Argentina's Boca and River pressed for replacements

Boca Juniors and River Plate, the two most popular football teams in Argentina, are going through a difficult time in the First Division as they are getting further away from winning, mainly due to the lack of replacement players.

After playing the 10th match of the tournament, which still has six matches left, River drew 2-2 at home against a modest Sarmiento de Junin, after being 2-0 up. The team currently has only 10 points in the tournament which is half as many as leaders Godoy Cruz (20 points).

In the mediocre 10th place, they are closer to the bottom of the Zone A table than the top.

With Boca, the situation is not much different. They lost 0-2 away to Tigre recently and, with 14 points, 11 behind Zone B leaders Lanus. There are seven teams ahead of them in the table.

With numerous football schools made up of players that will probably make headlines in future matches, the coaching staff have been unable to come up with a structure that will allow them to compete at the same level and what is left of the season should be spent focusing on the Copa Libertadores de America tournament.

Even though both teams are in a similar situation, there are some differences. While Marcelo Gallardo is about to celebrate his second year as River's coach, Boca's Guillermo Barros Schelotto only arrived at the club 45 days ago and is looking to find his new team's identity mid-season.

However, both coaches had the same message to give after last weekend's disappointing matches. The players lack the required level and they were mainly substitutes and not main players before.