The team no longer knows what it is supposed to be
Seis meses después de alcanzar las semifinales de la Libertadores, Racing Club quedó eliminado de la Copa Sudamericana en la fase de grupos tras empatar 2-2 con Caracas en su propio estadio. Lo que el marcador no refleja del todo es la naturaleza de la caída: no fue una derrota ante un rival superior, sino el desenlace de una temporada en la que el equipo ha ido erosionando su propia identidad, error tras error, hasta volverse irreconocible. En el fútbol, como en tantas otras empresas humanas, el declive rara vez llega de golpe; se construye en silencio, partido a partido, hasta que ya no hay forma de ignorarlo.
- Un equipo que disputó semifinales continentales hace apenas medio año no pudo superar la fase de grupos de un torneo de menor jerarquía, lo que convierte la eliminación en algo más que un tropiezo deportivo.
- El empate ante Caracas estuvo marcado por un gol en propia puerta de Tagliamonte y ocasiones desperdiciadas que sintetizan la fragilidad que ha perseguido a Racing durante toda la campaña.
- El Cilindro cerró sus puertas al público, de modo que la humillación se consumó ante las gradas vacías, sin la presión ni el calor de los hinchas que suelen definir las noches europeas.
- Gustavo Costas sigue en el cargo amparado por su contrato y su condición de ídolo, pero su equipo ha perdido el hilo conductor: los cambios de formación, los refuerzos fallidos y los conflictos internos no han encontrado solución.
- Con solo cinco o seis futbolistas funcionando como titulares indiscutidos y varios referentes buscando salida, la pregunta que queda en pie no es cómo se llegó hasta aquí, sino qué puede construirse desde este punto.
Racing Club cerró matemáticamente su participación en la Copa Sudamericana con un empate 2-2 ante Caracas en Avellaneda, con un partido todavía por disputar. El conjunto venezolano llegó como claro candidato a perder; el resultado final dice más sobre el local que sobre el visitante.
El partido condensó todo lo que ha fallado en la temporada. Maravilla Martínez erró un gol que parecía hecho. Tagliamonte dejó que el balón rebotara en el travesaño y entrara en su propia portería. No fueron errores producto de una presión táctica superior, sino el tipo de descuidos que, cuando se repiten semana tras semana, dejan de ser accidentes y se convierten en síntoma. Racing había dominado el primer tiempo y llegó al descanso ganando 2-1; en la segunda mitad, ante un rival limitado, se desorientó por completo.
Gustavo Costas permanece en el cargo, sostenido por su vínculo emocional con el club y por un contrato de tres años. Pero el desgaste es visible. A lo largo de la temporada ha rotado esquemas, incorporado refuerzos que no rindieron y apostado por jugadores jóvenes sin que ninguna de esas decisiones lograra estabilizar al equipo. El problema, en el fondo, no es táctico: Racing ha dejado de saber qué quiere ser.
El daño interno es considerable. Hay tensiones entre jugadores, entre el cuerpo técnico y la dirigencia, entre las aspiraciones del club y sus recursos reales. Varios futbolistas de experiencia buscan salir. Los refuerzos del mercado de verano no cumplieron las expectativas. Lo que comenzó como una temporada cargada de promesas —la de un equipo recién llegado a una semifinal de Libertadores— ha derivado en algo difícil de ver y más difícil aún de explicar. Con un partido por delante, la única pregunta que importa es qué viene después.
Racing Club came home from the Copa Sudamericana on Thursday night mathematically eliminated, their continental campaign finished with one match still to play. The 2-2 draw against Caracas, a Venezuelan side that arrived in Avellaneda as underdogs, sealed what had been inevitable for weeks: a team that reached the Libertadores semifinals six months ago would not survive the group stage of a lesser tournament.
The match itself was a catalog of the errors that have defined Racing's season. Maravilla Martínez missed a goal that should have been finished. Tagliamonte, in a moment of inexplicable confusion, let a ball bounce off the crossbar and into his own net. These were not tactical failures or the result of superior opposition. They were the kind of mistakes that accumulate across a season and eventually become a pattern so obvious that no one can look away from it. Racing had been committing them in almost every match of this Copa Sudamericana—blooper after blooper, each one another small piece of evidence that something fundamental had broken.
Coach Gustavo Costas remains in his position, sustained partly by his status as a club idol and partly by the three-year contract the board handed him months ago. But he is visibly worn down. His team, in his words and in the way it moves across the field, has lost its way. There was a moment of hope during the domestic playoffs when Racing beat Estudiantes in the final moments, a flash that suggested something might still be salvageable. But that was all it was—a flash. They fell to Central. They fell to Caracas. On Thursday, with the match essentially handed to them on a plate, they threw it away through their own carelessness.
The decline has been steep and strange. In the first half against Caracas, Racing went down 1-0 and clawed back to 2-1 at halftime, controlling the match. In the second half, facing a limited Venezuelan team, they simply lost their bearings. The Cilindro stadium sat nearly empty—the club had closed the doors—which meant that whatever humiliation unfolded on the pitch would at least not be witnessed by thousands of paying supporters.
Looking back across the season reveals a team that has systematically undermined itself. There was the loss to Botafogo in Brazil, decided in the final moments. There was Cambeses's error in Rio de Janeiro. There was Rojas missing a penalty in Venezuela, a match that ended 1-1. Each failure seemed to drain something more from the squad's confidence. The roster has become unstable, with only five or six players functioning as reliable starters—Cambeses, Di Césare, Sosa, Rojas, and Martínez. Costas has shifted formations repeatedly, brought in new signings who haven't worked, experimented with younger players. Nothing has helped because the fundamental problem isn't tactical. It's that the team no longer knows what it is supposed to be.
The internal damage has been substantial. There are conflicts between players, between the coaching staff and the board, between the club's ambitions and its actual resources. Some of the club's most experienced players are looking for exits. The reinforcements brought in during the offseason have underperformed. What began as a season full of possibility—a team that had just reached a Libertadores semifinal—has curdled into something difficult to watch and harder still to explain. Racing did not lose to Caracas because Caracas was better. They lost because they beat themselves, repeatedly, in ways that no amount of tactical adjustment or personnel shuffling can fix. With one match remaining, the only question left is what comes next.
Notable Quotes
Racing's worst problem is that it has lost its identity—it is no longer a Costas team, no longer the Costas team— Diario Panorama analysis
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
How does a team that was in the Libertadores semifinals just six months ago end up eliminated from the Copa Sudamericana with a match still to play?
It's not one thing. It's the accumulation. Errors in almost every match, personnel that doesn't work together, a coach trying different formations because nothing seems to stick. By the time you're losing to a Venezuelan team at home, the damage is already done.
But Costas is still there, still has a contract. Why hasn't the board made a change?
He's an idol at the club. That carries weight. And they just gave him three years a few months ago. But you can see it wearing on him. His team doesn't play like it knows what it's supposed to be doing.
The own goal, the missed chances—those are individual mistakes, though. Doesn't that suggest the players themselves have lost focus?
Yes and no. Individual mistakes happen in football. But when they happen in almost every match, when the team can't hold a lead, when they can't finish what they start—that's not individual anymore. That's a team that's lost something.
What did they lose?
Identity. They were a Costas team. They had a way of playing, players who understood their roles. Now there are too many changes, too many new faces, too much uncertainty. The core players who made them work are either leaving or checked out.
Is there a way back from this?
Not this season. Maybe next, if the board is willing to make real changes. But right now, they're just trying to finish.