Jonathan Spiff & Valentín Lucero, the youths Coudet may call up | OneFootball

River’s squad is heading into the final stretch of the first half of the season severely depleted physically. It has been confirmed that Aníbal Moreno, Gonzalo Montiel, Sebastián Driussi, and Matías Viña will all miss the Torneo Apertura final, four important pieces for Eduardo Coudet. Because of this, ahead of this Wednesday’s tricky Copa Sudamericana match against Red Bull Bragantino, Chacho does not want to risk any more starters, would use a lineup packed with backups, and would call up several youth players. Among them would be Valentín Lucero and Jonathan Spiff, two players who have never previously been included in a first-team squad list.

Viña’s absence and Coudet’s intention to rest Marcos Acuña, who was on the bench against Rosario Central due to tightness in his right hamstring, have left a void at left back. For now, the starter this Wednesday at the Monumental will be Facundo González, who has already played there in Marcelo Gallardo’s farewell match against Banfield, but whose only start under Coudet came as a left center back, in the epic 2-1 win over Carabobo in the Sudamericana.

His replacement on the bench would be young Lucero, who is part of the official squad list for the international tournament but has not yet received a first-team call-up. The 20-year-old from La Pampa is a player with great stamina and attacking intent. Originally more of a winger, he is now emerging as an option at left back, a position he already filled during River’s mini training camp in Cardales in March due to the absences of Acuña and Viña, both of whom had been called up by their national teams.

So far this season, he has played 11 matches and provided three assists for Marcelo Escudero’s reserve team.

Spiff, meanwhile, has always drawn attention in River’s youth ranks because of his Nigerian nationality. On February 18, in one of his first reserve matches, he scored his first goal at that level in the rout against Gimnasia de Mendoza, and since then he has added another goal and an assist.

With Joaquín Freitas’ promotion to the first team, the African earned a place in Marcelo Escudero’s side and later in Coudet’s plans for the Sudamericana squad list.

His father, Godwin, arrived from Nigeria in 2006 for work reasons and started a family with María the following year, when Jonathan was born, the only boy among three siblings. When he was just seven years old, they decided to take him for a trial at River, and he made it at the first attempt, beginning his path in the youth categories and steadily moving up the ranks from then on.

Besides Lucero and Spiff, another player who could be called up is Agustín Obregón, who already made his debut against Vélez in November last year under Marcelo Gallardo. On the other hand, there are another nine River youth players who are part of the list of 50 players for the Copa Sudamericana but have never been called up to the first team. Given the injury crisis affecting the squad and Coudet’s need to protect players ahead of next Sunday’s big final against Belgrano, it cannot be ruled out that one of them could be included in the squad list. They are:

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.