TFT Issue 35!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Today’s featured game is the Copa Libertadores game between Brazilian giants Santos and Paraguayan giants Cerro Porteno. This game is being played in Brazil so the advantage already lies with the hosts.
The home advantage is enough on its own to convince me that Santos will at least play well here but such a prestigious club is expected to do well in South America’s most prestigious competition and I expect them to do well too. Defensively, Santos didn’t convince me at all last season, especially away from home. However, their attacking talent simply cannot be denied with the brilliant Neymar, Ze Eduardo, Elano, and Keirrison all at their disposal, not to mention playmaker Possebon and emerging attacker Felipe Anderson. There’s an awful lot of ability in this team in front of goal and although it failed to show during a difficult trip to Venezuela to face Deportivo Tachia, I’m expecting it to show in their first home game of the campaign. The one thing to note about Santos prior to this game is the dismissal of coach Dorival Junior and thus interim coach Marcel Martelotte will take charge for this game. Martelotte has spoken favourably about his Santos team and how they’ll be attacking in this game and as we all know how “honeymoon periods” tend to work out for new bosses, I fancy a Santos win here.
Visitors Cerro Porteno are very experienced on the continental scene but Paraguayan football has become stagnant in recent years, in my view, and it’s making them easy pickings in games like this. Cerro Porteno have actually lost eight out of their last fourteen away games on the continent although their experience tends to prevent them from being mauled by a handicap scoreline. The partnership of Nanni and Bareiro is a dangerous one in attack for Cerro Porteno and against a fairly susceptible Santos defence, I’ll be quietly surprised if Porteno don’t score here tonight. However, this side has defensive issues of their own with goals conceded in six out of their last seven games in all competitions, including a 1-2 home defeat against rivals Olimpia Asuncion just a few days ago. Porteno are not the side that they once were and although a 5-2 win at home to Chile’s Colo Colo may have you thinking otherwise, I’d hastily point to the atrocious displays of Colo Colo in every competition this season, hence the dismissal of their coach already. Porteno will not lie down here; sides never do during away games to Brazil. However, I’d be lying if I said that I felt that the visitors could match the hosts here so a home win looks favourable.
I expect a fairly tense game as Porteno have a number of Argentinian players who are about as welcome in Brazil as a butcher is at a vegetarian party! However, the players having something to prove to their new boss and this is the ideal stage on which to prove it. Santos are not the compete unit; far from it. However, the wealth of attacking talent that they possess should see them cruise past a Cerro Porteno side conceding goals for fun at the moment so although I expect the visitors to score here in a high-scoring game, I still think Santos will have enough to cover the -1.5 goal handicap, which is fairly generously priced at 6/5.
Verdict: Santos to beat the -1.5 goal handicap at 6/5.