San Lorenzo, Create a Miracle, Qualify For the Quarters.

By: Mauro | May 9th, 2008

This was an amazing match. It had it all. Great back and forth play, moments where one team dominated completely, plenty of fouls, a few red cards, there were goals and goddamit there were broken hearts.

The stage was set, River Plate had their stadium almost full, the players were ready for what was going to be the biggest match of the season and both coaches were primed for the fast paced chess game before them.

San Lorenzo came into this match with a big head of steam from having a great record in recent matches.

The first half kinda picked up where last week’s match had left off. Lots of back and forth. San Lorenzo doing damage with Andrés D’Allesandro and Diego Rivero but neither of them unable to get the ball to either Andrés Silvera and Gonzalo Bergessio up front. River Plate arrived at the penalty area very frequently through great connections between Sebastian Abreu, Radamel Falcao, Diego Buonanotte and Matías Abelarias.

A fantastic play in the penalty area between Falcao and Abreu appeared to have ended the stalemate between the two sides but the linesman incorrectly called Abreu offside. A moment later, off a free kick, Abelairas was able to swing the ball into the penalty area and into what appeared to go into the goal past San Lorenzo keeper Agustín Orión, off of Falcao. It touched no one and Abelairas got the much deserved goal for River Plate.

The match opened up but after a play where Falcao took down Sebastian Mendez deep in San Lorenzo’s side of the pitch, the match took a bad turn. Lots of starts and stops due to rough play and hard fouls. Lots of near red card fouls were rewarded with yellows instead. Just look at the sheer number of yellows for the River Plate side and the match overall. The ref clearly, had let the match get out of hand.

The flank tandems for River between Abelairas and Cristian Vilagra on the left and Paulo Ferrari and Augusto Fernández on the right were fantastic, both sides overlapping and in most instances, getting deep almost all the way to the touchline for long high crosses into Abreu and Falcao.

On the other side of the ball, Rivero, Walter Acevedo and D’Alessandro were pulling the strings in midfield for San Lorenzo. But while San Lorenzo seemed to dominate play, they failed to get the ball into the danger zone near River keeper Juan Pablo Carrizo.

It didn’t take long for the rough play to turn even worse. Rivero took down Villagra on the left and the ref had to give him his second yellow on the night and the early shower. The first half ended at 1-0 to River and they were halfway to the quarter finals.

In the second half, I half expected San Lorenzo to come out and play a more defensive posture but Ramón Díaz’ players were having none of that. They continued to win possession from River and were forcing the match reverting to how it had started, lots of back and forth, even with only ten men on the pitch.

But then came the play that changed the match even more. Falcao and Jonathan Botinelli were disputing a ball that the defender won and touched back to his keeper. Falcao chased after him and when he got close enough, Botinelli threw an elbow into his face/neck in a stupid vengeful manner. The ref gave Botinelli a straight red card and awarded River a penalty that Abreu exchanged for a goal and what seemed like the final nail in the coffin.

But San Lorenzo were still not down and out. I, personally, credit the coach on this one. Players in this situation don’t keep their spirits up. This is the coach’s good work to keep them focused on the one goal. Get the ball and keep it. And River helped out, they snoozed when they shouldn’t have, they gave San Lorenzo too much time to catch up.

And catch up they did. The regained possession of the ball and they pressed River into their half. Off a fantastic play starting with Silvera, Gonzalo Bergessio scored with a fantastic strike. Check the vid, seriously, it’s un-fucking-believable. But wait, before you stop reading, not a few minutes later, Bergessio scored a spectacular/improbable header off a corner kick and the stands filled with San Lorenzo faithful exploded while the River Plate fans were silenced.

San Lorenzo was utterly heroic. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen nine men run so much to steal away possession from eleven other men. It was breathtaking and terrifying all at once for me. D’Allesandro showed all the heart he had like back in the old days when he played with the red band across his chest. And Gonzalo Bergessio, WOW. He was fantastic when he finally was able to connect with his midfielders, he was unbelievable.

If San Lorenzo go all the way to the final match, this match, last night, will have been pivotal. Last night, they discovered that they could take hold of an adverse situation and make it their own. God knows they have the squad and the coach to do it.

River didn’t take the saying, “You snooze, you lose.” to heart. They snoozed and lost. Meanwhile, San Lorenzo are still alive in this one due to their win at home last week and they face LDU Quito in the quarter finals.

I had this one going 3-1 to River and had them qualifying to the next round. I felt they had a deeper squad and had shown more heart. San Lorenzo really pulled this match from out of their hats and were spectacular. If you missed this match, you missed a completely epic performance by San Lorenzo and an absolutely heart-breaking lack of concentration on the part of River Plate in the final half hour.

This is why we fill to the stadiums, why we turn on the TVs, because not all is said and done until the 90 minutes are up. San Lorenzo proved that last night and América proved that on Wednesday night. Fan-fucking-tastic!

Be sure to check the CONMEBOL website for results, stats and upcoming matches.