It is a pity that the chronic lack of foresight with which the affairs of Argentine football are (mis)managed has clouded the dispute in the quarter-final matches of the Professional League Cup. That 24 hours before there was an attempt to tweak the programming (which in the end was left as is) because no one warned at the time that a team like Defense and Justice could have to play the definition just 48 hours after the end of the group stage, reveals that little is anticipated and much is imposed. No one looks around, or goes beyond the next date, unless it is to gain an advantage. Or to benefit a big picture.
The games have to be played. And maybe Defense ends up having a great benefit in the Bombonera. But without a doubt, it will decrease. With his physical strength dented by fatigue, he will face Boca, who will receive him with their most rested starters., after having made nine changes against Tigre on Saturday. In a key instance, of direct elimination, the inequality of conditions between the greats and the boys will be highlighted once again. Boca can rotate because it has plenty of financial backing to put together two equally competitive teams. On the other hand, Defense is enough for just one. To such an extent that to arrive with a certain air to Sunday’s match with Patronato, he had to put an alternative formation on Wednesday for the Copa Sudamericana in Brazil with Goianense.
At the other extreme of the inequality was Tigre that, cool as a lettuce, this Wednesday will move to the Monumental after having had more than three days of rest. He played on Saturday with Boca and 99 hours after the end of this commitment he will visit River, who faced Platense on Sunday with a large majority of substitutes. Of the five starters who entered, Julián Alvarez, Pochettino and Barco played 28 minutes and Enzo Fernández and De la Cruz just nine. The five will be from the beginning and at least physically, it will be a match of even forces. In football, Tigre has not won for four dates and in principle, he does not start as a candidate.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to program with a certain rationality in Argentine football. The massive participation in the continental tournaments and the compression of the calendars for the World Cup in Qatar (the official activity will inevitably end on October 30) forces us to speed up the times and play many times, forcing the minimum recovery times. Racing, Boca, Estudiantes, River and Defensa y Justicia will reach these quarterfinals with 12 games played in 36 days. Aldosivi, Argentinos and Tigre, much more relaxed, will do it with only 7. The great interests of soccer capitalism press and the indiscriminate accumulation of matches and tournaments is a phenomenon that afflicts everyone equally. If we add to this the traditional Argentine cost of disorganization and lack of foresight, the scenario is almost ungovernable.