Face down: the analysis of an end of the year with whistles

Warning. The lines that follow are not for those intolerant of the truth. Sensitive extremes abstain. Idol worshipers, outside. The columnist is not responsible for fevers generated or for breaks or spitting on the cell phone, notebook or any electronic device that has been chosen with the ill-fated idea of reading this column.

Boca is a disaster. A disaster.

He is broken Football-wise and morally bankrupt. Postponed on the court and outside, in life.

Boca is anarchy, or worse, an autarchy of a lost leader who believes he is the owner of the club.

He is unbalanced (Boca), consumed, a wreck, in need of others to do what he could not do alone.

Boca is chaos, with the figures in the boxes and the substitutes on the field. Great fun for anyone except the fans.

It's sad, it's embarrassing at times, it makes you want to cry seeing him this diminished, this timid, this mediocre.

Stop, stop, stop. Did you lose Boca? Node, They tied 0-0 in a match in which there was no pressure, nothing at stake except honor. He couldn't beat Independiente, an Independiente that must be among the worst in history in team hierarchy. And there is the question of horror, then. Is this Boca much better than a headless Independiente that practically cannot incorporate players due to the intimations that are cascading down on it? It's scary to answer.

There are some signs of the game that are a faithful reflection of Boca's year.

The boy Milton Delgado, best player of the team.
The Pol's hasty departure at the time of being replaced.
He “movete xeneize movete” of the people, around half an hour into the second half.
The fever of Milton Giménez because at 46, with a free kick in his favor in the rival field, no one was with him and they did not put the ball into the area.
Advíncula doing the individual at 47 in the chimerical search for a goal that had not arrived collectively.
The last corner of Martegani, seconds from the final whistle, behind the goal.
The whistles -short, from real fans- with which the team was fired.

The reaction of Boca fans in the last game of 2024

Each of these situations, chosen from a handful of others, serves to show Boca's year, its reality, the place where it stands (or where it has fallen). It is the first good-good game for Delgado, who won the place over Miramón, one of the “reinforcements.” The kids in the club can be better or worse but in general terms they skip the adaptation -they have the shirt tattooed on their skin- and it costs them less. It is also true that, If reinforcements were reinforcements, these kids would probably be relegated in the competition. Clearly stated: Delgado's tenure speaks less about his virtues than about the defects of others.

Pol ran away when they took him out, honoring the club president's phrase: “He is the most intelligent player in Argentine soccer.” With his departure almost on the run, avoided the bad news of a possible farewell between whistles -there were some- and at the same time he sent a message: the problem was for Boca to continue searching because they had to win. If you haven't already, it wouldn't hurt if Pol gave these guys a talk about what Boca means. Many don't seem to understand it. The one who did not put the free kick into the area at 46 of the second half, for example, causing Giménez's logical bad mood. What the hell are we looking for lateralizing the 46 if they didn't come out for an hour and a half? They put in a center and in one of those we hit the goal with a smash. Or do the Peruvian one, dribble inside and shoot at the goal to see if we make it. Collective football is something else, but for that you need adequate interpreters.

A little while before, tired of cheering and having a party, The people got tired and sang the war cry common to many other afternoons this year (and the previous one), asking the team to stop messing around and win. The team didn't stop messing around and didn't win, and that's why they left with whistles.

Martegani was left for last because he is the most symbolic symbol of all, a player that no one knows why they brought in and who, as a Christmas gift, put that corner behind the goal with which the last hope escaped. from a header that perhaps would not have arrived either, but that he was responsible for canceling with that faulty execution that should have earned him his exit from the club. Martegani does not deserve to wear our shirt. Not even bought in a sports store. It is probably one of the worst purchases of the Riquelme era, but it has so much competition that no one could say for sure. Orsini, Janson, Briasco, Roncaglia, Pulpo… And let's stop here because I don't want to be unfair and forget Barinaga, Zambrano, Medel, Valdez and many other unpresentable ones.

This last function leaves a few nice feelings for the boys, Delgado and Zeballosa correct performance of By Lollo and the certainty that If Rojo commits to being like this, we have a capanga for a while. A damn defender. Fast, confident, firm, intuitive, good passer. It depends on him.

Let's review this: Brey, Advíncula, Di Lollo, Rojo, Saracchi; Miramón, Delgado, Martegani; Aguirre, Giménez and Janson. Mommy! This is how the year ended.

Brey went wrong and Rojo saved Boca on the line against Independiente

By the time football returns, at the end of January, It would be desirable to have a firm, reliable, healthy and fit goalkeeper. As far as possible, not a kid, unless he is a phenomenon (Brey is far from being one, for now, and against Independiente he failed a lot, too much). It would also be nice to bring a 2 that Anselmino and Di Lollo can learn from. And a 5 for Milton Delgado to finish forming looking at him, sitting on the bench next to Belmonte. And a 10, that is the first guitar that is not Zenón and perhaps not Palacios either (is it 10, midfielder, winger?). AND It would be desirable not to see Janson or Ramírez again. all but All names must be class A, whether we qualify for the Libertadores or not. If we go to the Cup, they will be necessary due to the demands. If not, we will have the obligation to win the Sudamericana – like Racing did – and qualify for the next Libertadores, the one in 2026, although the truth is that two years in a row without the Cup would be unbearable, capable of undermining the foundations of any statue. No exceptions.

Seeing Romero and Cavani taking photos in the boxes is, rather than a beautiful family image, a giant question mark, a huge uncertainty. They are two of the big names, posters of the Club World Cup and there they go, fighting with the ailments of their years. How much more can they give? Can you trust them?

The people who went to the Bombonera asked, just before the start, “the Liberators.” Something that this team could not give him and that will depend on Vélez, Talleres and Huracán. That is, far, far away, the most meaningful symbol of all. And the one that hurts the most. This “fun” Boca from Riquelme, “fun” for all those who are not Boca fans, did not play in this year's Libertadores, did not qualify on his own for 2025 and made a mess of himself in the Sudamericana.

So much for sporting misfortunes. Next Thursday there is another one, much more serious, that will investigate the Football Council's cover-up of an act of sexual abuse against Florencia Marco, a press employee, by Jorge Martínez, former women's football coach of the club already convicted still receiving a salary. Salary paid by us, the members, the true owners of the club. It's disgusting. Almost as much as the fiery defense that Román usually makes of these good guys, also accused of false testimony. As you see, The degradation does not end on the field. And that, without a doubt, is the most serious thing.

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