River Plate-Godoy Cruz, for the Professional Soccer League: program, where to watch it, TV and probable formations

Flat River face this Sunday Godoy Cruz de Mendoza for the seventh appointment of Professional soccer league (LPF) seeking recovery in front of his home crowd at the Monumental stadium, where he has yet to deliver a convincing performance in the technical era of Martín Demichelis.

The match will be played from 7.15pm with Silvio Trucco refereeing, assisted by Diego Abal at the VAR, and broadcast by ESPN Premium.

River comes from two consecutive victories: one against Lanús in La Fortaleza for the championship and another against second division Racing de Córdoba, in their debut match in the Argentine Cup.

However, in their previous presentation to Núñez, the “millionaire” team was surprised by a defeat against Arsenal, the team with the worst points record in the last two years, occupying the last position in the average table.

In their stadium and with Demichelis on the bench, River has not yet achieved a satisfactory performance, not even in the opening match against Argentinos Juniors (2-1), won with two penalties and a controversial refereeing.

Whatever the case, Marcelo Gallardo’s successor’s campaign is good in numbers so far as the team added 12 points in the first six rounds, one fewer than leaders Defensa y Justicia and San Lorenzo.

After having rested them in the match with Racing de Córdoba last Wednesday, Demichelis once again has his usual starting team, which on this occasion presents a doubt in attack.

It is that Lucas Beltrán, scorer in the last two games, has earned his place in the starting eleven and the coach must now choose one of the other three forwards available: the Colombian Miguel Borja, the Venezuelan Salomón Rondón and Esequiel Barco.

Out of all, the former Palmeiras coffee farmer from Brazil has the best chance to play from the start as he was also on the scoreboard during the Copa Argentina victory (3-0) at the Madre de Ciudades in Santiago de Abroad.

If this possibility is confirmed, there will be four players who repeat themselves in the starting team: central defender Leandro González Pirez, midfielder Nacho Fernández -the player with the most minutes in the Demichelis cycle- and the attacking duo.

Godoy Cruz occupies the center of the standings with 9 points, the result of three draws and three defeats. In last Monday’s match, the team led by “Translator” Diego Flores beat Racing at home (2-1) and ended a series of three rounds without scoring.

To do it again this Sunday, “Tomba” clings to the recent favorable statistics, which mark eight years of unbeaten run at the Monumental stadium. The last defeat was 1-0 on March 22, 2015.

In his last three visits, he has won two and drawn one. In 2016, with “Gallego” Sebastián Méndez as DT, he won 2-1 with goals from Diego Viera and Gabriel Carabajal; two years later he drew 2-2 under Diego Dabove and last year, with the duo Favio Orsi-Sergio Gómez, he won again 2-0 (Martín Ojeda and Gonzalo Abrego).

If he repeats his victory tomorrow, Godoy Cruz will equal River in the overall record, which currently shows a run of 9 wins, 8 falls and 4 draws in favor of the “millionaire” club.

= Probable formations =

River Plate: Franco Armani; Robert Rojas, Leandro González Pirez, Enzo Díaz and Milton Casco; José Paradela, Enzo Pérez, Nicolás de la Cruz and Nacho Fernández; Lucas Beltrán and Miguel Borja or Salomón Rondón or Esequiel Barco. DT: Martin Demichelis.

Godoy Cruz (Mendoza): Diego Rodríguez: Lucas Arce, Pier Barrios, Federico Rasmussen and Thomas Galdames; Bruno Read and Gonzalo Abrego; Roberto Fernández, Hernán López and Tomás Conechny; Solomon Rondon. DT: Diego Flores.

Referee: Silvio Makeup.

VAR: Diego Abal.

Stadium: Flat River.

Start time: 7.15pm

TV: ESPN Award.