América and Maracaibo Fight it Out in Cali.

By: Mauro | August 7th, 2008

Corporación Deportiva América de Cali vs. Unión Atlético Maracaibo (Estadio Pascual Guerrero, Santiago de Cali, Colombia)

LIVE @ 7pm PST on Fox Sports Español. Gamecast here. Online TV here.

While last week’s match was poor and uninspiring, UA Maracaibo could have a slight advantage should they find themselves able to score one single, solitary goal. América de Cali needs to win to advance. Period.

And you can count on América de Cali not just rolling over. They have more history internationally and have churned out some great Colombian players over the years so there is lots of tradition at stake. But those players and those teams are long gone and it’s all on the ones taking the pitch tonight.

With Pablo Armero pulling the strings in the midfield look for him to open up play and try to find Adrián Ramos up front. América coach Diego Umaña will have Roberto Peñaloza come on to replace Hárold Viáfara who was sent off for a hard foul and is suspended for tonight’s match.

UA Maracaibo is not in a bad situation with a single goal they could qualify for the next round even if they give one up. Again, they have many new faces on their squad so this is not the same squad who performed decently against quality opposition in the Copa Libertadores and could have some difficulty playing together as one solid team.

Look for goalkeeper Rafael Dudamel to start the match again tonight and to do a lot of work to keep his team in this one.

Bottom Line: Despite their dour performance last week, América was the better side. UA Maracaibo was spotty and seemed indecisive.

My Pick: 1-0 to América. Maracaibo are still trying to put this side together and will need more than just 90 minutes to do so. Fingers crossed to make this one a little better than last week’s match.

Feel free to check the CONMEBOL website for results and information about upcoming matches and for those of you in need of a bracket to get your heads around the competition, get one here.