Loyal Gustavo Costas gives soul to Argentina’s exhilarating spectacles

This past fortnight, Argentine football and (thanks to the magic of the social media webs) the sporting world in general was treated to two exhilarating spectacles of fan passion from the stands. Unfortunately for River Plate, in only one of those cases were fireworks also glimpsed on the pitch itself.

The infernal greeting bestowed on Marcelo Gallardo's men only seemed to steel the resolve of Copa Libertadores semi-final rivals Atlético Mineiro last Tuesday as, with a near-impenetrable three-goal lead to defend, the Brazilians were happy to nullify the hosts and play out a scoreless draw which saw them safely into the final and ended River's dreams of a third Copa triumph under Gallardo's watch. 

The Millonario were the first of three teams to be sent crashing out of either the Libertadores or Sudamericana by teams representing South America's current continental powerhouse, raising questions over how the rest of the region can possibly hope to compete in the face of such disadvantages in finances and squad-building.

Amid those laments, though, one side was left to continue carrying the flag. Having played out a thrilling 2-2 draw under a biblical deluge against Corinthians in São Paulo, Racing received a similarly explosive, fiery welcome onto the pitch in Avellaneda for their Sudamericana final, and bucked the trend by fighting it out for a 2-1 win on the night which secures a place in the showpiece, the club's first continental decider for no fewer than 32 years – against Cruzeiro, coincidentally enough, their rivals for the upcoming decider in Asunción.

Across those three long decades there is one connecting thread. Grizzled old coach Gustavo Costas, a lifelong Racing fan, was in the Academia team that in 1988 lifted the inaugural Supercopa Sudamericana against (who else?) Cruzeiro, and then four years later experienced the anguish of losing to the Brazilians over two legs. This is Costas' third spell as a coach with La Academia and at times the demands of the job have looked beyond him as he wrestles with an infuriatingly inconsistent team equally capable of moments of magic and utter footballing incompetence often within the space of a few minutes.

But his commitment to this team, and this team to him, has never been in question. It is a bond of loyalty that almost seems to transcend modern football, its transactional manner and emphasis of looking at players as mere interchangeable cogs within a well-oiled tactical machine. That unity, forged in the adversity of a season which looked to be heading off the rails as recently as a few weeks ago, makes this feeling all the sweeter for Costas and his charges.

“We were getting beaten up from everywhere, we were getting killed, but they won this, they stood up and showed their worth,” the emotional veteran told reporters in the wake of victory over Corinthians. “I've always said I was proud of this team, because they knew what was at stake. After all the blows we took we were always able to get up again and manage something Racing hasn't done for years.” 

On Wednesday, after a comparatively sedate away win over Barracas Central, Costas further elaborated on his thesis: “This team has got some massive balls.” A few short weeks remain to find out whether said balls will be sufficient to take La Academia through their latest high-stakes clash with Cruzeiro, but no matter what the result their coach will be proud as punch as he leads the team out in front of the thousands expected to travel to Paraguay to cheer on their heroes.