Boca Juniors
, the current Argentine soccer champion, will receive
Central Córdoba
from Santiago del Estero with the premise of achieving their second victory in the Professional Soccer League (LPF), after the successful debut they starred in last week with a victory over Atlético Tucuman.
The match will be played this Sunday starting at 7:15 p.m. at La Bombonera, will be refereed by Andrés Merlos and televised by TNT Sports.
Boca began the defense of the title with a narrow victory over the Tucumans 1-0, with a goal scored by the Paraguayan Oscar Romero, while the people of Santiago were not greatly benefited by the fixture, since they began with a home defeat against River Plate (2-0) and now they will play at La Bombonera.
In the case of the "Xeneize" team led by Hugo Ibarra, he showed the same strengths and weaknesses as in 2022, when he won two titles, the League Cup and the Professional League, and an improvement is expected to be back in the fight above.
Boca has category players who tend to solve the lack of a more oiled operation, and the little game that it generates is usually solved by the Colombian Sebastián Villa, or like last week the Paraguayan Romero.
The Boca 2023 version shows Sergio "Chiquito" Romero in goal as a "new face", who joined last year but was only able to debut 20 days ago, in the place occupied by the team's top figure, Agustín Rossi, and in the defense is the Paraguayan Bruno Valdéz, one of the two incorporations of the club in the recent transfer market.
The other incorporation was the Uruguayan striker Miguel Merentiel, who joined on loan this week from Palmeiras, from Brazil, and this Sunday he will occupy a place on the substitute bench.
Merentiel joined to contribute goals, given that Darío Benedetto is suspended (he will only be able to play on the fifth date), the youthful Luca Langoni lost ground in the consideration of Ibarra, and the offensive starter with Villa is for now Nicolás Orsini , who is not characterized by scoring often.
With this panorama, Boca will again appeal to what Oscar Romero, Guillermo "Pol" Fernández and also Alan Varela can contribute in the generation, and will have an important offensive card since the Colombian left-back Frank Fabra will return, instead of Agustín Sández .
Fabra forms a great partnership with his compatriot Villa and when they come together in the left sector of the attack, Boca usually has more varied resources, although rivals are often aware of the situation and double the mark in that area.
Its rival, Central Córdoba from Santiago del Estero, was completely renewed for the new tournament and in fact was the team that incorporated the most, with a total of 20 players, plus DT Leonardo Madelón, who has experience and usually puts together solid formations.
The people of Santiago could repeat the team that lost to River last weekend, although there is also the possibility that their most outstanding reinforcement, Luis Miguel "Pulga" Rodríguez, from Tucumán, important in the offensive imbalance, will enter as a starter.
The people of Santiago will try to make Boca uncomfortable and cause problems with the presence of their forwards, one Facundo Castelli, very powerful and used to friction (he comes from promotion) and the other Lucas Gamba, a born scorer who usually takes advantage of the opportunities that come his way. .
Boca, for its part, will try to corner the people of Santiago with the Fabra-Villa tandem, the imbalance of Oscar Romero and the power of Orsini, in an improved version, especially physically, compared to previous years.
The record between the two is just five games, with two wins for each and a draw.
The last precedent in La Bombonera dates back to December 11, 2021 and Boca, with Sebastián Battaglia as coach, prevailed by a categorical 8 to 1 with two goals from Cristian Pavón and the others from Eduardo "Toto" Salvio, Exequiel Zeballos, Diego "Octopus" González, Sebastián Villa, Luis Vázquez and Eros Mancuso.
- Probable Formations -
Boca Juniors: Sergio Romero;
Luis Advíncula, Bruno Valdéz, Nicolás Figal and Frank Fabra;
Guillermo "Pol" Fernández, Alan Varela, Juan Ramírez and Oscar Romero;
Nicholas Orsini and Sebastian Villa.
DT: Hugo Ibarra.
Central Córdoba of Santiago del Estero: Marcos Ledesma;
Brian Blasi, Fabio Pereyra, Gustavo Canto and Marcelo Benítez;
Ciro Rius, Jesús Soraire, Enzo Kalinski and Leandro Ciccoloni or Luis Miguel Rodríguez;
Facundo Castelli and Lucas Gamba.
DT: Leonardo Madelon.
Referee: Andrés Merlos.
Stadium: Boca Juniors.
Start time: 19.15.
TV: TNT Sports.