Huracán strikes twice from outside the box to stun a dominant River 2-1

River Plate controlled the ball, camped near Hernán Galíndez's goal time and again, and still left the Monumental empty handed. Huracán won 2-1 with two well placed strikes from outside the box, one of them a direct free kick, and that was enough to take all three points in Argentina's Primera División.

The match opened with a jolt. Just 8 minutes in, Óscar Cortés curled a right footed free kick that hugged the post on its way in for the 0-1. River hadn't even settled into the game yet (in fact, the team had already lost Thiago Almada to injury before the 5th minute, with Lucas Beltrán coming on) and was already behind on the scoreboard.

From there, the pattern repeated itself: River with the ball, generating chances through Sebastián Driussi, Ángel Correa and Nicolás Otamendi, and Huracán sitting deep, waiting to break on the counter. The home side went into the first half stoppage time unable to level things despite attempts from Montiel, Correa and Driussi, and the second half opened with the same script: 0-1 for the visitors.

River finally found the equalizer in the 64th minute: Tomás Galván fired a right footed shot from outside the box that flew into the top corner, assisted by Correa, and the Monumental let out a breath. But the relief didn't last long. In the 79th minute, Lucas Blondel struck from outside the area, finding the left post, on a pass from Cortés, to make it 1-2 for good. River pushed to the end, with crosses from Montiel and shots from Driussi and Arambarri, but couldn't find a second equalizer.

Numbers that weren't enough

The stats paint a telling picture of just how unfair soccer can be: River was far superior in controlling the game, and it counted for nothing.

Our xG estimate, calculated from the shots taken in the match, also reflects that sterile dominance: River racked up 2.24 expected goals to Huracán's mere 0.31. Based on those numbers, a comfortable home win would have been the logical outcome, but the match was decided by Huracán's efficiency, converting two goals from just two shots on target.

The result also runs counter to our pre-match projection. Beforehand, we gave River a 46% chance of winning, against 21% for Huracán and 33% for a draw, with expected goals of 1.23 for the home side and 0.74 for the visitors. What ended up happening was the exact opposite of the most likely outcome: the team with the slimmer chances on paper walked away with the win.

What it means in the standings

In Group B, Huracán moved up to 16 points with a record of 4 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses in 10 matches, putting the club back in the mix near the top. River, meanwhile, stayed on 13 points with 4 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses in its 10 games, a 3 point gap between the two sides that now favors the visitors. For the home crowd, the lingering feeling of having created so much and coming away with so little is what weighs heaviest as the afternoon wraps up at the Monumental.