Olimpia welcomes Cerro Porteno in round 17 of the Paraguayan Clausura. With 6 round to play Olimpia has a key advantage over Cerro Porteno and this is probably the last chance for the visitors. Olimpia is first with 38 points while Cerro Porteno has 31. A win is a must for Cerro to just cut it in half but Porteno just entered a poor period in their game. Just at the wrong time. Cerro Porteno dropped points against Libertad at home losing 0:1, then lost to Sol de America 1:2 away and finally couldn`t beat 3 de Febrero playing 1:1 at home. Cerro Porteno is a strong away side having 6-1-1 but they do poorly against Olimpia lately.
Olimpia is by far the most convincing team of the league and I think it would take a miracle for them not to win this Clausura. With 12-2-2 and 36:13 gd Olimpia is the best scoring side while also having the third-best defense. There is a lot of experienced players in the team, maybe too experienced. There are players with 30+ years and the team will need freshening up but not just yet. This works splendidly so far. Mendieta(30-16), Camacho(32-18), Ortega(23-10) and the always young Roque Santa Cruz(29-13) are punching in goals on regular basis. In the last 3 matches, Olimpia players have scored 13 goals conceding 3. 5 of the last 6 matches have been won.
Olimpia has 4-1-1 against Cerro from the last 6. At home, they won the last 4 matches. At the sold-out Estadio Defensor del Chaco Olimpia must be the favorite and they should win this.
Probable lineups:
Olimpia: Alfredo Aguilar; Sergio Otálvaro, Juan Patiño, José Leguizamón and Iván Torres; Hugo Quintana, Richard Sanchez, Richard Ortiz and William Mendieta; Néstor Camacho and Santa Cruz
Cerro Porteno: Antony Silva; Raúl Cáceres, Marcos Cáceres, Juan Escobar and Marcos Acosta; Rodrigo Rojas, Juan Aguilar (or Marcelo Palau), Víctor Cáceres and Hernán Novick (or Óscar Ruiz); Fernando Ovelar and Churín.