethal when given opportunities in front of the goal.”
The squad previously played in the Sudamericana in 2003 and proceeded to the finals before losing to Cienciano of Peru. The Sudamericana is River’s only opportunity to salvage something from the season. Simeone preserved his starting lineup for the league match against Lans last weekend in order to be in the best possible condition for the match with Chivas. River may have a strong season if it prevails in the competition.
According to Falcao, it is one of our season goals, and winning it would be fantastic. We will endeavor to improve our status to finish the season as high on the table and to win the Copa Sudamericana, but we are not content with where we now are in the [league] rankings.
If River does not win the tournament, Simeone will step down as coach and be replaced by a number of different persons. Due to the demand for top-tier South American strikers in Europe, Falcao, who turned down a lucrative transfer to Italian powerhouse AC Milan last year, will certainly part ways with River.
I don’t know, hoping the coach and the players keep going, he said in response.
We’ve just been unlucky. We haven’t performed well, but that isn’t because we aren’t trying hard or because we don’t have the right attitude. We all aspire to keep moving forward and discover a solution to the problem.
The fact that the Buenos Aires club has produced so many outstanding players over the years increases Falcao’s chances of joining one of Europe’s premier clubs, especially if River maintains its appalling record. In recent months, powerhouses Real Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal, and Milan have all indicated interest in acquiring Falcao. Milan will keep trying to persuade the Colombian to visit the San Siro.
Falcao has batted down rumors that he would be leaving the squad, but he admits that he has always wanted to play for one of the teams listed above and that playing in the best European soccer leagues is one of his professional aspirations.
Falcao views himself as a technical player and feels that even though he enjoys watching English soccer, the La Liga in Spain is a better match for him. In particular, if he joins Real Madrid, one of the front-runners to sign him, he is confident that the transition from Argentine soccer to Spanish soccer will go smoothly.
The highly sought-after striker states that for the time being, all of his thoughts are on River and that he is looking forward to winning more titles with the team, despite the fact that he is pleased about the potential of moving to Europe.
Since these are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, he said, “sometimes you can’t say no.” But for now, River is all I can think about, along with adding to the club’s collection of championships.
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