Lively crowd sees River Plate beat Millonarios 2-0 on chilly night at DRV PNK Stadium
When fans of Argentina’s River Plate and Colombia’s Millonarios learned their teams would be playing a friendly match in mid-January at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, they probably envisioned a balmy evening of fun.
Instead, they got an unseasonably chilly Saturday evening with temperatures dipping below 50 degrees and wind gusts up to 23 mph. But the spirited crowd of 12,364 fans warmed up the stadium with constant singing and chanting and River Plate left with a 2-0 victory.
River’s fans, in red and white, filled the north stands. Millonarios’ blue-clad faithful packed the south stands. The east and west stands were mixed. There were hundreds of banners all over the stadium, one of the largest from a Millonarios fan group that traveled from Atlanta.
The game remained scoreless after the first half, with both teams squandering scoring chances. River took the lead in the 59th minute on a goal by Emanuel Mammana, who knocked in the rebound after Millonarios goalkeeper punched out a header by Lucas Beltran.
Inter Miami loanee, defender Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, entered the game for River Plate in the 61st minute and got a warm welcome from the local fans.
River went down to 10 men after the 85th minute red card to Felipe Pena. Three minutes later, the Argentine team made it 2-0 when forward Miguel Borja, who was a late-game sub, made a penalty kick. Borja was taken down by Millonarios goalkeeper Alvaro Montero just inside the top of the box as he was charging toward the goal.
Argentine fans, energized by their national team’s World Cup victory, got a chance to see one River Plate player from the World Cup championship team, goalkeeper Franco Armani. He did not get into any games in Qatar but was part of all of Argentina’s championship celebrations and recorded the shutout on Saturday.
River fans also got to witness the second game of the year under new coach and former Argentina center back Martín Demichelis, who replaced Marcelo Gallardo after the successful coach stepped aside at the end of the 2022 season after nine titles.
Demichelis became a coach after a 17-year playing career that began at River Plate in 2000 and included stops at Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Malaga and Manchester City. Before taking the River job he coached the Bayern Munich U19s and Bayern Munich II.
Demichelis was pleased with the result and especially happy to see Mammana score, as he was coming off a knee injury, and to see Armani keep a clean sheet after returning from Qatar. River Plate was coming off a 1-0 win against Mexican team Monterrey in Austin, Texas.
“We started off well, but this was a tough Colombian team that has talented players and we had trouble finishing, but the second half we played much better,” Demechelis said. “There are always positives and negatives, but overall I leave satisfied.”
Among the players who rested were Enzo Perez, Nacho Fernandez, and Milton Casco.
Millionarios coach Alberto Gamero said: “We have a lot of fans here in this area, and we have had a wonderful time here. We enjoyed a dynamic, important game, a close game that went back and forth and the fans really enjoyed themselves.
“I leave with good feeling about our team because our team came here to compete and considering how little we trained, we went toe to toe against River Plate. We made a few mistakes that they capitalized on. I know there are things to correct, but overall it was a good experience for us that will help us prepare for the Colombian league season.”
River Plate has dominated Argentine soccer, winning the Primera title 37 times, the Argentine national cup 14 times and the Copa Libertadores 14 times. The Colombian Millonarios recently won the 2022 Copa Colombia title and are the nation’s second-winningest team of all time.
River Plate plays again on Tuesday in Orlando against Brazilian club Vasco da Gama, which then travels to Fort Lauderdale to play Inter Miami on Saturday.