A Tough One At Home For Sao Paulo

By: Mauro | April 23rd, 2008

Sao Paulo Futebol Clube vs. Corporacíon Deportiva Club Atlético Nacional (Estadio Morumbi, Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Tape delay at 11:00pm, Wednesday the 23rd on Fox Sports Español.

Group 7 is one of the more hotly contested groups. None of the teams here are interested in rolling over for any other team. With that said, Sao Paulo have failed to impress me, of course this could all be due to the fact that they might have faced some tough opposition in their group.

But still, they’ve had to resort to some last minute Adriano heroics of late, meaning they are not able to put teams away. In any case, Sao Paulo face Atlético Nacional, in 2nd place but equal on points with the Brazilians, in tonight’s match looking for a win to qualify regardless of the other result in this group. But the same goes for the Colombian side. A win qualifies them automatically. Meanwhile, the loser goes home should Audax Italiano find a way to beat Sportivo Luqueño in Paraguay, a match played at exactly the same time.

A small edge for Atlético Nacional, is the fact that Sao Paulo is coming off a crushing defeat at the hands of Palmeiras for the Paulista Championship, eliminating them from play. However, Zé Luis and Richarlyson will be available for tonight’s match since they were serving a suspension in the match against Palmeiras and Éder and Éder Luis are also available to play in the Libertadores after just recently being added to the team’s list for the tournament.

Atlético Nacional have been in Brazil since Monday preparing for tonight’s match and are coming off a 1-0 win over Quindio at the weekend in the Colombian league. If the Colo Colo - Atlas/Boca - Maracaibo matches were the main event this week, this is quite possibly the best under card they could ask for.

Bottom Line: Sao Paulo are at home and should win. Atlético Nacional have a bit more momentum and should they win, they could create one of the biggest upsets in the Cup so far. I know I’ve said this before (see Boca vs. Maracaibo), but it could just happen. My pick: Tough one to pick but I’m going to go with a 2-1 win for Sao Paulo.

Check the CONMEBOL website for Group 4 standings and results.