Franca, Quimsa, Libertad and Olimpia begin battle for ticket to the Final

ASUNCIÓN (DIRECTV Liga Sudamericana 2018) - Franca (Brazil), Quimsa (Argentina), Libertad Sunchales (Argentina) and Olimpia (Paraguay) will seek, starting this Tuesday, November 13, to become the first finalist of the DIRECTV Liga Sudamericana 2018, when the teams dispute the first Semi-Final group of the regional league at the refurbished SND Arena.

In this instance, the margin of error is reduced and only the first place on the group will earn the ticket ot the Final.

Franca came to this stage after leading Group A in an undefeated manner and is in great shape. After lifting the title of the Paulista Championship, right now he is the absolute leader of the Brazilian LNB with a 7-1 mark. In his two most recent commitments in the local league, they defeated Minas Tenis Clube and Flamengo, who are also semifinalists and will be in Group F.

Coach Helinho will have his main pieces: David Jackson, Lucas Silva, Andre Goes, Lucas Cipolini, Jimmy De Oliveira, among others, so his squad will be feared.

Quimsa also had a very good preliminary phase after dominating Group C with a 3-0 record. The set of Silvio Santander in the last week achieved its classification to the quarterfinals of the Super 20 Tournament of the Argentine league by beating the Union of Formosa in the series to the best of three.

The troop of Santiago del Esteró added for this instance the escort Marc Antonio Carter to try to strengthen a quintet that has elements such as Leonardo Mainoldi, Nicolás De Los Santos, Roberto, Acuña, Carlos Schattmann and Federico Aguerre.

"It is clear that at this point other rivals will be. We already know Libertad, then there is Franca who is a good team and Olimpia is going to be local and that plays to their advantage. We must continue with the dynamics we have, especially in the collective. There is one of the great challenges that the club has and that we all have. We must leave the rest in these three games and try to take the classification to Santiago, "said Mainoldi to the press department of the club, with respect to what he expects in the semifinal.

On the other hand, the other Argentine, Libertad Sunchales, did not fare so well in his league and was eliminated at the end of October in the Super 20 repechage, when conceding in two games against Olímpico La Banda; however, that has allowed them to focus on the international tournament, where they aspire to repeat the good performance shown in Group D in which they left a 2-1 record and very good feelings.

"The fact of being left outside has allowed us to work for the South American. We are very satisfied to have classified. It will be essential to win the first game and then see how the other teams are doing. Everyone in this phase has a hierarchy. We are seeing ourselves, correcting mistakes and enhancing our work. We are a young team, we need to achieve a regularity and execute the best possible. We need the collective ", analyzed the coach Sebastián Saborido to the web portal of the organization.

The host Olimpia, after dominating Group B with three wins, will try to give the bell to his fans. The task will not be easy, but the Paraguayans have been reinforced to fight the battle.

The new faces that joined the squad that coach Juan Pablo Feliú commands, are the nationals Junior Peralta and Toto Lopez, two forwards who will try to provide greater depth. Peralta played in the local league with Libertad and López with Sol de América.

Also the center Eric Lamont Dawson was added, who will cover the loss of the injured Guillermo Araujo.

Olimpia ended his participation in the Paraguayan league final a little over a week ago, the same time he has been preparing for this event.

The experienced Javier Martinez and the Argentine Juan Pablo Cantero are in charge of leading the team.

The day of this Tuesday will start with the match between Franca and Quimsa, from 18:15, local time, and second turn Olympia will face Liberty Sunchales.

FIBA