Racing: the echoes of a historic defeat that will increase internal discomfort with Juan Antonio Pizzi

Even if I came to this Super Cup as a point, although on the new fabric of the Sole Mother of Cities stadium in Santiago del Estero The race had more to gain than to lose, this defeat by a landslide, painful against River 5-0 is a big blow for La Academia. It is above all the affirmation of a sensation that floated in the air in the presentation of Juan Antonio Pizzi, in that 2-0 loss to Banfield. This first game felt like it was a cycle ending rather than a cycle just taking its first steps.

Turning empty-handed to Santiago del Estero, plus the three games without a win in a League Cup On 12 dates, Pizzi seems to have taken an elusive start with the initial goals against the Academy at this start. With in the classic against Independiente scheduled for April 11 and the start of the Copa Libertadores group stage for the 21st of this month, the horizon still seems distant. Turning anger and questions into delusion will be the immediate job of the technical staff during this gray period. It remains to be seen whether he manages to find the exact button to relaunch a campus that last night went out to seek to erase the listless image of what happened on December 23 at La Bombonera but failed.

The last time Racing and River crossed paths was the recalled 1-6, in Avellaneda, when the Academy still had the champion’s cry on their lips. It was the base of the team that turned around with Eduardo Coudet, but he was starting to show a different rhythm. Beyond a few highlights like the historic victory against Independiente with 9 players, the elimination of champion Flamengo during the last Copa Libertadores or a victory against Boca, champion of the Super League 19/20 at La Bombonera, The Academy has never shown that overwhelming step it took with Chacho on the bench again, despite the fact that the establishment has retained many of the important names.

For this 2021, in addition to the change of coach and manager, the project was to renew the campus with young blood. Eight reinforcements arrived, most of them almost young in age: Maximiliano Lovera (21), Tomás Chancalay (22), Joaquín Novillo (23), Matías Tagliamentonte (23), Enzo Copetti (25), Aníbal Moreno (21). However, in those first four dates the team showed a lack of intensity and a change of pace, a diagnosis similar to that made by Coudet before deciding to change Avellaneda for Porto Alegre.

In addition to the new faces, Racing has started this year of football without what its flag and silhouette have been for the past three years. The absence of Lisandro López is a huge void and every day in the blue and white half of Avallenda. A star would have been a nice boost to start filming the scene for number 15. It couldn’t be. The absence of a leader on the playing field is notorious. Iván Pillud and Darío Cvitanich are referents in the locker room but they cannot exert that ascendancy on the pitch, where Pizzi gave them the chance to start in the first game against Banfield but was quickly convinced that with the delivery and the daily example it was not enough. It was also surprising that as this final against River approached, the only player to speak as the conference approached was Leonel Miranda, a player with little experience at the club.

On the left biceps of Gabriel Arias, Since last year he was the team’s best player, the captain’s ribbon has fallen. Quite a symptom that the archer is. In the previous two cycles, when neither Licha nor Pillud took on this responsibility, it was used by Nery Domínguez and Leonardo Sigali. Pizzi chose Arias. In the first few weeks of the new cycle, Domínguez, Sigali and Eugenio Mena had short circuits with management due to contractual issues. Some financial setbacks and disappointments had already exploded during Beccacece’s time as manager. In January, they got older. The team has also accumulated during these weeks a certain dissatisfaction with the working method of Juan Antonio Pizzi, like not resting the day after the match but at 48 hours. Unfortunate that the hard defeats, and less that it happened against River in the final, did not help to cover. On the contrary: it lights them with a reflector. Time will tell how Racing gets along with those shadows.

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