Due to the absence of Rubén Bentancourt (Nacional’s top scorer in all competitions this year), the team was in concentration yesterday before traveling to Parque Capurro, where they will play this afternoon as visitors against Fénix in of the 12th day of the Clausura Tournament (Disney+).
The striker was on the call-up list published by the club in the afternoon, but will not be available, Ovación confirmed through internal club sources. This opens the door for Federico Santander, who started last Friday’s match against Racing and could start again this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. A few months ago, when asked how he felt about playing on smaller pitches in Uruguayan football, he downplayed it: “I’m used to it. It’s not a problem.”
The tricolor attack is ready to welcome the Paraguayan alongside Nicolás López, who also performed well coming off the bench. The Diente arrive motivated after putting in a spectacular first half at the Estadio Centenario, where they provided an assist to Lucas Sanabria for Nacional’s first goal that evening.
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However, today’s clash is a different story and some conditions are changing. To begin with, Capurro is a venue which only has around 5,000 spectators, so it is expected that the tricolor supporters will entirely occupy the section allocated to visiting supporters.
On the other hand, although the upstream infrastructure may seem unfavorable to the big club, the statistics suggest otherwise. In their previous visits to Capurro, Nacional achieved two wins and two draws, remaining undefeated at this ground. They started visiting this venue, which Fénix usually calls home, in 2019 with a memorable match ending with a score of 4-4, where an incident took place between the scorer Gonzalo Bergessio and Juan Ramón Carrasco, who was the Ave coach at that time.
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Subsequent encounters resulted in two 2-1 wins for the visitors, although on their last visit they struggled and were unable to maintain a partial lead they had managed to secure. With goals from Juan Ignacio Ramírez and Maicol Ferreira (both from the penalty spot), they drew 1-1 the last time they met.
On the part of Nacional there is a strong belief that “to be champion you have to perform on any terrain”. Meanwhile, within Fénix, the players know that in sporting terms they are under pressure and must be strong at home to at least secure a point.
Staying in Primera División is the main concern of the club’s managers and fans, who, after today’s formidable match, will have to face a difficult series: Progreso (away), Deportivo Maldonado (home) and Peñarol (CDS ).
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In the relegation table, Fénix records 73 points from a total of 70 matches played (an average of 1,043). They are behind Miramar (1.121) and ahead of Deportivo Maldonado, which has 67 (0.957); although they still have a mathematical chance, they already seem to have a foot and a half in the second division.
Tournoi Clausura
Stade : Capurro Park.
Hour : 16h30.
Diffusion : VTV Plus/Disney+
Referee: Esteban Ostojich
Assistants : Andrés Nievas and Sebastián Schroeder
Fourth official: Federico Arman
WAS : Jonathan Fuentes
AVAR : Agustín Berisso.
Phoenix (probable) : E. Marquez; G. Pereira, M. Perg, J. Alvez; A. Chopitea, A. Schettino, A. Alfaro; S. De Marco; M. Cachi, S. Da Silva, M. Juambeltz. Coach : Nicolás Vigneri.
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