Ponzio sticks with the same lineup for a third straight game at River, first time since 2023

Keeping the same lineup doesn't usually sound like big news. But at River lately, it is. Leonardo Ponzio is set to send out the same starting eleven for the third consecutive match when the team visits Atletico Tucuman for matchday nine of the Torneo Clausura, something the club hasn't seen in more than three years.

Ponzio's caretaker spell began after the elimination from the CONMEBOL Sudamericana against Independiente Santa Fe, which cost Eduardo Coudet his job. Since taking over, the former midfielder has won both matches he's coached: 3-2 over Banfield and 3-1 over Independiente Rivadavia, picking up six points out of a possible six. And in both games he fielded the same lineup, something Coudet never managed to do during his time at the club either.

Now, in Tucuman, Ponzio would be raising the stakes even further. The team would be the same one that has River collecting three points at a time: Santiago Beltran in goal; Gonzalo Montiel, Nicolas Otamendi, Lucas Martinez Quarta and Marcos Acuna across the back line; Fausto Vera, Tobias Andrada and Tomas Galvan in midfield; and Angel Correa, Sebastian Driussi and Thiago Almada up front. Anibal Moreno, who still hasn't been called upon, remains outside the coach's plans.

A streak that not even Gallardo could sustain

To find the last time River kept the same lineup for three straight matches, you have to go back to 2023, under Martin Demichelis. Neither Gallardo in his second stint, nor Coudet afterward, managed to hold the same starting eleven for three matchdays. It might not sound like much, but in Argentine soccer, with packed schedules and constant injuries, keeping the same XI intact for that long is quite an achievement in consistency.

Back then, between May 29 and June 17, 2023, Demichelis fielded Franco Armani; Milton Casco, Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, Paulo Diaz and Enzo Diaz; Enzo Perez, Rodrigo Aliendro, Nicolas De La Cruz and Ignacio Fernandez; Esequiel Barco and Lucas Beltran. With that lineup, River drew 2-2 with Velez in Liniers, beat Defensa y Justicia 1-0 at the Monumental, and thrashed Banfield 4-1 at the Florencio Sola. It wasn't until the following match, a 3-1 win over Instituto in Nunez, that Demichelis made changes, bringing on Andres Herrera and Pablo Solari for Enzo Diaz and Enzo Perez.

More than three years later, that mark could be matched again. And it's no small detail for a stint that's just getting started: with two straight wins and the chance to keep the same lineup for a third game running, Ponzio is starting to show something River has been short on lately, predictability with results. It remains to be seen whether, in Tucuman against a rival that always makes things difficult at home, the team delivers once more.