The ball began to roll for Ruben Darío Insua's San Lorenzo in 2023. But in the first game of the year and without new faces he could not unbalance the cast of Boedo, who drew goalless against Independiente del Valle de Ecuador in Maldonado, Uruguay, in the 90 minutes and fell on penalties 5-4.
The Cyclone once again showed itself to be solid defensively, although it lacked a gap in the front arc.
El Gallego used this first summer test to test the base of the starting team that he will use in the season and see replacements for some positions in which he lacked important names.
Because DT no longer has Sebastián Torrico, Néstor Ortigoza, Cristian Zapata and Juan Ignacio Méndez, the casualties of this recess.
Nor could he have Agustín Giay (with the Under 20 National Team), nor Federico Gattoni, who joined the preseason on Saturday after traveling to Italy to resolve European citizenship.
Then, Insua reached out.
He gave flight to Gonzalo Luján in the right lane, Diego Calcaterra as a stopper, Gastón Campo as a libero and Nahuel Barrios as a double five next to Jalil Elías.
What the Barça coach does not change is the scheme.
The 5-3-2 remains unchanged and will continue in 2023.
Also the premise is to sustain the intensity and pressure in a San Lorenzo that last year was characterized as an annoying team for rivals of any kind.
For this reason, they had clear situations against the Ecuadorians, who always tried to start from below and were hindered by the men in blue and red.
Ezequiel Cerutti was the most restless on the left
.
El Pocho was located on that side since Andrés Vombergar was on the right.
Cerutti had the two clearest for the Cyclone in a first part that had everything, even pushing and fights between the protagonists for a strong leg.
But on the other side, Independiente del Valle is an oiled cast that raises a clear game flag with partnerships and touches to reach the area in front.
With the experienced Cristian Pellerano pulling the strings in the middle, those led by Martín Anselmi also stepped into the firing zone and could have scored.
For example, Pellerano himself missed a goal under the arc.
Before, Lautaro Díaz had wasted an unbeatable situation after a bad start from Augusto Batalla from the goal.
Mateo Carbajal, towards the end of the first stage, failed to connect with his left foot when he had everything to convert.
On the other side,
Malcom Braida had sent himself a climb up the lane on the left
and with a diagonal he stepped on the area, hooked and finished off from the right over the crossbar.
The entertainment was guaranteed, although the goals were missing, of course.
Goals that unfortunately did not appear in the plugin, which was disfigured by numerous changes.
Insua looked for alternatives.
He put Francisco Perruzzi in the middle and released Perrito Barrios, who debuted the 10 shirt. And he put Iván Leguizamón quickly, who entered plugged in but could not get the most out of him at his speed.
Thus, everything was defined in the penalties where Batalla saved Agustín García but Kleber Pinargote held off Barrios and Calcaterra and gave the Ecuadorian team the victory.
On Tuesday, San Lorenzo will face Peñarol.
