Wednesday 12 December 2007

Argentine Media Goes Japan Crazy as Boca Face Etoile In World Club Cup

Argentine sports paper Ole are turning Japanese today to mark Boca Juniors' World Club Championship semi-final against Etoile of Tunisia in Tokyo, by writing all of their main headlines in Japanese (see picture).

The expectation in the worldwide media is that a Boca versus AC Milan final is a certainty, but Boca will have to be wary of their Tunisian opponents today. Etoile performed impressively against Pachuca, soaking up a lot of pressure before scoring on the counter attack five minutes from time and should not be discounted.

Juan Riquelme has been training with the Boca squad in Tokyo, but is ineligible to play during the competition and is only there to lend his moral support to the cause. Ever Banega is expected to take up his playmaker role today.

The full expected lineups are as follows:

Boca: Caranta; Ibarra, Maidana, Paletta, Morel Rodríguez; Battaglia, Vargas, Banega, Cardozo; Palacio and Palermo.

Etoile: Balbouli; Frej, Ghezal, Falhi, Bejaoui; Ogunbiyi, Narry, Ali Nafkha, Gharbi; Chermiti and Dhifallah.

The game kicks off at 7:30pm local time, which is 10:30am in the UK; 5:30am US Eastern; and 2:30am US Western.

No comments: