Racing And Corinthians, Great Duel For A Place In The Sudamericana Final

Text size

The Argentine Racing and the Brazilian Corinthians, two greats of the continent that seek to rediscover success, will define the last finalist of the 2024 Copa Sudamericana on Thursday.

The first leg last week already gave emotions in Sao Paulo with a vibrant and changing 2-2, which first had the Albiceleste ‘Academia’ in front, but then the ‘Timao’ turned it around, who had to settle for a draw at his house to leave the series open.

Racing will try to assert the home field in its Cilindro stadium this Thursday to seal the pass to the decisive duel that will be played on November 23 in Asunción, and in this way return to an international final after 32 years, after losing to Cruzeiro in the extinct South American Super Cup 1992.

At the same time, the Academy has not won any international title for 57 years, when in 1967 it won the Libertadores.

A little closer in time lies the last major title of Corinthians, which in 2013 held the Recopa Sudamericana, a year after winning the Copa Libertadores and the Club World Cup.

On the way to this semifinal, Corinthians arrived as the leader of their group, like Racing, but in the round of 16 the São Paulo team suffered to eliminate Bragantino on penalties and in the quarterfinals they just passed their compatriot Fortaleza, while the Albicelestes comfortably beat Chilean Huachipato and Athletico Paranaense.

In the Sudamericana, Racing has shown itself to be a forceful team, with 29 goals in 11 games, at an average of 2.63 per match, based on the good form of its forward Adrián ‘Maravilla’ Martínez, top scorer of the tournament with 9 goals .

However, the Academy’s scoring power contrasts with its irregular pace in the Argentine League, in which it appears seventh in the table, ten points behind the leader Vélez, with 8 wins and 7 losses in 19 rounds.

Similarly, Argentine Ramón Díaz’s Corinthians also combines a good campaign in the cup with a discreet presence in the Brasileirao, in which it appears 15th in the standings and is not breathing easy, with relegation just one point below when There are seven days left to go.

Optimistic for revenge, Díaz declared that “in my life I have not lost a game in the Racing stadium. In that stadium I have not lost and I will not lose now”, although the statistics show that he left empty-handed on one occasion, when he led River Plate with a loss in 2013 (1-0) against the Academy.

The match will be played on Thursday from 9:30 p.m. local time (00:30 GMT on Friday), with refereeing by Chilean Felipe González.

The winner of the series will face the winner of the cross between the Argentine Lanús and the Brazilian Cruzeiro in the final.

These are the possible alignments:

Racing: Gabriel Arias – Marco Di Césare, Santiago Sosa and Agustín García Basso – Gastón Martirena, Juan Nardoni, Agustín Almendra and Gabriel Rojas – Juan Fernando Quintero – Maximiliano Salas and Adrián Martínez. DT: Gustavo Costas.

Corinthians: Hugo Nogueira – Fagner, Félix Torres, André Ramalho and Matheus Bidu – André Carrillo, José Martínez, Charles, Rodrigo Garro or Talles Magno – Memphis Depay and Yuri Alberto. DT: Ramón Díaz.