Franco Mastantuono of River Plate plays during the match between River Plate and Platense at Estadio … More
River Plate and Boca Juniors will forever be the two biggest names in the ‘Liga Profesional’ in Argentina, however these are turbulent times and both clubs have just crashed out of the national league championship at the quarter-final stage.
Both sides lost at home to ‘smaller’ clubs in a depressing week for their fans and another bad tournament for their domestic and global reputations. Not least with a Club World Cup on the horizon and the likes of Bayern Munich and Inter Milan lying in wait.
During the calendar year, Argentina has two league tournaments. The first of which is known as the ‘aperatura’ and after a period of league matches it has now reached the play-off stage. At least this means Boca and River will have another shot at league glory in 2025 but the first half of the campaign has ended in tears at the quarter final stage.
Ignacio Schor of Platense celebrates after scoring the last penalty during a penalty shoot-out after … More
Platense Shock River Plate
Last night River Plate was shocked at home by Platense, a relatively tiny club that plays its home games just 5km from River Plate’s gigantic Estadio Monumental. For context, River Plate sits fourth in the annual table with just one loss from 16 games. Platense sits in 13th place with just six wins in 16. This was a shock on every level.
River Plate needed a penalty 12 minutes into stoppage time just to take the game to 1-1 and a penalty shoot-out despite having 74% of the ball and 21 shots at goal. The hosts missed two penalties after the final whistle and Platense players erupted with joy on the pitch as they advanced to the semi-finals.
Platense defeated Racing Club in the previous round so the team is on an incredible run, but that won’t be much consolation for River Plate, who would have been looking forward to home advantage in the semi-finals against San Lorenzo. This has to be considered a failure for the hosts who have the best squad in the league and ambitions of continental glory this season. Anything can happen in knock-out football but this River Plate team has flattered to deceive too often in recent times.
Boca Fail Again
Edinson Cavani (L) of Boca Juniors and teammates leave the pitch after losing the Torneo Apertura … More
Boca Juniors is having a considerably worse period in its history than River. The team aren’t playing in the Copa Libertadores this season and now for the best part of three years they haven’t been winning the league either. They lost 1-0 at home to rivals Independiente in the play-off quarter finals this weekend.
Boca were embarrassed before the season started when they failed to qualify for South America’s top club competition. Boca has had plenty of off-field issues in recent years and on it performances have been disastrous. The only thing that might save some face would be success against rivals River Plate, but Boca has only managed to win one of their last six ‘Superclasico’ derby games.
Huge Challenges Ahead
MIAMI, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 05: A general view inside the venue as the LED screen displays the final … More
Both clubs will play their next league games in July, when they will have a second chance at domestic silverware. However before that there is the small task of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the U.S.A to contend with.
Both Boca and River will face top international teams this summer and must improve if they are to get any kind of results. Failure to do so won’t be a good look for football in Argentina, and worse still, potential defeats to clubs from Japan or New Zealand would result in a catastrophe for the name of these giant football institutions.
