Argentine Soccer League Cup Kicks Off as Teams Seek Second Champion of the Year

Argentine soccer seeks the second champion of the year (Photo: Reuters)

The League Cup kicked off on Thursday and the 28 teams that make up the highest category of Argentine soccer start their journey in search of the new champion. Group A is made up of a large part of the clubs that compete in the lower zone of the Annual Table, so each point will be worth double throughout the first 14 days.

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INDEPENDENT VS. COLON

Colón and Independiente need to start the League Cup on the right foot

Independiente will debut in Group A of the Professional League Cup against Colón de Santa Fe in a fundamental match for their permanence in the highest category of Argentine soccer. The match will be held at the Libertadores de América-Ricardo Enrique Bochini stadium from 4:30 p.m. with Pablo Dóvalo refereeing and TNT Sports television.

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El Rojo has just reached the round of 16 of the Argentine Cup after beating Central Córdoba from Santiago del Estero on penalties after drawing goalless in regular time. The duel against Sabalero will be transcendental since both are a few units from Arsenal de Sarandí (22), last in the Annual Table: those from Avellaneda added 28 in the Professional League while the Santa Fe team accumulated 25.

Colón, for his part, also passed the round in the most federal tournament in the country with a convincing 2-0 victory against Lanús that gave Néstor Gorosito and his team an air of confidence. Pipo added a total of six reinforcements to the squad, including Tomás Galván from River who scored the first goal against Garnet, but the main new face will be Germán Conti who decided to return to the club to help in this difficult moment.

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Probable formations

Independent: Rodriguez King; Maurice Island, Philip Aguilar, Edgar Elizalde, Ayrton Coast; Ivan Marcone, Federico Mancuello, Sergio Ortiz; Alexis Canelo, Martin Cauteruccio and Braian Martinez. DT: Richard Zielinski.

Columbus: Ignatius Chicco; Alberto Espinola, Paolo Goltz, Facundo Garces and Rafael Delgado; Stephen Moreyra, James Pierotti, Braian Galvan; Ruben Botta, Damian Batallini and Juan Pablo Alvarez. DT: Nestor Gorosito.

Time: 16.30

Stadium: Libertadores de América-Ricardo Enrique Bochini

Referee: Pablo Dovalo

TV: TNT Sports

GYMNASTICS VS. WORKSHOPS

Talleres and the new illusion of fighting for the local championship

Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata will host Talleres de Córdoba in Group A of the Professional League Cup. The match will be held at the Juan Carmelo Zerillo stadium from 7:00 p.m. with the refereeing of Sebastián Zunino and television from Public TV and ESPN Premium.

El Lobo is defining its new structure after some important casualties added to the incorporations. The coach Sebastián Romero maintains a single question mark in the middle of the field between Pablo De Blasis and Lucas Castro. Taking into account the tactical tests of the week, Nicolás Sánchez will be responsible for occupying the place left vacant by the sale of Ignacio Miramón to Lille, while Chirola will have to define who will accompany him in the role of double 5 between the two experienced men that strengthened the squad.

La T is another team that underwent profound changes in its players when confirming the sale of Diego Valoyes and Michael Santos, scorer of the last championship together with Pablo Vegetti, to Juárez of Mexico. Javier Gandolfi will have to reinvent himself with the arrivals to the squad of Kevin Mantilla, Luis Miguel Angulo, Lautaro Morales, Ramiro Enríquez, Mateo Seoane, Francisco Pozzo and Bruno Barticciotto while he lost Federico Girotti (San Lorenzo), Christian Oliva (FC Juárez), Francisco Pizzini (Vélez), Vicente Fernández (Universidad de Chile), Augusto Schott (Newell’s) and Juan Cruz Esquivel (Tigre).

The tournament will determine which teams will qualify for the Copa Libertadores and the Sudamericana by the annual table. Up to now, Martín Demichelis’ team, for being champion of the first championship of the year, is the only one that has its place guaranteed for the maximum contest. It will be the best three of that table (not including the Millionaire) and the winner of the Argentine Cup who will keep the other four places. In turn, the next six in the annual table will access the South American.

Probable formations

Gymnastics: Tomás Durso; Bautista Barros Schelotto, Leonardo Morales, Felipe Sánchez and Germán Guiffrey; Nicolás Sánchez and Pablo De Blasis; Franco Soldano, Eric Ramírez and Benjamín Domínguez; and Cristian Tarragona. DT: Sebastian Romero.

Workshops: Guido Herrera; Gastón Benavídez, Matías Catalán, Juan Rodríguez and Juan Portillo; Rodrigo Villagra and Ulises Ortegoza; Luis Angulo, Rodrigo Garro and Ramón Sosa; Nahuel Bustos. DT: Javier Gandolfi.

Time: 19.00

Stadium: Juan Carmelo Zerillo

Referee: Sebastian Zunino

TV: Public TV and ESPN Premium

VELEZ VS. CENTRAL BARRACAS

Vélez needs to escape the bad moment with a victory against Guapo

Vélez Sarsfield will seek to start Group A of the Professional League Cup on the right foot when they face Barracas Central at the José Amalfitani stadium. The match will begin at 9:00 p.m. with Andrés Merlos refereeing and TNT Sports television.

Sebastián Méndez is aware that he is very close to falling in the Annual Table, which is why he requested the arrival of reinforcements to face the second half of the year: with 27 units, he remains two points from the red zone since Arsenal de Sarandí occupies the last place also in the averages. Elías Gómez recently joined the list of new faces from River and joined Yeison Gordillo, Claudio Aquino, Braian Romero and Francisco Pizzini.

El Guapo, for his part, had the incorporations of Joaquín Susvielles, Matías Laba and Siro Rosane so that Sergio Rondina could replace the casualties of Agustín Dáttola, Ricardo Centurión and Julián Viollaz.

It must be remembered that in the second semester tournament, after River Plate’s title in the Professional League, 14 dates will be played, all against all, with matchday number 7 as the one designated for the interzonal classics. The best four of each group will qualify for the final stage in which there will be clashes in a single quarterfinal, semifinal and final match. The playoffs will start on December 3. The final is stipulated for the 16th of that month.

Probable formations

Velez: Leonardo Burian; Joaquín García, Lautaro Giannetti, Valentín Gómez, Francisco Ortega or Elías Gómez; Francisco Pizzini, Juan Ignacio Méndez, Leonardo Jara, Gianluca Prestianni or Ezequiel Aquino; Walter Bou and Brian Romero. DT: Sebastian Mendez.

Central Barracks: Andrew Desabato; Mauro Peinipil, Juan Pablo Serrizuela, Francisco Alvarez, Juan Ignacio Diaz, Rodrigo Herrera; Facundo Mater, Ivan Tapia, Rodrigo Insua, Brian Calderara; Alexis Dominguez. DT: Sergio Rondina.

Time: 21.00

Stadium: Jose Amalfitani

Referee: Andrés Merlos

TV: TNT Sports

Positions table:

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2023-08-19 17:07:45
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