The Real Madrid vs AS Roma pre-season match will be held this Tuesday, July 29, 2014 (6:15 PM Pacific) at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. It was not a smooth preseason start for Real Madrid, after losing in a penalty shootout against Inter Milan with a team full of youngsters; Los Blancos still lack the grand majority of its starters.
With one point earned for that game, Madrid can still reach the International Champions Cup final if they can win their next two games. Despite playing with many inexperienced players against Inter, coach Carlo Ancelotti may continue to give them opportunities for the upcoming games against Roma and Manchester United.
Real Madrid
Still missing Kroos, Khedira, James, Benzema, Varane, Marcelo and Di María, the team is far from complete. On top of that, starters like Alonso, Ronaldo, Casillas, Modrić and Ramos have not trained long enough to be in playing form. Because of this, it’s fair to say that we won’t see the best Madrid possible this Tuesday. While some players did seem to put in a decent effort against Inter, if Ancelotti wants to win instead of testing players, he should give Gareth Bale more playing time.
The Welsh star only played 45 minutes, but he was the leader of the team and when the ball got to his feet, Madrid was threatening. Bale is looking to impress and win that European Supercup that will be played in his hometown of Cardiff. This match will be on August 12th and it’s now or never for him to reach top fitness. Ancelotti may be trying to prevent any sort of injuries, but it’s key to get those top players in form on the pitch.
Young players will soon enough fill Madrid’s lineup, so it’s not entirely bad if the coach decides to test out a new formation and keep trusting the youngsters. After all, this cup is worth nothing, the true important competitions are the six that Los Blancos will play for this season. Ancelotti has a problem masquerading as a blessing. With Kroos and James joining the team, he will probably need to adapt the formation to make room for them, but he still has high quality players that could take their spots any time. Having depth in the bench is extra helpful in long seasons. Making sure players like Medrán, Vázquez, Marcos and Diego Llorente are able to play in the first team can’t do any harm to the manager.
All things considered, it looks like Madrid will retain the 4-3-3 formation and put out a very similar lineup to the one that started the match against Inter. It would look like this: D. López; Carvajal, Nacho, Pepe, D. Llorente; M. Llorente, Isco, Medrán; Vázquez, de Tomás and Bale.
AS Roma
While historically not one of the most successful teams in Italy and with their last title dating back to 2008, Roma still had a decent last season. Juventus was basically unreachable throughout the entire Serie A, but Roma was able to stay strong and retain that 2nd spot with a good advantage over Napoli. This gave Roma the chance to return to the Champions League after being away from it since the 2010-2011 season.
The Italian squad started off their participation in this cup with a loss against Manchester United, but Rudi García’s men still showed character. Kevin Strootman may not be available, but the team still has quality people in the midfield to overpower Madrid’s young ones. New signing Juan Iturbe and Ljacić can be a nightmare for Los Blancos’ defense and Pjanić is definitely a man to keep under control.
Real Madrid vs. AS Roma Prediction
Roma will come out with more starters than Madrid, but it still doesn’t seem that they will completely become an avalanche. It’s still preseason and teams aren’t usually in sync and in that right state of mind and form. If Gareth Bale plays more than 45 minutes and the youngsters can fix some of their mistakes from the previous match, they could easily make Roma’s day a difficult one. All things considered, it seems that this match will end in a penalty shootout.
Real Madrid 1-1 AS Roma
Real Madrid vs. AS Roma TV Schedule
The game will be televised on Fox Sports 2 USA at 6:15 PM Pacific. For all other time zones check local time here.
