América, With a Small Lead, Travel to Rio in Search of a Spot in the Quarters.

By: Mauro | October 1st, 2008

Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas vs. Corporación Deportiva América de Cali (Estadio Olimpico João Havelange “Engenhão”, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Tape Delay @ 10pm PST on Fox Sports Español. Match starts live @ 6pm PST. Gamecast here. Online TV here.

Riding a nasty four-game losing streak, Botafogo is hosting Colombian side, América de Cali in the second leg of their Round of 16 match up after playing to what seemed to be a 0-0 draw but turned into a 0-1 nightmare for the Rio based side. América is looking to get anything in order to advance to the next round.

And by anything I mean, any result that would qualify them. Basically a 0-0 draw would allow them to advance. But a loss of more than one goal would be catastrophic.

Also, the club is in the middle of a financial crisis. But it depends on what side of the money you are on. The players were complaining about the club not giving them the prize money for just having qualified for the Sudamericana this season.

América coach Diego Umaña is riding a nice high after beating Botafogo at home last week and then following that important win with another win over local league side, Millonarios also with a 1-0 score line.

This result leaves América in 9th place on the Colombian league table, only 7 points behind league leaders, Deportes Tolima. Let’s not forget just a few weeks ago, América was floundering lower on the table and their recent upturn in form has allowed for good results.

Umaña has done miracles with this squad since their paychecks have been withheld and have very little faith left in the club. For tonight’s match, Umaña will be able to include Pablo Armero in his line up, Armero was injured for the first leg and is one of the club’s marquee players. Also, look for Adrián Ramos who is on a hot streak scoring the goals that allowed his team the win in their last two matches.

Botafogo are also on a streak of their own. But not the type that coach Ney Franco wants them to be on. In their last four matches, including last week’s loss against América, they have accumulated three losses and one draw in their last four.

They are coming off a heartbreaking 1-1 draw at the weekend against one of their cross town rivals, Fluminense – who are in last place in the Brasileirao and face second division football next season if they don’t improve. This match leaves Botafogo just outside of the spots for Copa Libertadores qualification.

Coach Franco will be putting his best cuts of meat on the grill for this one. He can’t afford to be knocked out of the competition at home especially on the 15th anniversary of his club’s only international title, the now defunct Copa Conmebol, where they beat Peñarol of Uruguay in the final.

Apparently players and coaches are hoping the club’s fans will help spur them on in their home stadium. They’ve made the match more accessible to the fans by keeping the ticket prices low.

Bottom Line: If Botafogo have nothing else left in the tank then shouldn’t they deserve elimination? I think Botafogo is a fine squad and will do everything they can to keep the Colombians at bay. But will it be enough? América are riding a nice string of results but against what type of competition? I think it doesn’t matter. Confidence is everything and if you’ve got that on your side, it’ll be pretty hard to beat you.

My Pick: 1-1. América advance. Botafogo can’t keep América from the next round. I think there’s something special about this América side and they have the players, the motivation and the heart to advance.

The winner of this match faces the winner of the Argentine duel between Arsenal and Estudiantes in the Quarter Finals.

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.