The day after the fall of Boca Juniors, it was River Plate’s turn to say goodbye to the World Cup, on Wednesday (25), ending the Argentine participation in the competition.
By group E, River was defeated by Inter Milan 2-0 in Seattle. Francesco Esposito, at 27 minutes, and Bastoni, in additions, both in the second half, built the scoring. With the result, Inter guaranteed the first place of the key and will face Fluminense in the round of 16.
The match between the Italian team and the Brazilian team will be played on Monday (30), at 16h (Brasília), at Bank of America Stadium.
Of the six South American representatives in the tournament, only the four Brazilians are still alive in the fight for the title. In addition to the carioca tricolor, Flamengo, Palmeiras and Botafogo advanced. In the round of 16, Palmeiras and Botafogo will make a national confrontation, while Flamengo will have Bayern Munich ahead.
River reached the last round of the group stage as group leader E, tied with Inter Milan – both with four points. Third, Monterrey added two points, and only Urawa Red, without scoring, was already eliminated.
With the Mexican team’s triumph over the Japanese, 4-0, the River came to depend on a victory to move forward. The mission became even more complicated 21 minutes into the second half, when Martínez Wednesday was expelled. Six minutes later, Inter took advantage of numerical superiority and scored the goal that paved the way for the classification. Near the end, Bastoni closed the bill.
The River said goodbye to the tournament with a victory over Urawa Red (3-1), a draw with Monterrey (0-0) and the defeat for Inter. The triumph over the Japanese was the only one of an Argentine club in the competition. Boca Juniors ended their participation with two draws and a defeat.
Boca has not won a match since April 19, when he surpassed Estudiantes 2-0, for the 14th round of the Argentine Championship. Since then, he has accumulated three losses and four draws, between National and the World Cup matches – which he lost to Bayern Munich and drew with Benfica and Auckland City, which sealed his early elimination.
The drought of victories should last for another month, as Boca only returns to the field on July 13, in the resumption of the Argentine Championship.
