America faces Bahia in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana round of 16 playoffs

This Tuesday, July 15, America visits Bahia at the Arena Fonte Nova stadium for the first leg of the CONMEBOL Sudamericana round of 16 playoffs.

The Scarlet team arrived in the city of Salvador de Bahia on Saturday, July 12, had their first practice on Sunday and this Monday they completed their last training session prior to this match at the Roberto Santos Stadium in Itapúa.

Prior to this match, our technical director Gabriel Raimondi and goalkeeper Jorge Soto shared their thoughts:

“We mustn’t lose our identity; balance will be fundamental in 180 minutes. We need to be as aggressive as possible; our youth allows us to press very effectively. We have to be more incisive and create many more scoring opportunities. We need to improve our attacking capabilities, especially when the opponent sits deep, so we can hurt them more,” said the manager.

“We know they are a very strong team, with many options in attack and build-up play. They can build from the back, starting with their goalkeeper, and they can also play long balls because they have very fast players in attack. We have to play a very smart game, keeping in mind that we're closing out the tie at home. That's a small advantage we have, as long as we play a good game here in Brazil,” said the goalkeeper.

The second leg will be next Tuesday, July 22nd, at the Pascual Guerrero Olympic Stadium at 7:30 pm