Encouraged by his latest results, Millonarios will seek from today to pave the way that will allow him to overcome the group stage in the South American Cup, when he faces the Argentine Defensa y Justicia.
The commitment will be played starting at 9:00 pm at the El Campín stadium and coach Alberto Gamero will have the starting lineup, with captain David Silva at the helm.
The blues reached this stage of the second most important tournament at the continental level, after being eliminated in the preliminary phase of the Copa Libertadores.
According to the work plan established by the board, one of the goals is “to get past the group stage in an international tournament.”
However, the tournament was not an ally of the sky-blues, who fell into the so-called ‘group of death’, which also includes América from Brazil and Peñarol from Uruguay.
The big unknown for today’s game, which Millonarios needs to win or win if they really aspire to overcome this instance, is whether coach Alberto Gamero keeps the three front-line midfielders and the two strikers or if he uses wingers again.
In the first case, Silva would be accompanied by Cataño, plus Vásquez, Giraldo and Pereira, with Castro leading the way.
The other option would be with two recovery midfielders, Giraldo and Vásquez, accompanied by Silva and Cataño along with Oscar Cortés as wingers.
Back, Montero, Perlaza, Llinás, Vargas and Asprilla. Of the five, only goalkeeper Montero and center-back Vargas played against Bucaramanga.
The advantage for the Gamero coach is that he has been recovering players. He already has striker Leonardo Castro, Luis Carlos Ruiz and midfielder Steven Vaga.
The match against Defensa y Justica will not be easy. The team led by Julio Vaccari is sixth in the Argentine tournament.
“The group for the Copa Sudamericana is tremendous, one of the most difficult that could touch you, but it is what it touched, you have to play it and go to win,” said the Argentine strategist.
He sentenced that “the expectation for what is coming is to go looking for all the games on all the courts. We will go to Colombia to seek to raise the name of the club”.
This will be the first time that Millonarios and Defensa y Justicia will face each other, which in 2020 under the leadership of Hernán Crespo, won this tournament.
Other parties
Another duel that captures the attention of the fans is Sao Paulo and the Argentine Tigre, who repeats the scandalous final of 2012.
A decade ago, the Morumbí stadium was the scene of Sao Paulo’s 2-0 victory in the first half and the suspension of the game due to Tigre’s decision not to play the match again, alleging that they were beaten in the locker room by staff of security.
Conmebol declared Sao Paulo champion and Tigre, after a season full of epic and feats, went home empty-handed. More than ten years later, the cupbearer destiny faces them again in a Group D completed by the Venezuelan Puerto Cabello and Deportes Tolima.
Estudiantes de La Plata from Argentina, the Uruguayan Peñarol and Santos from Brazil are multi-continental champions who will fight to expand their glory in this edition of the South American.
Peñarol, a giant with five Libertadores that for more than a decade has suffered pure cup disappointments, will seek to break the international drought and for that they will have to dominate a challenging Group F.
The first duel of the coalman, emboldened by the victory against his classic rival, Nacional, on Saturday in the Uruguayan tournament, will be tomorrow against a difficult América Mineiro in Belo Horizonte.