Arsenal Looks to Sew Up Their Trip to the Round of 16.

By: Mauro | September 4th, 2008

Club Deportivo Motagua vs. Arsenal de Sarandi (Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino, Tegucigalpa, Honduras)

No TV, (Preempted by the super important Bud Light Clasicó (Pfft.), Fox should be ashamed!) 6:00pm PST. Gamecast here. Online TV here.

While Arsenal don’t really have much to play for tonight, Motagua need to win by a wide margin to advance or force penalties and do it all while not allowing a single goal. Impossible? Ask América of Mexico about what’s possible or not.

In my last preview of the Arsenal-Motagua match, I explained how Motagua, a CONCACAF team, are playing in the Sudamericana. With that aside, Motagua play their first Sudamericana and tonight host their first match in this competition on thir own ground since being closed for the last six months due to stadium improvements. And none too soon. In their last match, Arsenal gave the Hondurans a fine beating in Argentina, 4-0.

Motagua have quite the uphill battle in store. In both scenarios, Motagua need to hold Arsenal to 0 goals. By scoring 4 clear goals Motagua force penalties. With 5 clear goals, Motagua advance straight away. How unlikely that is depends heavily on what side Arsenal decide to field.

Which could work in Motagua’s favor since Arsenal are expected to field a team without central defender Jossimar Mosquera, midfielder Cristian Díaz and forward Luciano Leguizamón, all of which are injured and were left off the squad that traveled Tuesday to Honduras. Look for Cristian Pellerano to replace Díaz, Damián Perez will most likely replace Leguizamón and Franco Jara to replace Mosquera.

But Motagua won’t be able to take advantage there either. They are also going to be missing some key players. Defenders Víctor Bernárdez and Emilio Izaguirre and midfielder Miguel Castlllo will be away on international duty with the Honduran national team as that team gears up to face Canada in the region’s 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

Bottom Line: Arsenal are coming into this match riding the high they created for themselves by stomping the Honduran side. And to be honest, I think the loss of either the inured players or players away on international duty will hurt Motagua much more than Arsenal. Basically, Arsenal have their boot on Motagua’s throat and need to finish them off.

My Pick: 2-0 to Arsenal. The way that Motagua defended in their last match and the way they bled goals, this should be a cake walk for Arsenal.

In the meantime, 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.