Sunday, October 31, 2010

Newell's vs LDU Quito Preview

With no futbol in Argentina this weekend I've had some time to look into Newell's Old Boys next opponent in the Copa Sudamericana. On the official Liga de Ecuador website they are listed as Liga de Quito, their full name is Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito, though many just list them as LDU Quito. They won the Copa Sudamericana last year, beat Estudiantes LP in the Recopa Sudamericana (the match between the Copa Sudamericana and Libertadores champions) on penalties. They currently are in first place in Ecuador with 39 points from 17 games. No, this is no light weight opponent, and for Newell's to get past them is going to take the team playing at their best.

Quito are managed by an Argentine coach, Edgardo Bauza. As a player Bauza played for Rosario Central, and his first job as coach was with that club. That should give La Lepra some added incentive going into the first leg at home on Tuesday.

They also have a couple of players from Argentina. Forward Carlos Luna was brought into the team just this years from Tigre. Luna is a dangerous player and will have to be watched carefully as he's always a threat to score.

The other Argentine player is defender Norberto Araujo, who has been with Quito sense 2007. This veteran (age 32) I know little of, as he has spent little time playing in his homeland. In fact his first professional match was for Turun Palloseura in Finland of all places. Interestingly enough, Norberto was born in Rosario. Let's hope that his homecoming does not give him a reason to celebrate.

The only other foreigner on the club is Uruguayan forward Juan Manuel Salgueiro, on loan from Estudiantes LP. While he was playing for Estudiantes last year, I don't recall seeing him play much. Doing a bit of research I see that he started 15 games, and came on as a sub 3 times for the team from La Plata, while only scoring twice. For Quito he has managed to score 9 times in 36 games, 5 off the bench.

For Newell's there are three players who are definitely not be available for the match. Defender Gabriel Cichero is still out, as well as defensive midfielder Raúl Villalba. Just injured Leonel Vangioni has had his knee put under the knive of a surgeon... I have yet to see how long he might be out, but I suspect at least a month before he can even start working on getting back.

On a good note, both Luciano Vella and Ignacio Fideleff (pictured) have recovered from minor injuries. I'm not sure what happened with Vella, as word of his recovery is the first I've heard of it. Nacho, on the other hand, took a nasty blow to the head during Newell's last Apertura match.

Newell's expected line up:

Sebastián Peratta
Agustín Alayes, Rolando Schiavi, Ignacio Fideleff
Luciano Vella, Lucas Bernardi, Diego Mateo, Marcelo Estigarribia
Mauro Formica
Mauricio Sperduti, Iván Borghello

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