Palmeiras Continue to Focus on Brasileirao as They Face Elimination.

By: Mauro | November 5th, 2008

Sociedad Esportiva Palmeiras vs. Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors (Estadio Diego Armando Maradona, La Paternal, Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Tape Delay @ 10pm PST on Fox Sports Español (BoooOOoooOO!!!). Match starts LIVE @ 3:50pm PST. Gamecast here. Find an online TV feed here.

With Palmeiras trailing in the Brasileirao by the slimmest of margins, the Brazilian side is expected to give Argentinos yet another advantage in the Quarter Final tonight by fielding, yet again, an alternate side. With Argentinos having the 1-0 lead on aggregate and that one goal counting as an away goal, Palmeiras throw up the white flag and put all their chips on the race for the Brasileirao title.

Palmeiras coach, Vanderlei Luxemburgo, is not making the biggest mistake of his coaching career by not fielding a competitive side, but he is sending a clear message to CONMEBOL and president Nicolás Leóz. “Make this tournament worth our while or we will not make it a priority.”

On top of the fact that Luxemburgo will again field an alternate side, he is only going to have three players on the substitutes bench. Only striker Kléber and midfielder Martinez will feature for the Brazilian side since they are both suspended for Palmeiras’ next match against Gremio.

Luxemburgo is not going to be on the sideline at the Diego Maradona. Another slap in the face to CONMEBOL. Assistant, Nei Pandolfo will be in charge of the side in Buenos Aires.

Palmeiras is coming into this match off an away win against Santos, 2-1, giving el Verdão second place, only one point behind bitter rivals, São Paulo.

On the other side of the ball, Argentinos coach, Néstor Gorosito, is considering playing four defenders at the back (4-4-2) in order to keep control of the ball. With Rodrigo “El Rengo” Diaz with one foot out of the club, Gabriel Peñalba nursing an injured ankle and Franco Quiroga on the bench coming back from a knee injury, Argentinos aren’t in their best possible shape and this forces the formation change.

With virtually no chance of qualifying for any cup competition next year or the Argentine Primera title, Argentinos are placing all bets, throwing the best cuts of beef on the grill, put it all on the line , in this next match against Palmeiras.

Merely advancing to the semifinals would satiate the thirst of the fans of El Bicho for the season. They have a tight little squad with explosive players up front in Pablo Hauche and Nicolás Pavlovich.

Behind us, is the comment that striker Denilson had made about midfielder Sergio Escudero. Denilson said that Escudero threatened to end his career in a very aggressive and violent manner in the 2nd leg. Since then, Denilson had accepted that it was something that was said in the heat of the moment.

Argentinos’ league form has been far from perfect. They won last weekend at home, 2-0, over Tigre and lost a heartbreaker in Santa Fe against Colón, 5-2. They have shown irregular form in the league, winning some matches, losing some and tying others.

Bottom Line: Palmeiras are coming into town with just enough to stage an official match. With just 14 players and an assistant coach, Palmeiras are clearly choosing to focus on the Brasileirao. However, Argentinos aren’t in the best shape they could be. While they are missing a few key players, they still have a tight little team and should advance if Gorosito gets the message that Luxemburgo has sent.

My Pick: 1-1. Argentinos won’t keep the Paulistas from scoring, but they will manage to score to get them through to the SemiFinals.

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 an updated one here.