The inaugural club World Cup begins in the United States on June 14, with its 32 teams are divided into eight groups of four In the opening phase.
As part of our side guides that will appear on the tournament, James Horncastle offers the backdrop at River Plate.
Follow the Club World Cup in The Atletico This summer …
Who are they?
El but big (‘The Greatest’), this Buenos Aires club needs little introduction. The 38 times champions of the Argentine League also have one of the most talked about young stars of South American football (more about Franco Mastantuono later).
The star of young River, Franco Mastantuono
How good they are?
Rio should be very good after spending more than € 50 million (£ 42.2 million; US $ 57 million) on the transfer window. This is a huge amount for Argentine football. The funds were collected by selling players to Russian teams, while Spartak Moscow and Cska Moscow signed a trio of boys from Rio. It took a while for coach Marcelo Gallardo to integrate all the acquisitions – River essentially bought a new team – but German Pezzella, Lucas Martinez Fourth and Sebastian Driussi were also coming back after leaving clubs in Europe.
Gallardo’s latest crop ended strongly in the first half of the season (Aperturha) and satisfactorily threw mouth in crisis, defeating them in the ‘Superclassic– A defeat that cost rival coach Fernando Gago. Unexpectedly, River lost penalties on Platense play-offs, who shocked everyone and won the title of the main league for the first time in his history.
How did they arrive here?
Unlike the Brazilian teams that have qualified as recent Copa Libertadores winners, equivalent to the South American Champions League, River has reserved its place based on the ranking in the last four years in continental competitions. They were the eligible team of the eligible (South American) team and sealed their place by defeating Libertad 2-0 in the stages of last season’s Libertadores group with a key to Miguel Borja, his experienced Colombian striker.
What is their style of play?
River has a tradition of playing smooth soccer returning to La Machine, the legendary side of the late 1930s and early 1940s, which pointed out south -American south football striker.
Renato Cesarini and Carlos Peucelle, the most consequent coaches of River’s story to Gallardo, used to say, “What is the ball made? And where does leather come from? The ball has to eat grass. In other words, he has to move. Gallardo knows this better than anyone, but he is also a pragmatist who has always adapted his system to available players and the opponent river is facing.
Tell us about the coach
Gallardo is only 49 years old and, however, there is an imposing bronze statue of him outside the monumental stadium of Rio in Buenos Aires. This shows that he is holding the top of the Copa Libertadores, a trophy he won as River Plate player in 1996 and then as a coach in 2015 and 2018.
Known as Muneco (‘Doll’), the baby-faced Gallardo is the most successful manager of River’s illustrious story. This is his second spell as a manager after Al Ittihad attracted him briefly to work in the Pro Saudi League. The statue that River revealed from him raised his eyebrows because it seemed that Gallardo filled another liberated trophy in his pants pocket.
A trophy that describes Marcelo Gallardo enthusiastically lifting the Libertadores from the Cup (Diego Haliasz/Getty Images)
Who is the player of his star?
“Alisson? No! Franco Armani.” He is 38 years old and, let’s be honest, not as good as Alisson in the goal. But River’s veteran goalkeeper was caught in many legendary moments to tell. He beat his first Libertadores with Atletico Nacional in Colombia, married a Colombian and could have played for Colombia. Then Armani returned to Argentina, played a few more Libertaror finals, winning one with River. He was a member of the Argentine World Cup winning team at Qatar in 2022 and helped advise EMILIANO MARTINEZ In the shootings that decided the quarterfinals and final.
Daniele Adani, former inter-central defender who became an expert, who became a fan of Rio because of her former teammaker Matias Almeyda, once said: “Armani is not the best goalkeeper in football, he is the best of humanity.” All this is an exaggeration.
Franco Armani and Emiliano Martinez in March 2023 (Daniel Jayo/Getty Images)
And your rising star?
River continues to have undoubtedly the best academy in Argentina and his last graduate is The most commented on talent in South America. Franco Mastantuono made his debut for the national team in early June. He is not 18 years old until August, but his appearance in Argentina somehow was late.
Playmaker that operates from the right, Mastantuono finished the first half of the season remarkably, marking and helping seven times in his last nine appearances in all competitions. The moment of the coronation was its incredible free kick of the Superclasic against Boca in April, which invested the Overdrive Hype machine.
What is the best corner of them?
There are so many to choose. One is about a tarot card reader that tells a river fan to stop smoking weed and drink, otherwise they will go to the tomb. She throws her cards and decrees the river will be champions, her rivals in the mud and, frankly, that’s all that matters.
Who are your biggest rivals at home?
That would be Boca Juniors. It is the fiercest rivalry in South America.
Both clubs were founded in the same neighborhood of the working class, known as Boca de Buenos Aires. Boca took the name and stayed. River moved around. They were social climbers, launching in Caballito, Palermo and Recoleta before settling in successful Nunez. This led Rio to be nicknamed millionaires. Its stadium, the monumental, has a capacity of over 85,000, significantly larger than the mouth, which holds 57.200. One of Monumental’s huge booths was counters by Juventus’s transformational transfer rate paid by striker Omar Sivori in 1957.
There are some recent animation elements in this rivalry. Boca, for example, had fun with River’s relegation in 2011. River then had his own back by defeating Boca in the 2018 Libertadores final.
Tell me something strange in the club?
Boca stadium is known as ‘chocolate box’. It is a bowl -shaped stadium except for a square, which is square. Tradition says that the houses behind this support are owned by generations of fans of rivers that refuse to sell, preventing mouth from completing the curved appearance of Alberto J Armando stadium, known more colloquially as La Bombonera.
Are Rio fans guilty of the unusual form of the stadium with the mouth? (Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images)
Why should a neutral fan biting to them?
Because the river is el but big. The largest.
Who are they playing?
(All kicks et/bst)
- June 15 – Botafogo, 22: 00/3h (June 16)
- June 19 – Atletico Madrid, 18h/11pm
- June 23-Paris Saint-Germain, 15h/8pm
(Main Photos: Rodrigo Valle/ Eurasia Image/ Getty; Design: Kelsea Petersen/The Atletico)
