Photo @BostonRiver
Now that Jose Riasco has resurfaced on Philadelphia’s radar, it is time to delve into his time away on loan. We previously discussed his 2023 performance. (Click here.)
September, 2023 to August, 2024
First, the loan was to Spanish-speaking Uruguay in the southern hemisphere, so the young man is transitioning from spring directly to fall and is re-immersed in English rather than a version of his native Spanish.
Uruguay, with the smallest population among the ten nations in South America’s CONMEBOL, consistently ranks in the top half of the continental confederation’s table. The country has participated in 14 of the 22 World Cups and won the tournament twice, in 1930 and 1950.
Riasco played in one of the better leagues in Latin America, the Uruguayan top flight. He played for CA Boston River, one of only four teams out of 16 not located in Montevideo.
Uruguayan football seasons are organized by calendar years but divide each year into three parts: a torneo apertura, a tornero clausera, and a torneo intermedio. He was with Boston River for the 2023 clausera, the 2024 apertura, and perhaps indeterminately for a part of the 2024 intermedio.
A coaching change occurred between the clausera and the apertura, but it’s inconclusive how it affected Riasco’s playing time. We also have no idea how to discover whether or when he was injured.
Under his first coach, Uruguayan Alejandro Apud, Riasco appeared to have been utilized as the club’s third or fourth striker. Under his second coach, Brazilian Jadson Viera, he received fewer minutes and appearances. However, we cannot determine whether these were due to the coach’s decisions or injuries. Therefore, we refrain from drawing further direct conclusions.
We assume, but cannot officially confirm, that the loan agreement may have included a purchase option.
At the beginning of the new coach’s tenure in January, Riasco was away from Boston River for several weeks with the Venezuelan U-23 national team as they tried to qualify for the Paris Olympics. To their credit, the hosts Venezuela advanced out of the group stage to the final four teams, but finished fourth, meaning no trip to France. The tournament was not over until February 11, five days before the Apertura’s first match. Riasco must have missed a great deal of coach Viera’s preseason.
Back in Chester
In early August, the website Transfermarkt posted that Riasco’s loan to Boston River had expired on August 5. Seven weeks later, on September 23, Riasco was on Union II’s substitutes bench for the 4-3 victory against New York City FC II. He played for the last 15 minutes plus stoppage time, but it was clear that he was not fit enough to play a full 90 minutes. It is speculated that he had some time off at the end of Boston River’s season before returning to Philadelphia.
Last December, during his end-of-season joint press conference with Jim Curtin, Ernst Tanner indicated a desire to sign Riasco to the first team. To our knowledge he has not commented publicly on Riasco since, and neither has Curtin.
Appendix
Here are Riasco’s 2024 performance data from his Boston River loan as accumulated by PSP from the club’s official tweets, the website Footballdatabase.eu, and Transfermarkt (see the link above for his 2023 data). It’s unclear whether Riasco’s long absences were due to injuries or coach Viera’s decisions. Riasco didn’t appear at all during the intermedio, so we can’t confirm whether he was physically in Uruguay after his substitution appearance on June 4 in the last match of the Apertura against Nacional.
| Jose Riasco – Boston River, Uruguay, D I | ||||
| Day Date | Opponent | Result | Mins | Start |
| Sa, 9-Mar | River Plate | W 2-1 | 4 | No |
| Fr, 15-Mar | Liverpool | D 1-1 | 16 | No |
| Su, 31-Mar | Wanderers | W 2-0 | 21 | No |
| Fr, 5-Apr | Defensor | D 2-2 | stoppage | No |
| Sa, 13-Apr | Progreso | L 1-0 | 45 | No |
| Sa, 20-Apr | Penarol | L 3-1 | 45 | Yes |
| Sa, 27-Apr | Cerro Largo | L 2-0 | Dressed, DNP | |
| Sa, 4-May | Miramar | W 3-1 | Not in Squad | |
| Su, 12-May | Rampla Jrs. | W 1-0 | Not in Squad | |
| Su, 19-May | Cerro Largo | W 2-0 | Dressed, DNP | |
| Fr, 24-May | Racing | W 2-1 | Not in Squad | |
| Tu, 4-Jun | Nacional | L 3-1 | 3 | No |
| Boston River finished fourth in the Apertura | ||||
| Mo, 10-Jun | Rampia | D 1-1 | Not in Squad | |
| Mo, 17-Jun | Cerro Largo | L 2-0 | Not in Squad | |
| Su, 23-Jun | Liverpool | L 1-0 | Not in Squad | |
| Sa, 6-Jul | Cerro | W 2-0 | Not in Squad | |
| Sa, 13-Jul | Miramar | W 2-1 | Not in Squad | |
| Su, 21-Jul | Danubio | L 2-1 | Not in Squad | |
| Su, 28-Jul | Nacional | |||
| Transfermarkt says his loan ended 5-Aug-24 | ||||
Thanks for tracking this info down. Sadly, it seems that Riasco is a “miss” for Ernst Tanner.
It doesn’t seem he fills the third striker slot behind Uhre & Baribo, but does he beat out Donovan for fourth on the depth chart?
While I agree with Gruncle Bob that we cannot yet classify Riasco as a “hit,” it is too early to drawn any conclusions about the effects of the loan on his development. In my opinion we must wait until he is back to some degree of game condition before judging that.
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And it is not Donovan whom he would displace, because Donovan is guaranteed for 2025 on the lowest possible salary.
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I would suspect Riasco is a threat to Adeniran. Adeniran is 26, and a free agent at the end of the year, although he is about as inexpensive as possible given his age.
This is amazing stuff. Thank you Tim!