Peace Cup Preview: Sevilla v Juventus

By: Anthony | July 24th, 2009

These two men will play a massive roll tonight in a tournament in which I don’t really know the significance. It seems larger than a normal pre-season tournament with a bit of prestige but in the end it is only pre-season so there’s no need to get too upset or too excited if we do well. Overall I think it’ll be good for Jiménez to truly see the talent we have in the squad and make decisions for some of the “maybe” players like Lolo and Duda or whether youngsters like Carreño, Armenteros or José Carlos are ready to jump to the first team anytime soon.

We’ve had two friendlies so far up until this point and we’ve come out on top in both but not as convincingly as planned. Zokora made an impact as planned but alone he wasn’t enough to lift us to more than a shaky 1-0 victory over Conil CF.

Technically we’re the hosts of this tournament with the matches being played in both El Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán and the Estadio Olímpico which are both in our beautiful city. Not sure how much home field advantage will factor in to the games but we’ll have to see after tonight.

Tonight’s match against Italian giants Juventus will take place in the Estadio Olímpico which has a maximum capacity of about 57,600.

It’ll be a real test for us for two reasons – 1) Juventus are a top side with top players such as Amauri and Trezeguet amongst many others and 2) We’re without our two hitmen Luis Fabiano and Kanouté.

Luis Fabiano was given extra time off to recover from the Confederations Cup in which he led Brasil to victory and won the Golden Boot to show for it. Kanouté was also given extra time and as a result the deadly duo only started training this week thus, not having reached acceptable match fitness yet. Like I said, it truly will give Jiménez an idea of who will play next season from Koné, Chevantón or even Alfaro who has impressed in pre-season.

Adriano, Fazio and De Mul are all also nursing slight knocks but are included in the squad and expected to play if needed none the less.

The Old Lady are looking a bit crippled also with Melo, Giovinco and Diego out which could balance the sides a bit or even shift the advantage to us.

Our midfield is what I’m interested in. Now of course Navas will start on the right with either Capel or Perotti on the left but I’m curious to see who Manolo will start in the centre. It is presumed that Zokora will play the holding midfield role but will Jiménez give him the freedom to roam and therefore start Duscher to hold instead of will he go with the more experienced as the attacking midfielder? Maybe he’ll go with an all-Ivorian pair of Zokora and Romaric in which I’m actually really excited to see. Whatever it is, it will be experimental and interesting for anyone watching.

New boy, Sergio Sánchez will not play after just arriving in Nervión today and not being match fit yet which will mean Adriano or Konko will start at right back.

It’s hard to say what this game will come down to because clearly both sides will be going all out for a victory in a match which is for both teams, the first real test of the pre-season. What I do know is that Zokora will be keen to make a first impression and if you know our fans, well yeah, they’ll be keen to make an impression as well.