Sensini Sticking With The Same Eleven

After speculation at the beginning of the week had Roberto Sensini thinking about taking Gabriel Cichero out of the starting 11 and inserting Ignacio Fideleff word is now that Newell's Old Boys will not be making a single change to a line up that has lost the last three matches they have played (including the Copa Sudamericana loss to LDU Quito.) Cichero himself had this to say about Sunday's match against Boca Jrs: “With Boca we must return to be the Newell's that people know.” Yeah? I would say that should have been said right after the team got knocked out of the Copa, rather than after losing two additional games that should have been win. (OK, beating All Boys away might be a bit too much to say that about, but coming away with a point should have been possible.)

Moving right along, here are the expected line ups for both teams:

Newell's:
Sebastián Peratta
Agustín Alayes, Rolando Schiavi, Gabriel Cichero
Luciano Vella, Diego Mateo, Lucas Bernardi, Marcelo Estigarribia
Mauro Formica
Mauricio Sperdutti, Iván Borghello

Boca:
Javier García
Christian Cellay, Matías Caruzzo, Juan Insaurralde, Clemente Rodríguez
Gary Medel, Cristian Erbes, Matías Giménez
Cristian Chávez
Sergio Araujo, Martín Palermo

Referee: Diego Abal

Newell's are playing at home, check. They are playing a Boca team that is quickly falling apart and have generally not been playing well on the road, check. Juan Román Riquelme is injured and out for the rest of the season, check. Everything seems to point towards a Lepra victory, provided they can get back to playing the way they had been prior to the current losing streak.

And my personal message to Cichero? You better not get caught flatfooted against Palermo. He may be old, but he is still one of the most dangerous strikers playing in Argentina.

Kick off is at 5 PM local time on Sunday, or 3 pm EST here in the USA. That will give me time to watch the game before going over for my weekly Sunday get together with friends. My after match post may be late... unless I can pound it out faster than usual.

Abal Appointed To Referee El Clasico Rosarino

It's been announced that Diego Hernán Abal will be the man with the whistle during the Clasico Rosarino. His name isn't ringing any alarm bells, he isn't Pablo "Lunitic" Lunita, or Javier Collado at the very least. In fact, Abal has been a good enough as referee that Conmebol sent him to work during the 2009 U-17 South American Championships.

Looking at the referee records I was keeping during the Apertura, Abal worked three matches, and Newell's came away with two wins and a tie. Fouls were called fairly evenly, with Newell's drawing 31 while their opponents drew 35. During the three matches, Abal gave out 17 yellow cards, 9 going to Newell's players, and there was no need for any red.

I've been lax in following how the referees have been calling Newell's matches during the Clausura, but, based on all the above, hopefully, there will be no problems with the officiating.

One worry, though... it's noted that Abal made his debut as a referee in Argentina's top division in a match that Central won 4-0 over Lanús. It probably means nothing, but it just gives me a bit of a creepy feeling.

There's also some concern over security in the stands. Where Newell's at home games can, and has, implement bans on troublesome members of their Barras Bravas, the SINAS will probably encourage them to show up and make trouble.

Again, hoping I'm wrong on that... but we'll see what Sunday brings. In any case, there are 3500 general admission, and 400 seats that will be available for Newell's fans. Considering that El Gigante de Arroyito can hold up to 41654, Lepra will certainly be out numbered by SINAS. With any luck we'll see something similar to the following video that I must give create to the Socios e Hinchas Autoconvocados de Newell's Old Boys group on Facebook for locating it:

And Now, A Word From The Ref

Diego Abal, the referee who handled the clásico between Newell's Old Boys and Rosario Central over the weekend, has come out and explained why he didn't halt the match when a knife was thrown onto the field near Newell's keeper Sebastián "El Flaco" Peratta from a section of Sinas. "Clearly a knife on the field is something abnormal, but had I decided to suspend everything it would have been like I was trying to make myself the figure of the match," Adal stated plainly, or as close as I can translate (once again, with a bit of help from Babelfish.)

While no one was harmed, it does go to prove that Central has a ways to go before they have their Barras Bravas under control, and that security at El Coloso may need to be tightened even further for such matches. Still, it's far less trouble than we could have expected had Lorente not become president at Newell's.

The sunglasses which Peratta wore for a brief moment were also thrown by Sinas, but that is hardly anything to complain about. If anything, it gave Sebastián a souvenir from the encounter.

Meanwhile, the officials for this weekend's matches have been announced, and the fact that once again Javier Collado has been drawn to handle a Newell's game is making me forget the displeasure of the tie with Central. Once again I have to ask, just who decides on the referee assignments?

Following is the full list of referees, once again the referees yet to call a Newell's match are in bold:
Rosario Central-Atlético Tucumán, Luis Alvarez.
Independiente-Huracán, Nestor Pittana.
Chacarita Juniors-Godoy Cruz, Carlos Maglio.
River Plate-Estudiantes de La Plata, Federico Beligoy.
San Lorenzo-Boca Juniors, Héctor Baldassi.
Tigre-Vélez Sarsfield, Pablo Lunati.
Banfield-Racing, Sergio Pezzotta.
Arsenal-Lanús, Mauro Giannini.
Colón-Newell's Old Boys, Javier Collado.
Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP)-Argentinos Juniors, Juan Pablo Pompei.

Even worst than having Collado again, the game against Colón has been scheduled for Monday, at a time slot when I'll be at work. Please, someone wake me up and tell me this is all just a nightmare, and that the clásico is only just about to start.