Gimnasia Preview, sort of
By: Jeremy | August 8th, 2008Ok, game day and the start of the Aperatura 08 has arrived. Looks like la lepra will be in a 4-3-1-2 to start the game.
German Caffa; Pablo Aguilar, Juan Insaurralde, Rolando Schiavi, German Ré; Machín, Walter Fretes (or Pablo Pérez), Hernan Bernardello, Lionel Vangioni; Alejandro Da Silva, Cristian Fabbiani (or Juan Ferreyra). (The paperwork for Fretes and Fabbiani still hasn’t arrived)
Walter Fretes, our new dead ball specialist -who has been impressing in camp- will play up behind the forwards. On the bench we find Diego Barreto, Héctor Gaitán, Pablo Pérez, Ernesto Cristaldo, Mauro Formica, Diego Torres, Leandro Torres, Juan Ferreyra and Leandro Armani (just signed from Tiro Federal). Ignacio Fideleff will join the club in Buenos Aires as he has been training with the U-20 team. I think Husain will join the club there as well, but I don’t believe he is a threat to see any real playing time. The group is a bit larger than normal as the official paperwork has not arrived for several of them, but only two are thought to be a real possibility of not arriving (Fretes and Fabbiani).
Gimnasia is expected to run a 4-2-3-1 with Roberto Sosa up top, but in their last friendly they switched to a 3-3-2-2 and it seemed to work better. Expected starters are Sessa; Ormeño, San Esteban, Agüero, Iriarte; Alderete, Esteban González; Piatti, Messera, Cuevas; Sosa.
It’s hard to predict much because this Newell’s team features 5 new starters from last season and el lobo is in a similar situation. Newell’s wants to consolidate it’s position in the standings and climb farther away from the relegation zone (and maybe into a Copa spot). Gimnasia (LP) ended last season in a free fall, something like 6 straight losses, and are desperate to avoid relegation this year, so they brought in several new players and are looking to rack up points.
Historically, Newell’s isn’t very good in el Bosque. In their last 18 visits, Newell’s lost 15, drew 2, and managed to pull out 1 victory. Yikes. Since 1985 in all locations, la lepra is 2-5-16 against el lobo platense. All time, Newell’s has a slight edge, 42 wins to 40, with 33 draws. Lately it’s been all Gimnasia (LP), though.
Carlos Maglio is the referee, and in his 7 previous games in charge of la lepra, Newell’s is 2-2-3.
At stake in this game? Not much. It’s the opening game for two teams with a lot of new players. In Newell’s case, the coach has only had three days to train his team. While the honus is on Gimnasia to defend their house and score some much needed points to fatten up their promedio, I wonder if they can get it done. Newell’s will look to be on the attack from the get go and not allow Gimnasia any time to breathe. While a loss would be a set back on their slim quest to qualify for the Libertadores, there are still 18 games to go after this. For Gimnasia, their only thoughts this season are in avoiding the drop. For them it a long range 38 game view, so lose here and they still have 37 games to go.
How will it end? 2-1 Newell’s. I am as confident in that as a guy sitting at his desk in Atlanta, Georgia that has never even been to Argentina can be. (There are rumors that I think it will end 1-1, but who knows if you can ever trust a rumor.)
Category: Team News
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