The questioned River of Martin Demichelis will begin this Wednesday its tour of the Argentine Cup. will do it before Cordoba Racing in a match for the round of 32 to be played at the Madre de Ciudades stadium in Santiago del Estero with the refereeing of Sebastián Zunino and the television of TyC Sports from 9:10 p.m. Previously, for the same instance and at 5:10 p.m., Sarmiento de Junín and Chaco For Ever will face each other at the Colón de Santa Fe stadium.
After the controversial victory on Saturday against Lanús by 2 to 0, Demichelis plans to rotate some players to give rest to some starters and minutes to some others who are not getting so much in the championship games. This way, Ezekiel Centurion will go to the bow instead of Franco Armani and the Chilean paulo diaz will replace Milton Helmet, who came out against Lanús due to a paralyzed left thigh seven minutes into the second stage.
In the half court, there will be rest for Enzo Perezwho also left on Saturday due to muscle discomfort and will enter in his place Rodrigo Aliendro. Another variant will be the entry of Santiago Simon by Ignacio “Nacho” Fernandez, just as it happened before Lanús at 33 minutes of the second stage.
While on offense, Lucas Beltranauthor of the second goal, will replace the Venezuelan Solomon Rondon and the Colombian Miguel Borja He will do it for Esequiel Barco. In other words, there will be six variants with respect to the initial formation in the South. River will then come out with Centurión, Rojas González Pires, Paulo Díaz and Enzo Díaz, Simón, Aliendro, De la Cruz and Paradela, Borja and Beltrán.
Racing de Córdoba, meanwhile, is still adapting to the First National to which it returned this season: it is in eighth position in Zone B with eight points, product of two victories and as many defeats and in the last day it defeated Deportivo Madryn 3-1 at home. His coach, Carlos Gustavo Bossio -former goalkeeper for Belgrano, Lanús and Estudiantes de La Plata, among other clubs, plans to repeat the same team that beat the Chubut team: Leonardo Rodriguez; Scolari, Mattía, Marcio Gómez and Ferrero; Berrondo, Emmanuel Giménez, Oyola or Cavagnero and Leandro Fernández; Colonel and Mateo.
The Argentine Cup has been a pleasant tournament for River Plate. During the Marcelo Gallardo cycle he obtained it in the 2015-2016, 2017 and 2019 editions. We will have to see how the demands are accommodated throughout the year. But in a hypothetical order of priorities, the Argentine Cup is in third place, behind the Copa Libertadores, the great obsession of always and the local tournaments.
Although the games always have to be played (and this edition of the Cup has been lavish in big hits), a priori, and beyond including some footballers who have not been starters, River appears as a favorite to overcome the crossing. But he must first overcome some of the inconveniences that he has been warned about. And that not even his victories against Argentinos Juniors and Lanús for the championship and Banfield for the 2020 Champions Trophy semifinal could hide.
The lack of an idea of the game and a greater decision to control the games, an unreliable defense and a rotation that in some positions still makes it impossible to distinguish starters from substitutes worries their millions of fans. The winner of this key will face off in the round of 16. final of the tournament with the winner of the clash between Talleres de Córdoba and Chacarita Juniors.
In Santa Fe, Sarmiento de Junínintoned after having thrashed Rosario Central 4-1 on Friday will seek to avoid his second consecutive elimination in debutwhile Chaco For Ever will aim to surpass its best campaign in the Argentine Cup, starring precisely in the last edition, when it fell on penalties against Talleres de Córdoba in the Round of 32 Final and improve his present, in which he only won one of the four games he played for the First National. The winner will face Rosario Central or Central Norte and Juninenses and Chaco have not faced each other since the 1993-94 season of the then Primera B Nacional.