River-Rosario Central for the Champions Trophy: Demichelis and Russo, with several present beyond their age

River AND Central rosary They will meet again this Friday evening. The scene of the decisive clash between Millonarios and Canallas in the last match of the year will be the Madre de Ciudades in Santiago del Estero. Whoever wins will keep it Champions Trophy and, analysis aside, he will be able to claim to have been the best in Argentine football in 2023.

This final, in addition to facing two great teams, will have another duel in itself. That of the technicians. On the one hand it will be Martin Demichelis, The noob. And on the other, Miguel Angelo Russo, the expert one. And each with their own script will try to influence their team to become champions, which will position the winner as a tactical winner.

The fact is that, although it is the players who define, there is previously a strategy and tactic outlined by each coach to try to enhance their own strengths and neutralize those of the opponent, reduce the weaknesses and exploit those of others.

Demichelis took place on Wednesday 43 years old and is among the 5 youngest coaches in the Professional League, together with Carlos Tevez (39) –Independent-, Guillermo Farré (42) –Belgrano-, Sergio Gomez (42) –Atlético Tucumán- e Giulio Vaccari (43) –Defense and justice-. To all of them we must add the name of Matías Modolopromoted with Deportivo Riestra and is only 36 years old.

At River, where he has already won his first title, Micho is enjoying his first professional experience, after having coached the youth divisions of Bayern Munich and the second team of the German club.

Due to his age and his working method, the former defender is one of the so-called modern technicians. Since he took office, he said he paid close attention to mathematics and the probabilities. He watches a lot of football and reviews plays and tactical systems on a tablet. At the same time, he continues to repeat that he analyzes football from four aspects: technical, tactical, physical and emotional.

Russo, on the other hand, comes from the so-called “old school”. Beyond that with 67 years old He is the oldest coach in Argentine football, he belongs to another generation of coaches. One of the more “player-oriented” ones, who manage the dressing room and who give more weight to the characteristics of the players than to the tactics, even if in general, during his career, the current Central coach has looked for a balance between the two positions and perhaps this is one of the secrets of its validity.

Naturally, like most coaches, he started by analyzing the recorded matches, that is, doing what is called today video analysis. It couldn’t be otherwise, as a disciple of Carlos Salvador Bilardo. “I remember I started watching videos by myself in Lanús in the 90s with a VCR,” Russo said in an interview with ESPN F12.

Miguel’s coaching career dates back to 1989, when he started in Lanús. I mean, he’s been managing teams for 34 years. In that time he has won 10 titles, including the recent League Cup with Central. Among these there are also four promotions (two with Granate, one with Estudiantes de La Plata and another with Canalla), a local title with Vélez, two with Millonarios de Colombia and two others with Boca, with which they also obtained the 2007 Copa Libertadores. .

“Now I’m experiencing a beautiful stage, I like what I do, I’m passionate about it and I feel at ease,” says Russo, who is why he reached this final. released and happy, after obtaining the first star in the Primera with Central, after five cycles in the Rosario club. He doesn’t take any risks in this match against River, but he doesn’t want to relax either. He will seek more glory.

For his part, Micho arrives held down. Even if his position is not at stake, given that the club’s management and coach Enzo Francescoli have given him strong public support, after a weak second half, in which he failed to win over the fans, a fall will leave him weakened in the face of 2024. The rapid start of the Libertadores and the Argentine Cup, the elimination of the League Cup two weeks ago and the declining level of play of the team, the former defender seemed beaten in the last press conference.

Added to this is the fact that this year he will face his bête noire. They will face Central again, who they had failed to beat in the previous three games. With three very different team builds, the champion of Professional League He couldn’t find his way back to the League Cup winner. Now he will try for the fourth time to be the charm.

Central is a tough team, astute in not letting players play, with explosive players in attack and has a coach on the bench who knows how to play against River in recent times. He proved it in three meetings in those faced in 2023, in which he always found a way to complicate things tactically, both in the 3-3 in Arroyito in the Professional League, and in the 3-1 in the regular phase of the League Cup, again in Rosario and the 0- 0 and the victory on penalties in Córdoba for the semi-final of that tournament.

Although Russo has a negative overall record against River (six wins, 23 draws and 14 defeats in 43 games), in recent years went eight consecutive games without defeat, with seven draws and a victory that included three eliminations on penalties: two when he led Boca (in the 2021 League Cup, against a River decimated by Covid, and in the Argentine Cup that same year) and a last 9 since December. From the 12 steps he was always relentless: he also left out Gallardo’s first team in 2014 in the Argentina Cup when he also led Rosario Central.

“We know what River is, an important rival for us and for Argentine football, which has a great team and also a good coach,” praised Russo, but clarified that “we are also aware of everything that Central means” . This year we faced them three times, we won two and drew once.

For his part, Demichelis believes that Centrale “is one of the best teams on the counterattack”. In the last match he made a good initial approach which was diluted in the second half with the substitutions. In the new test that will be presented to him, he will try to have more drive to avoid falling into the Canalla trap again, which the “old wolf” who will be on the other side will try to set for him.