Jonathan Spiff and Valentín Lucero, Coudet's injury-crisis call-ups | OneFootball

River’s squad reaches the final stretch of the first half of the year severely depleted physically. For the Torneo Apertura grand final, it has been confirmed that Aníbal Moreno, Gonzalo Montiel, Sebastián Driussi, and Matías Viña will all be unavailable, four important pieces for Eduardo Coudet. That is why, ahead of this Wednesday’s tricky Copa Sudamericana match against Red Bull Bragantino, Chacho does not want to risk any more starters, would field 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 before been included in a first-team squad list.

Viña’s absence and Coudet’s intention to protect Marcos Acuña—who was on the bench against Rosario Central due to tightness in his right hamstring—have left a gap at left back. In principle, 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 any first-team call-ups. The 20-year-old from La Pampa is a player with great range and an attacking mindset. Originally almost a winger, he now emerges as an option at left back, a position he already occupied during River’s short training camp in Cardales in March due to the absences of Acuña and Viña, both called up by their respective national teams.

So far this season, he has totaled 11 matches and three assists with 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 for the reserves in the rout against Gimnasia de Mendoza, and since then he has added another goal and an assist.

With Joaquín Freitas’s promotion to the first team, the African player earned a place in Marcelo Escudero’s team 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. At just seven years old, they decided to take him for a trial at River and he made it on the first attempt, beginning his journey in the youth categories and steadily moving up through 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 of last year under Marcelo Gallardo. On the other hand, there are another nine River youngsters who are part of the 50-player list for the Copa Sudamericana but have never been called up to the first team. Given the injury plague affecting the squad and Coudet’s need to rest players ahead of next Sunday’s grand final against Belgrano, it is not 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.