Argentina Cup: Gymnastics beat River on penalties and is a finalist

[Inkriql]

River Plate fell by 5 to 4 in definition by penalties before Gimnasia La Plata after equaling 2-2 in the regular time of 90 minutes and this way it will not be able to play the Copa Libertadores 2019 unless it wins the final of 2018 to Boca Juniors , while the "triperos" will dispute the final of the Argentine Cup within a week with Rosario Central.

The winner of the Copa Argentina-Gymnastics or Rosario Central-will have a place in the group stage of the Copa Libertadores 2019.

The start of the game tonight in Mar del Plata had two logical protagonists: a River taking the initiative and a gymnastics standing firmly from the middle back looking to narrow spaces to his rival.

The pleasant night in Mar del Plata (16 degrees) and a crowded World Cup stadium, with a majority of River Plate supporters but a large attendance of platenses, invited to an unusual party during these hours when River is especially involved.

But it did not seem to weigh on the "millionaire" that emotional overload of the frustrated second final of Copa Libertadores and the consequent uncertainty about whether it will finally be played and where that will happen (it is very likely that it will be in the distant capital of Qatar, Doha).

What yes, to try to open his rival the technician Marcelo Gallardo diagrammed an attack that began in his defense, and especially in Javier Pinola, that during the first period he got tired of throwing crossed left-handed shots to Ignacio Fernández or the possible projections of Gonzalo Montiel on the right.

And when this did not happen, the alternative was to use the left lifeline so that Gonzalo Martínez tried to lose his skill to Ezequiel Bonifacio.

All this, after those initial 45 minutes ended giving good results to the whole of Nunez, because just before the half hour of play and Bonifacio was admonished for a violation of "Pity" and he had converted, free kick, the first goal of his team with a shot at half height that counted on the complicity of goalkeeper Alexis Martin Arias.

But it was not more than four minutes since Gymnastics came to a draw after a center from former Paraguayan Lanús Víctor Ayala, who threw it almost without a run on his right foot, but a failure in this case by River goalkeeper Franco Armani. allowed Lorenzo Faravelli to have an arc and ball available to signal equality.

But when it seemed that fortune began to caress the back of the "tripero" again Bonifacio crossed it strong to Martinez and ended up taking the second yellow and consequent red card. The little more than five minutes that were ahead were pure suffering for Gymnastics, which ended up taking one corner after another until the final whistle of Facundo Tello.

And what was expected, that much was not going to hold the team led by Pedro Troglio in the second half, was corroborated only played two minutes, when Lucas Pratto showed off his physical strength after a play that started with controversy for alleged infringement Horacio Tijanovich not charged and ended with the 'Bear' defining relatively similar to the first goal converted in the first leg of the final of the Libertadores against Boca, defining from a very open angle.

Everything was to ask for mouth for River, winning and with a man over, but a nonsense of Pinola was going to put again in game to Gimmnasia when at 4 minutes, almost as emulating what happened before with Bonifacio, left his team with one less to apply a nudge to Maximiliano Coronel in a corner kick thrown by Ayala. It was also criminal because the ball was in play, but Tello did not charge it.

But it was not going to take too long for the story again to look like enough, in reverse, for the benefit of the gymnastics this time, as again Ayala launched from the right a center with his usual precision and Santiago Silva went clean to nod to the goal before a new weak answer of Armani. Only 10 minutes had elapsed since the expulsion of Pinola. It was his tenth goal to River throughout his career.

The little more than half an hour left in front turned everything to zero sheets, because ten against ten again River took the initiative and Gymnastics, as there were more spaces, tried to make the court even wider than long, with the main objective that Martinez will not have places to travel comfortably.

And in fact the "Pity" was going to play the last minutes playing on the right instead of on the left as it had started, but still there were not too many loopholes where the former Hurricane could leak, what in the desperation to win in the 90's regular minutes led River to try to find solutions in the air game, something that decidedly is not his forte.

And in fact, between a gymnastics that pointed decisively to the definition from the 12 steps and a River so owner of the ball as powerless when breaking the iron defense rival, everything was to define from where the "millionaires" less they wanted

And that's why it was Gymnastics no more, which was consecrated finalist to convert five penalties against four of the riverplatenses, and will play the final against Rosario Central looking for a place in the group stage of the Copa Libertadores next year and his second title of the professional era. For the first goal, the "millionaire" is now forced to beat the Superfinal to Boca. If not, play the South American in 2019.

- Summary -

River Plate: Franco Armani, Gonzalo Montiel, Jonatan Maidana, Javier Pinola and Milton Casco; Ignacio Fernández, Enzo Pérez, Leonardo Ponzio and Exequiel Palacios; Gonzalo Martínez; Lucas Pratto. DT: Marcelo Gallardo.

Gymnastics: Alexis Martín Arias, Ezequiel Bonifacio, Maximiliano Coronel, Germán Guiffrey and Matía Melluso; Víctor Ayala, Fabián Rinaudo, Lorenzo Faravelli and Maximiliano Comba; Horacio Tijanovich and Santiago Silva. DT: Pedro Troglio.

Goals in the first time: 29m. Martinez (R) and 33m. Faravelli (G).
Goals in the second half: 2m. Pratto (R) and 14m. Silva (G).
Changes in the second time: 18m. Manuel Guanini by Coronel (G), 19m. Rafael Santos Borré by Fernández (R), 34m. Lucas Licht by Faravelli (G), 44m. Julián Alvarez for Palacios (R) and 45m. Jan Carlos Hurtado by Tijanovich (G).
Admonished: Pratto (R). Licht and Arias (G).
Incidents: 39m of the first time expelled Bonifacio (G) and 4m. of the second Pinola (R).
Penalty definition: Gymnastics: Silva (converted), Licht (converted), Hurtado (converted), Ayala (Armani shortcut) and Guanini (converted). Series one: Guiffrey (converted).
River: Pratto (hit on the crossbar), Ponzio (converted), Martinez (converted), Borré (converted) and Álvarez (converted). Series one: Maidana (above the crossbar).

Field: José María Minella (Mar del Plata).
Referee: Facundo Tello.