2023-10-03 10:06:00
Banfield plays under pressure. Fighting to avoid relegation, they have an experienced and skilled coach like Julio César Falcioni. He finds it very difficult to score goals. All those who fought not to be demoted recognize that it is a stressful situation, that they must play mental games in addition to those offered by the profession. In the midst of this situation, the self-confidence of Geronimo Rivera, a youthful left-handed player who doesn’t stop dribbling, who indulges in luxuries in the classic against Lanús and who receives kicks. El Taladro won 1-0, they had two more players and the corner in injury time had to be played short so that “the game ends.” That was the order of the most experienced.
“We threw it to Gero because we knew he was going to invent something,” Milton Giménez, the center forward, would later admit, adding: “I told him yes, let him invent something. If they came to attack him, I would defend him. Unless Lema comes (he is 1m90), I defended him, hahaha.” What does it mean to “invent something”? Towards the end, in a corner in favor, he received the short touch from Ignacio Rodríguez, controlled it with both heels and performed a pirouette seeking to pass the ball over his head. That led to Aguirre’s infraction, which referee Nicolás Ramírez charged. And, of course, the explosion of the entire stadium, which transformed the “Riveeeeeeeeeeeera, Riveeeeeeeeeeeera” into a war cry. Gerónimo Rivera would say in statements to the Líbero program, on TyC Sports: “Yes, I like dribbling. And I know that may mean getting kicked a little, but oh well. “I like to attack, dribble and score goals.” His own teammates, like Aaron Quiros, praise him: “In practice we suffer from it, but it is always good to have him in our favor.”
Against Lanús he entered 21 minutes into the second half instead of Martín Cañete. He dribbled, leading to the expulsion of right back Juan Cáceres in twenty minutes: exRacing saw two yellow cards for two infractions on Rivera. The skilled midfielder had already stood out the previous day against River, also at the Florencio Sola stadium: In the 27 minutes he played against Millonario, Rivera had been the player with the most dribbles completed (4) and individual duels won (5). And Demichelis has Barco, Nacho Fernández, Lanzini, Solari…
“Every time he comes in while the game is being played, he makes a huge mess. When he enters like the other time at 45 minutes, he goes more unnoticed. You have to take it little by little. There are moments and moments to give it minutes. If we had put him in earlier against River, due to the friction of the game and the match, we would have had to take him out earlier. We are protecting it and we are using it at the appropriate times,” he explained. Falcioni after Banfield’s draw against River 1-1.
Gerónimo Rivera, with pure dribbles against River, in Banfield’s 1-1 draw, for the League CupInstagram
Rivera is 20 years old (he was born on August 18, 2003) and was surprising because he crossed paths in the South. She was in Lanús, but… “I played in Lanús, but I was able to realize it and move to the right path. They told me that I couldn’t play soccer because he was very small, but well… here’s the result,” Rivera now recalls in statements to ESPN, that he signed a contract with Banfield until December 2027 with a termination clause of $20,000,000. His debut was in the 2-0 defeat against Racing, for the Professional League that established River as champion, after making a quick jump from the fourth division to the reserve. And from there he caught the attention of Falcioni, a serious coach but who always had a weakness for the dribbles of the hitters or forwards. Braian Sarmiento, with his witticisms on and off the court, made him laugh, for example.
On May 3, 2023, he wrote on his Instagram account: “They say that out of every ten who try, only one succeeds, I will be that one, even if I have to fail 9 times..⚽✌???? Happy to be able to sign my first contract as a professional player, I thank the club @cab_oficial for the opportunity. I want to thank my family, my friends and representatives who always supported me. Without them none of this would have been possible.”
Actually, the first “explosion” of Gerónimo Rivera It was for the 3rd date of the 2023 League Cup, when he scored a great goal against Instituto, in Córdoba, in injury time. That great play, started by a Cambeses goal kick that reached the middle of the field, gave Banfield the 1-0 victory, it was some oxygen in a frantic fight for relegation. That day he received the long ball and started dribbling: he traveled more than 50 meters with the ball, leaving rivals on the way until he was alone in front of the goal and finished with class.
Gerónimo Rivera, in the celebrations after winning the classic against LanúsTwitter Banfield
He also played in Taladro’s 3-0 victory over Deportivo Merlo, for the Argentine Cup: “Julio (Falcioni) asks me to play open, to dribble, which I know how to do. Let him bet on dribbling, let him enjoy it”. That day he started playing on the right, as a false wing with an inverted profile, to close in and be close to the shot. He almost scored a Messi-style goal, but his shot went just wide.
He still has to further develop his physique for high competition, but he is already showing his ability to fake, stop and take off again. It throws pipes, unbalances forward and also hides it and comes out to one side or the other. He surprises even his own teammates. Rivera is Argentine but has Chilean roots through his paternal grandmother, so he could play for the trans-Andean national team. But he’s too young to think about that anymore. For now, he is adding minutes with the Banfield team and having fun. In such volcanic, results-oriented and demanding Argentine football, it is no small thing.
As Falcioni said, they will have to “protect” him in his development and learning. But welcome are players like Gerónimo Rivera, who will bring a breath of fresh air to a world champion Argentine soccer team that never stops generating new promises.
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