Cardiff City v. Racing Santander - Match Preview

City v. Santander
By Chris O'Brien
July 31 2004

Cardiff City continue their search for a pre-season friendly victory as La Liga outfit Racing Santander visit Ninian Park on Saturday. Lennie Lawrence is expected to give chances to fringe players to prevent players suffering from fatigue ahead of the new Football League season.

Cardiff City continue pre-season preparations as La Liga strugglers Racing Santander visit Ninian Park on Saturday. With no wins in the four friendly games so far, Lennie Lawrence is under pressure for a change of fortunes with the new season kicking off in only one week.

Two days after the visit of Racing, Lazio send an 'XI' to Cardiff for a glamour friendly tie. Lennie Lawrence is likely to play his first-choice team for the game against the Italians, but is more likely to play fringe players against Saturday's opposition to avoid players suffering fatigue ahead of the start of the Football League season against Crewe Alexandra at Gresty Road on August 7th.

City fielded a full-strength side against Cheltenham Town on Thursday, with Paul Parry netting a late equaliser as the Bluebirds brought a 1-1 draw home from the West Country. Players that missed out on the starting line-up at Whaddon Road such as Martyn Margetson, Peter Thorne, Willie Boland and Andy Campbell could all get a long run out on Saturday.

The visit to South Wales is the third leg of the Spaniards British tour, having pulled off goalless draws with Tranmere Rovers and Port Vale over the past week. Santander narrowly avoided relegation from Spain's top flight last season, and are once again tipped to struggle in La Liga this term.

The team include few household names, but the fixture is certainly an interesting one. However, the competitive nature of the game is expected to be sucked out by the mass number of substitutions likely to be made by the visitors. Lucas Alcaraz Gonzalez's side used 21 players at Prenton Park earlier in the week and something similar is on the cards at Ninian Park.

Bluebird to the Bone Prediction - Cardiff City 1-0 Racing Santander
Although the fixture looks attractive, Santander are not the strong force many may imagine and look likely to use this game to give appearances to young and inexperienced players. City have disappointed over pre-season so far, but I'm predicting a victory over the Spaniards this weekend.