San Lorenzo, Caracas; Fate in Their Own Hands.

By: Mauro | April 16th, 2008

San Lorenzo de Almagro vs. Caracas FC (El Nuevo Gasometro, Boedo, Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Live, Wednesday the 16th on FSE @ 3:30pm (If you watch only one match today, make it this one)

Since beginning of this season, San Lorenzo have failed to impress. The team has made quite a few transfers and looked pretty deep, deep enough to make something happen in this year’s Copa Libertadores. They brought in Gonzalo Bergessio on loan from Benfica, Andres D’Allesandro on loan from Zaragoza and Diego Placente, who I believe, is on loan from Celta de Vigo in Spain. Adding to an already stacked list of players, this team should be in a better position in the standings. But given their poor start (mostly due to injuries) they have been on a roll in the Argentine Clausura, winning 6 in a row. They are recovering from a 3-1 loss to Cruzeiro in Ipatinga but are coming off a 3-1 win over Rosario Central at the weekend. Needless to say, Ramón Díaz is no stranger to the Libertadores since he took River Plate to win it way back in 1996. A win here is vital for San Lorenzo. A draw will qualify Caracas since the goal difference here is +1 for the Venezuelan side. Check the standings.

On the other side of the ball, Noel Sanvicente had decided to rest his key players in Caracas FC’s match against Estrella Roja in the Venezuelan league at the weekend. With that, it seems Caracas will have their best players rested and ready for this pivotal match. Franklin Lucena and Juan Cominges were among those players rested at the weekend. Caracas could get a draw here and qualify regardless of what happens in Thursday’s Cruzeiro-Real Potosi match so watch for them to come out of the gates, score and then sit back on that goal and hope that San Lorenzo don’t score more than they did.

Bottom Line: San Lorenzo have the squad and the momentum to win this match, everything is in their favor, home ground, home fans behind them. Caracas are the visiting team and that is already a point against them. My Pick: 3-1 to the home side. Caracas have had some good results in this group but I think their train stops here. It’s disappointing because I had them going into the next round early on but with this match as the do or die, they just don’t have it in them to pull off the big away win. If they do, it’s the end of the line for Ramón Díaz. But San Lorenzo is on a roll, right now.

Check the CONMEBOL website for updated standings, results and upcoming matches.