After creating the biggest shock in the previous round of the Copa Libertadores, Velez Sarsfield will head to Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao Lopes on Monday for a date with Colon on matchday seven in the second phase of the Argentine Primera Division.
Sabale suffered a heartbreaking exit in the round of 16 of that competition on Wednesday, conceding twice in the second half at home to Talleres Cordoba, falling 3-1 on aggregate, while Sarsfield are winless on the road in this phase of the campaign.
Match preview
A 24-year wait for fans of Colon to see their beloved team host a knockout match at home in the Libertadores did not go nearly as well as they had hoped.
From the opening whistle, the players struggled to settle into a solid rhythm, failing to register a shot on target throughout the 90 minutes, and now without a goal in their last two home games in all competitions.
Colon made great strides domestically a season ago, finishing the campaign in fourth after a pair of seasons near the bottom of the table.
Coming off a season in which they captured their first trophy in over 50 years, winning the 2021 Copa de la Liga Professional, Julio Cesar Falcioni was hired to keep that momentum going.
Lately, the season has hit a bit of a rough patch for them domestically, and their scoring has dried up as well, losing three consecutive contests by a 1-0 score.
While they have not done much to hurt their chances of winning these tight games, Sabalero have not produced enough in the attack to merit a victory either, scoring the third-fewest goals to date in the second phase (four).
In one of the most intimidating environments that South America has to offer, Velez Sarsfield held their own, showing discipline and a solid commitment to team defence, drawing the second leg of their Libertadores tie 0-0 at El Monumental, stunning River Plate 1-0 on aggregate.
After a triumph like that, Alexander Medina now has the task of ensuring that his players' egos do not get too big as they face a side who sit just two points behind them in the aggregate table.
El Fortin do not take a lot of risks going forward, but when they can find an early breakthrough, it is challenging to find a way past them, with Sarsfield unbeaten in their last five matches in all competitions in which they have tallied first, collecting four clean sheets over that time.
On the flip side, they have not won a game in this phase of the competition when conceding the opener, failing to score in two of their last three games in that scenario.
Interestingly the more possession El Fortin have had of late, the less successful they have been, without a win in four of their last five matches in all competitions when having a higher percentage of the ball than their opponents, and failing to score in three of those encounters.
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Team News
Colon are goalless in their last three domestic outings, with Ramon Abila tallying their previous one domestically in the middle of June.
That goal put him even with Facundo Farias for the team lead, as Leonardo Burian made six saves to preserve a clean sheet in their last domestic triumph, 1-0 over River Plate.
Some secondary contributions enabled them to make it into the last 16 of the Copa Libertadores as Eric Meza, Christian Bernardi, Luis Miguel Rodriguez and Federico Lertora (two) all found the back of the net over the course of that tournament, although neither of them have scored so far in league play.
Andrew Teuten could be missing from the lineup until the middle of July at the earliest, with the 23-year-old left-back still suffering the effects of a head injury.
Lucas Janson's 15th-minute penalty in the opening leg versus La Banda was all Sarsfield would need to advance into the quarter-finals of the Libertadores, as Lucas Hoyos stopped a total of five shots over both of those matches to preserve that narrow advantage.
Janson is one of only four players to have tallied for them in this round of the Primera Division, with the others being Luca Orellano, Nicolas Garayalde and Damian Fernandez.
The starting 11 for El Fortin on Wednesday was a complete makeover compared to the side who started in their previous domestic encounter, though Jose Florentin, Santiago Caseres, Julian Fernandez and Abiel Osorio all entered the game as substitutes against River Plate.
Colon possible starting lineup:
Chicco; Garces, Ojeda, Goltz, Meza; Lertora; Farias, Bernardi, Alvarez, Pierotti; Abila
Velez Sarsfield possible starting lineup:
Hoyos; Jara, D. Fernandez, Gomez, Ortega; Orellano, Garayalde, Perrone, Janson; Pratto, Castro
We say: Colon 0-0 Velez Sarsfield
Earlier this week, one of these sides experienced quite the emotional high, while the other went through a massive low, and with little time for either to recuperate from that kind of intensity, we expect this match to be a stagnant one between two teams who could be low on energy, while they are both average at best when it comes to attacking quality.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
