Two leading Ecuadorain teams will be fighting for a place in Copa America's Group B in two games on Thursday, one of them featuring reigning league champion El Nacional.
Ecuador soccer team El Nacional will be playing Venezuela team Carabobo in Puerto Ordaz, where the Ecuadorian team will be missing its top goalscorer, Christian Benitez.
Jaime Ivan Kaveides, who has scored 13 goals in the local championship, will partner Ebelio Ordonez, who is recovering from a knee operation, instead of Benitez, recently sold to Mexican team Santos Laguna.
Nacional also has two new players available: Walter Mamita Calderon and junior player John Minda.
The team has taken the Venezuela match seriously and is expecting to come out on top. It traveled to Venezuela with time to spare.
Uruguayan-Paraguayan manager Ever Hugo Almeida will field a team of experienced players and junior players who are showing promise in the local championship.
The return match is on Aug. 28 in Quito.
Olmedo, Ecuador's other Copa team, will play the second leg of its match against Venezuelan team Zamora in Barinas.
In the first leg on Aug. 1, Olmedo beat Zamora 1-0 in Riobamba, thanks to a goal from Argentine Gustavo Savoia.
Olmeda has also lost top goalscorer Argentina Hernan Barcos who has moved to Serbian team Read Star, joining fellow Ecuadorian midfielder Christian Salas.
Olmedo's strikers are Argentines Hernan Lamberti, Pedro Galvan, Gustavo Savoia and Manuel Baigorria, who have not scored many points.
The winner of the Nacional-Carabobo series will play the winner of the Olmedo-Zamora series on Sept. 4 and Sept. 11 for a place in Group B of the Copa.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article