1175 Reasons The Barras Bravas Should Behave

No matter what the sport, no matter what country your in, when two arch rivals get together to play each other there is always worries of problems between the two sets of fans. With that in mind the city of Rosario will see a total of 1175 policemen working security during tomorrow's Clasico between Newell's Old Boys and Rosario Central. If Central's El Gigante de Arroyito is filled to capacity (I know the away stands will be filled with Lepra) that's about one cop for every 40 fans, more or less.

Now, if every one of the 40000 plus fans expected to be at the match were troublemakers, the police would certainly be overwhelmed. The question then becomes, what exactly is the percentage of the attending fans are likely to cause problems? In some ways that answer is going to depend on how many of them end up being provoked, and in some ways I see the presence of so many policemen as provocative enough to create some of the problems that we will no doubt see before the day is done.

Still, I hope there are few problems, and hopefully nothing very serious occurs.

Now, let's give the devil, or Sina, his due and take a look at Central. Goalkeeper Jorge Broun has been out with a cruciate ligament injury in his knee, and has missed all of the Clausura. This is good news for us Lepra, as he has been very good during the last few Clasicos, so not having him in goal to stop our strikers from scoring should help matters out. Here, then, is Central's expected lineup:

Hernán Galíndez
Diego Chitzoff, Nahuel Valentini, Diego Braghieri, Santiago García
Jonatan Gómez, Matías Ballini, Mario Paglialunga, Paul Ambrosi
Emilio Zelaya, Milton Caraglio

Having only given up 16 goals in 14 matches scoring against them isn't going to be easy. Thing is they have only scored 8 goals in those matches, having only two wins and a total of 12 points during the Clausura, putting them in 19th place. That being the case, one could think that Newell's are sure to earn three points... but it wasn't that long ago that Central finished a championship dead last, with only one win during the entire 19 game campaign. That win was against Newell's. This is a Clasico, and in a Clasico anything can, and possibly will, happen.

One thing is certain, both teams will go into the match feeling that they need the win. I'm sure that fans on both sides have been on edge all week. Some no doubt are certain their team will win, others have been praying for victory all week long. Until the match is over and done, all we can really do is hope for three points well earned, and no problems in the stands and the streets.

As a Lepra I hope the Sinas have good reason for their silence.