River: with Casco returning from injury, because Demichelis doesn’t want to bring in a right back

Beyond the players who played at right-back during 2023, a position generally not well covered, a Martin Demichelis There is no need to look for a “4” in the market. Quite the opposite. The River coach is confident in what he already has in his squad.

“Milton isn’t there, but I have four other players who can play in that position. Seba Boselli, who isn’t there, Santi Simón, Herrera and also Paulo Díaz. So we have different characteristics that make me happy to be able to work with these five players. It will depend on the performance of the boys and the rival in question,” said Martín Demichelis after the friendly match that his team played against an MLS team in the United States, where the River team is carrying out its pre-season.

Demichelis’ statements are in line with those of the sporting director Enzo Francescolithe technical secretary, Leonardo Pontiusand the first vice president, Matías Patanian, the men responsible for River football. The coach, for his part, clarified that to fill that position he did not ask for reinforcements from the league leaders.

In this way, at the start of the official competition, when River faces Argentinos at the end of the month, Simón, Herrera and Casco (he is in the final phase of recovery after surgery on the meniscus of his right knee) will fight for the place on the side Right. Boselli, who finished as a starter in that sector in 2023, will be absent at the start of the League Cup due to his participation in the Pre-Olympic with Uruguay.

In River’s first formal test in 2024, against the local MLS team, Demichelis placed Herrera as cork in the 3-3-1-3 he put together. Then, in the second team, he tried again with one of the main moves of last semester: Simón was the right back when the formation changed to the more traditional 4-2-2-2. Meanwhile, Paulo Díaz was a central defender and Demichelis believes that the Chilean can only play on the right wing in case of eventuality or emergency.

Demichelis understands that in this group of five players he will be able to find the consistency that the team did not have in a sector of the pitch that caused headaches in the second half of 2023.

The recovery of Casco

Milton Casco is working together with the rest of the River team in Bradenton, although some days he travels with lighter loads to balance the wear and avoid muscle injuries or inflammation in the knee after surgery for synovitis in that joint.

For now, Martín Demichelis’ premise is not to demand it, so that he fully arrives at the start of the official competition and begins to add minutes as an alternative while he recovers his best version.

In any case, although the 35-year-old from Entre Rios played as a right-back in the excellent Professional League season, Micho prefers him on the left, as an option for Enzo Díaz. Naturally everything will depend on the level of Herrara, Simón and Casco himself on the right wing.