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By: Cody Masters
The Argentina Primera Division had a little bit of everything on Matchday 8. The big games from the weekend were River Plate at Defensa y Justicia and Rosario Central at Tigre.
River v DyJ
This game finished 2-1 in favor of River, but easily could’ve been 3-2. Enzo Fernandez was my Man of the Match, with an 8.3 rating on SofaScore. Enzo had a goal, with 86% passing, 2 key passes and went 7/10 on long balls. The man could not be stopped and was all over the place for River. If you’re looking for a guy that could’ve been better for River, I’d look at Julian Alvarez in this one. He missed three big chances, and had as many shots on target as off target. He also only won two of his nine ground duels.
From the DyJ perspective, Walter Bou was the highest rated for the game at a 7.4 and had the lone goal for Defensa. While he did have the goal, only having 45% pass accuracy is disappointing for someone in his position. This felt like a game that Defensa could have gotten at least a draw from, but ultimately they couldn’t break down what was a solid day at the office for the River backline.
Tigre v Rosario Central
The plucky upstarts of Tigre do it again, winning over Rosario Central by a score of 2-0. The recently promoted side have now gone top of the table for their group and are looking like a force to be reckoned with early on in the season. This will be my team to watch going forward, regardless of rooting interest to see how they continue performing for the rest of the season. Their next three matches are against Independiente, Huracan, and Estudiantes, all three in the top seven of the group. These next three matches will be crucial for Tigre to solidify themselves at the top if they want to continue to lead the pack. The top of Group B has a 3 way tie at 15 points between Tigre, Estudiantes, and Boca, so there’s no margin for error.
Rosario Central continues their disappointing start to the season with a record of 2-1-5 (7 pts, 13th in the table), and only a point ahead of last place Lanus. Rosario are going to have a long season ahead of them if they don’t start getting some results. They’re only 6 points away from 4th place Aldosivi so there is still time for them, if they can start turning some of these losses into results in their favor. Their next two matches are against Colon and Aldosivi, two teams near the top of Group B and will not be easy opponents for Rosario.
Look for my Matchday 9 Preview later this week.