Atlas With One More Big Hurdle Before Semis.

By: Mauro | May 21st, 2008

F.C. Atlas A.C. vs. Club Atlético Boca Juniors (Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico)

LIVE @ 3:30 pm PST on Fox Sports Español. Replayed at 8 pm PST.

If you can’t get out to watch it follow the online gamecast here.

OR if you understand Spanish, here’s the feed for the match from Radio Mitre in Argentina.

In what would seem like a substantial advantage against any other club, Atlas is hosting Boca Juniors at their ground in Guadalajara. This will be both teams’ second match in the Estadio Jalisco, the first went Atlas’ way 3-1, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this one will not be as cut and dry. These teams faced each other in the group stage, both teams winning at home, scoring three goals each with Boca managing the only away goal.

Atlas had plenty of luck with the aerial game in the first leg of this tie, played at the José Amalfitani (Velez Sarsfield’s ground) due to a suspension on Boca’s home ground, La Bombonera because of an ice throwing incident in the first leg of the Boca -Cruzeiro tie. With both goals coming off long crosses, Morel had trouble covering all the bases for Julio Cesar Cáceres and Jonathan Maidana, who were not faring so well.

Watch for Martín Palermo and Rodrigo Palacio to really be more effective. I imagine Boca will play a match similar to the one played in Belo Horizonte against Cruzeiro. Cautiously offensive, fewer chances to score but greater effectiveness which is why they’ll need their forwards to knock a couple in.

Boca is also still alive in the Argentine Clausura, they won their match against Racing while being able to field a largely alternate squad. They arrived in Guadalajara on Monday to begin adapting to the high altitude where they have already practiced on the pitch at the Estadio Jalisco. Their presence must have the locals buzzing for Wednesday’s match to begin.

Atlas is not participating in their country’s current playoffs since they were eliminated in the wild card home and away tie against Necaxa. They had a nice week off to work on preparations for this match.

Like I had started off saying earlier, against any other team, Atlas have the upper hand. What with the match played on their ground, nothing else to play for but for the Libertadores and the 2 away goals they brought back form Buenos Aires.

By no means am I a Boca fan, but when Boca are backed into a corner they seem to be able to dig deep and pull out something special. Palacio has not scored in this tie which is very strange and Riquelme appears to be at about 80% and Jesús Dátolo is really coming on strong with breaking runs on the right.

Looks for Diego Colotto to be a force in both areas, especially on free kicks and, of course, Bruno Marioni (looking to catch up to Salvador Cabañas goal-scoring tally) and Ulises Mendivil up front causing havoc for Boca defenders. While Atlas are unbeaten at home, they showed some weakness last round at home against Lanús where they tied 2-2 but advanced on the away result which was 1-0 in their favor.

Bottom Line: Boca are wounded, need the win and will probably play full tilt looking for the result in their favor. They are still playing matches in the Argentine Clausura and have a certain momentum coming into this one. Atlas, on the other hand, is coming into this one a little cooler and calmer since having much more time to rest their players. We’ll have to see which strategy prevails, the calm approach or the full on, sparks flying approach.

My pick: 2-2. Boca advance on penalties. This is their competition. Sorry Atlas fans. This is the end. Boca have been far too successful in harder places to win (i.e. Brazil) to give it up here.

Check the CONMEBOL website for the results, stats and information.

News and notes: It was reported that Boca have found the suspect that threw the piece of ice at referee Pablo Fandiño who was the assistant referee in the first leg of the Boca-Cruzeiro match played in Boca’s La Bombonera. Word is that this person (who is a minor) will be suspended from attending any future matches as will this person’s father. If you can read español see the full article here.

Also, Joffre Guerrón’s representative has said that the next step in that player’s career should be a move to Boca Juniors. This all during the week where LDU Quito’s permanence in the competition is at stake. Apparently, Guerrón had already had a spell with the Argentine giants but never saw any first division football but he was part of Boca’s reserve squad. Again, in Spanish, should you like to read the rest of the article here.