Kashima have edge over River in 3rd-place battle
abu dhabi — River Plate coach Marcelo Gallardo said every soul in the squad wanted to get over and done with the third place Fifa Club World Cup match against Kashima Antlers and head home to celebrate the Copa Libertadores triumph with their fans and family.
“You will understand this feeling only if you are Argentinian. Only people back home understand what it means for River Plate to beat Boca Juniors for the Copa title,” Gallardo said ahead of the Kashima match.
“We had a small celebration with few fans in Madrid (where the final was played). We are eager to head home on Sunday and celebrate the success in a grand manner with everyone.”
The former Argentina midfielder noted his players were mentally affected by the change of venue for second leg of the Copa final — the second leg was moved to Madrid after fan violence left some Boca Juniors players injured in Buenos Aires.
“We have faced lot of mental issues in the last 40 days and couldn’t play the Copa final at home. Then we come straight here without any time to prepare. My players tried to come out of their celebratory mood and focus on the semifinal (against Al Ain) but failed. We couldn’t concentrate on this tournament the way we wanted to. We regret not being in the final, but to lose the match against Al Ain isn’t the most important thing for us. We just want to end this tournament and head back to celebrate with our people,” he said and added that fans cared less for the Fifa Club World Cup semifinal loss after having seen their team beat their famous rivals Boca in the final of the Copa Libertadores — South America’s equivalent of Europe’s Champions League.
Gallardo said there will be lot of changes made to the squad for Saturday’s clash.
“Only those who are in the right frame of mind will take the field. Our goal was to play the final but we couldn’t reach there and now I have told my players to enjoy their time on the pitch. All of us are eager to reach Buenos Aries and be with our family and fans.”
Meanwhile, Kashima coach Go Oiwa expects a positive result for the Asian champions.
“Before the tournament started, I had analysed many games played by River Plate. Their loss to Al Ain in the semis was a surprise. It shows that all the teams in the competition are very strong,” he said.
Oiwa said the 3-1 loss at the hands of Real Madrid in the semis was a thing of the past and everyone was looking forward to the third-place match.