What will the trip from Boca to Potosí and the River Walk to San Cristóbal be like: both will have to arrive by land

The main club competitions organized by the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) will begin next week. much River and Boca will debut abroad. For the two giants of Argentine football, the away games they will have to face in the next few days will be involving rare logistical resources in these situations.

The group led by Martin Demichelis they will have to face Deportivo Tachira Tuesday at 9.30pm at the Pueblo Nuevo Stadium in San Cristóbal, the capital of the state of Táchira, in southwestern Venezuela. It will be the first match of group H, which also includes Libertad de Asunción and Nacional de Montevideo (they will face each other on Wednesday in the Uruguayan capital).

The transfer of the delegation of Millionaire to San Cristóbal cannot be done entirely by plane, since Venezuela keeps its airspace closed to any aircraft coming from or heading to Argentina Following the decision of the government chaired by Javier Milei to deliver to the United States a Boeing 747 from Empresa de Transporte Aerocargo del Sur (Emtrasur), a Venezuelan state company, which had been in Ezeiza since June 2022.

Last February, federal judge Federico Villena authorized the seizure of the Boeing and the Ministry of Justice gave approval for its transfer to the United States (where it was scrapped), although the appeal process was still pending. For this reason, The Venezuelan government prevents Argentine planes from flying over until the national State compensates for the damage caused by what he described “a blatant theft”.

As, River had to plan an alternative trip which allows you to reach your destination and which will involve a first stop in Colombian territory. The team will move on Sunday evening to Cúcuta, on the Colombian-Venezuelan border From there you will travel the 50 kilometers by road by bus. that separate that city from San Cristóbal. The return will be on Wednesday morning and the route will be identical and in reverse.

This will, by far, the longest journey that the Demichelis team will have to make in the first phase of the Libertadores. The next away match will be on April 24th in Asunción, where they will face Libertad, while on May 7th they will face Nacional in the Great Central Park of Montevideo.

For his part, Boca will debut in the Copa Sudamericana (tournament won in 2004 and 2005) against Nacional Potosí on Wednesday at 9pm in the Víctor Agustín Ugarte stadium in the historic Villa Imperial, located in the south-west of Bolivia and at 4,000 meters above sea level. It will be one of two Group D matches that will be played that day: the other will be between Sportivo Trinidense of Paraguay and Fortaleza of Brazil at the Defensores del Chaco in Asunción.

In this case, a transfer with stopover will also be made due to force majeure. Capitán Nicolás Rojas de Potosí Airport is under construction, so it is not operational for commercial flights. Therefore, the delegation of Xeneize He will travel by plane from Buenos to Alcantarí International Airport in Sucre.

The delegation will remain until the day of the meeting in the Bolivian administrative capital, where the group will have to stay in two hotels. This is because hotel demand will be very high in the city because the first edition of the Bolivarian Youth Games will take place there from 5 to 14 April, in which 1,432 athletes from seven countries will compete.

On Wednesday, The Boca team has to travel 155 kilometers along mountain roads to connect Sucre and Potosí. In principle, the idea is for the delegation to divide into groups and travel to the stadium in minibuses or 4×4 vans, which would significantly reduce travel times (three hours instead of six). After the meeting, you will travel back to Sucre and then return to Buenos Aires.

After the trip to Potosí, the team led by Diego Martínez will still have two away games left in view of the Copa Sudamericano. On April 25 they will face Fortaleza at the Castelão stadium, in the state capital of Ceará, and on May 8 they will face Sportivo Trinidense at Defensores del Chaco.