Oriente Petrolero will have a difficult challenge this Wednesday at the Maracana Stadium of Rio de Janeiro against Fluminense.
They will face (18:15 Bolivian time) one of the candidates for the Copa Sudamericana title in a group H match, completed by Junior from Colombia and Unión from Argentina.
Those directed by Erwin ‘Platiní’ Sánchez arrive in the capital of Rio de Janeiro after chaining two defeats in a row in the Apertura, the last of them on Sunday by 2-1 in his visit to Real Santa Cruz.
With that, Oriente garnered 9 points in seven games and is two units behind Universitario, which occupies the last box of Group A of the Bolivian tournament.
Erwin Sánchez admitted that his team is the Cinderella of Group H, of which only the first classifies to the round of 16, although he does not lower his arms for that.
“It is going to be a very important challenge to face great teams. Little by little we have been preparing to reach this situation in the best way and although we are considered the weakest team in the group, we are still excited to compete and do things well,” said Sánchez.
The Santa Cruz team could come out with a defensive scheme and repeat the same eleven that visited Santa Cruz on Saturday, cWith the entry of the Uruguayan Hugo Dorrego instead of Alexis Ribera.
Fluminense, Carioca champion
After winning the Carioca Championship on Saturday by beating their eternal rival, Flamengo, in the final, ‘Flu’ arrives at the game with morale through the roof and ready to impose his favoritism against the Santa Cruz team.
– South American rebound –
With a team designed to play the Libertadores, the cariocas will play the South American for the tenth time due to his painful elimination in the third phase of the main club tournament of the region at the hands of Olimpia de Asunción.
His best result in the South American It was the runner-up in 2009, where it lost the final against Liga de Quito.
For this Wednesday’s match, coach Abel Braga will not be able to count on two of the team’s leaders: veteran midfielder Felipe Melo, down due to a knee injury, and central defender Nino, due to suspension.
Given the theoretical superiority over the Bolivian eleven and with seven games to play in April, Braga could rest several of its startersthinking about the debut in the Brasileirao-2022 against Santos on Saturday and the trip next week to Barranquilla to face Junior.
“I think Fluminense can go very far (in the South American). The team is working to continue winning. We lost (confidence) after the match against Olimpia, and now we’re back. It gave us experience,” said Argentine gunner Germán Cano.
Possible lineups:
Fluminense: Fábio – Calegari, Manoel, David Braz, Cristiano – Martinelli, André, Yago – Ganso – Germán Cano and Luiz Henrique. DT: Abel Braga.
Oil East: Wilson Quiñonez – Maximiliano Caire, Sebastián Álvarez, Leandro Zazpe, Ayrton Paz – Daniel Rojas, Ricardo Sandoval – Miguel Ríos, Héctor Sánchez, Hugo Dorrego – Facundo Suárez. DT: Erwin Sanchez.
Referees: The Venezuelan José Argote along with his compatriots Carlos López and Lubin Torrealba on the lines.
