América Try for Another Miracle.
By: Mauro |
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Club América vs. Santos Futebol Clube (Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico)
LIVE @ 5:30pm PST on Fox Sports Español
If you’re stuck at work or somewhere near a computer and don’t have access to FSE, follow the match here.
A reborn América will be hosting another Brazilian clubs tonight. But unlike two weeks ago, América are not limping into this match, rather they are stomping into it. Coming off a historic win at the Maracaná, against Brazil’s most popular club, Flamengo, América did the impossible and scored three unanswered goals and earned the right to advance to the quarters.
América almost always won at home and lost away in the group stage. Their fortunes seemed to change in the round of 16. They lost their opening match to Flamengo 4-2 at the Azteca Stadium and then turned things around miraculously in Brazil and won that match 3-0 affording them some much needed respect and a rest from the press in their country.
Santos is coming off eliminating Cúcuta of Colombia in the last round with a 2-0 win in Brazil and two weeks ago in Colombia by the same score line. They completely shut them out and showed a decent level of play against an opponent playing solely a counter-attacking posture. In the group stage, Santos only managed a draw as the away team and lost their other two away matches.
América’s interim coach, Juan Antonio Luna has said his trying to focus on putting together a strong defense strategy for tonight’s match which may mean that América may wait back on defense until they get an opening to spring forward and attack with the likes of Enrique Esqueda and Salvador Cabañas up front.
Santos, on the other hand, have Mauricio Molina, their best player by far, who will make things tough for the Mexican defense. Back to front, this squad is pretty good. Solid defense and strikers who can bury the ball when necessary. Look for them to come out and really move the ball around and expose that weak back line that América are famous for in this competition. Also, look for keeper Guillermo Ochoa to keep his boys in the running.
Cabañas and Molina are both two goals off Marcelo Martins Moreno’s eight goal tally, both with six. Moreno’s Cruzeiro squad was eliminated in the last round against Boca so if either of these two guys can’t catch him, look for Atlas’ Bruno Marioni (with seven goals) to try, he has at least one more match to attempt to catch him.
Bottom Line: América have nothing to lose inthis competition. No one is expecting them to advance given their clubs dour situation. Santos form is definitely on the upswing. The defense seems to be playing well, holding Cúcuta to zero goals over two matches and there’s not question that Mauricio Molina is on in the midfield not to mention their newest signing Lima who has two goals in two matches.
My pick: 2-2. América are at home so that will give you two goals but their defense has not been great with exception to the last match against Flamengo. Santos are a tough squad but will only manage to come away with away goals here, not enough for the win. Two weeks ago I gave the same prediction and saw Flamengo beat them 4-2 in this same stadium. América are a far different team this week and will be much more competitive.
Santos also got the news today that Kléber was called up by Brazilian National team coach Dunga to play the team’s next World Cup qualifiers. He is only one of three players currently playing in Brazil to be called up.
Check the CONMEBOL website for results, stats and upcoming matches.
Category: Tournament News
Tags: LDU Quito Look to Impress in Argentina Again.
By: Mauro | Add Comments
Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro vs. Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito (Estadio Pedro Bidagain, “El Nuevo Gasómetro”, Buenos Aires, Argentina)
LIVE @ 2:30 pm PST on Fox Sports Español.
Since I’m trapped at work, I’ll be streaming the match live from here (in Spanish, natch).
Very familiar with Argentine teams at this point in the competition, Edgardo Bauza and his team, LDU Quito, face Ramón Díaz and his team, San Lorenzo, tonight in the early match. LDU Quito have faced and defeated two Argentine teams in this competition in Arsenal de Sarandi and Estudiantes de La Plata.
Arsenal had trouble finding their footing in the group stage and LDU Quito came around when they were at their worst to beat them 1-0 in Argentina and 6-1 in Ecuador to finish them off. Estudiantes with a much heartier squad in the round of 16, were also put to task when LDU came to visit. The Ecuadorians eliminated Estudiantes with a win in Ecuador giving them the momentum to come into La Plata and lost, 2-1, which was enough to send them through to the quarters.
LDU are competing both in the Libertadores and are at the top of their local league and the commitment to both can be both exhausting physically and mentally. With so many matches, you have to expect to have an off day here or there. But with that said, Bauza intends to have his club come out and scores goals to take back to their stadium as an advantage for the second leg.
Look for Damian Manso and Patricio Urrutia to create in the midfield and a very adept finisher in Joffre Guerron up front, LDU Quito have a team that is playing a nice offensive, collective brand of football.
The thing to look out for is if LDU play a defensive role with the objective being to take the ball away from their opponent and create some chances of their own while not exposing too much space at the back.
At this point in the quarters, LDU Quito face what will be their toughest challenge. They face a squad that plays a very similar brand of football, very offensive and also very technical.
In fact, the one glaring advantage that San Lorenzo have over LDU Quito is Ramón Díaz. As I’ve said before, he’s about as close a figure like José Mourinho as we’ll have in South America. Having coached River Plate to the title in 1996, Díaz knows how to coach a team to success in this competition.
However, San Lorenzo had to look to their bench to replace three of their starters in last week’s miracle in El Monumental against River Plate. They had to replace Sebastián Mendez due to injury and Jonathan Botinelli and Diego Rivero who received red cards last week. Coming on will be Christian Tula, Gastón Aguirre and Santiago Hirsig.
San Lorenzo, had a less than lustrous beginning in this competition. Their group stage numbers were far from impressive but they qualified and have found their footing in recent weeks in this competition with an impressive match last week and a great win on their ground the week before that eliminating River Plate.
Look for D’Allesandro to be pulling or attempt to pull the strings, depending on how aggressive the marking is, in the midfield along side Walter Acevedo and Santiago Hirsig. Look for Gonzalo Bergessio to be deadly in the penalty area. He spent most of the match last week without receiving a single decent pass, but when it finally came he was money. Andrés Silvera may find space as a result of his fellow striker’s performance last week.
Bottom Line: This is a home match for San Lorenzo and I expect them to win it. Much like last round, I do expect LDU to get one goal in before the end of the match since they were able to score two on Estudiantes in Argentina.
My pick: 2-1 to San Lorenzo. They’ll have their home crowd behind them and should be able to put this one away. LDU Quito will not make it easy and should get at least one consolation goal that will make next week’s match just as entertaining.
Check the CONMEBOL website for results, stats and upcoming matches.
Category: Tournament NewsBoca Lets it Slip Away.
By: Mauro | Add Comments
Boca hosted Atlas last night at Vélez Sarsfield’s stadium last night. In my preview of this match, I covered their previous meetings and their respective records coming into this match. Since this one was for all the marbles, I think Atlas really turned it on. Boca suffered, once again, from the inability to finish off numerous quality chances throughout the match but more notably in the final ten minutes.
The match started right out of the gates. At the 6 minute mark, off a corner kick, Diego Colotto won in the air heading it across the goal where, with the Boca keeper Mauricio Caranta beat, Omar Flores Serrano got a head to it and Atlas had the surprise lead. Credit Colotto, who is very adept at dead ball crosses and this isn’t the first time, with the assist.
After scoring, Atlas resorted to playing with ten men behind the ball with the only exception being Bruno Marioni, who was left alone up front on most plays and sometimes Ulises Mendivil accompanying him.
But Boca poured on the pressure and it became evident that they were not going to score many goals, because if they had started going in, they would have had a hatfull of goals at the end of the first half. Juan Róman Riquelme and Jesús Dátolo pulled the strings in the midfield while Martín Palermo and Rodrigo Palacio paired up near the penalty area and created quite a few chances which they failed to put away.
Even the goal that ended up on Boca’s tally went in off a defender. Off a great pass from Riquelme, Palacio crossed the ball into the penalty area where Atlas defender, Hugo Ayala, met the ball but Palermo slid in behind him, took him down and the Ayala failed to clear the ball, because of the clear foul in my book, and fell into the goal behind the ball that had already gone in. 1-1.
Like the match against Cruzeiro where Boca dominated play, they did the same here. And again, they could have ended the first half by a difference of, at very least, two goals but they weren’t able to put away the good work by Dátolo and Riquelme, even when Riquelme ended up in the area on his own, later in the match, the goal eluded his squad again when his shot hit the post.
While I’m still not sure how the first goal wasn’t a foul on the Ayala, Palermo did make up for it bringing down a cross with his head, serving it up for Julio Cáceres, in the 75th minute, who was able to drive home a shot from short range to give Boca the 2-1 lead.
In the meantime, Morel Rodriguez did everything he could to make sure that Caranta’s score sheet stayed at 1. In fact, I think Cáceres and Maidana owe Morel a little bit of their paychecks from last night. He saved their asses on countless occasions.
Despite Morel’s efforts, in the 88th minute, Atlas on the counter-attack was able to get off a long cross from the left allowing Jorge Torres to nod in Atlas’ second on the night and drew his team level.
From that point on Boca have at least three more clear opportunities to score and failed to convert on all. Just like in the Cruzeiro match at La Bombonera, Boca failed to really show the difference on the score board that was evident on the pitch.
To make matters worse for Boca, keeper Mauricio Caranta ended his poor performance last night with an injury that rules him out for their match at the weekend against Racing and will most likely give Pablo Migliore the start in Mexico against Atlas. There is a rumor that Migliore will be rested and third string youngster Javier Garcia might make the start for Boca on Saturday against Racing, to avoid a potential injury to Migliore and forcing the third stringer to play in the pivotal match next week in Mexico.
This is a great score line for Atlas to take home with them. A scoreless draw or a 1-1 draw will qualify them for the Semis. Boca need a win. Period. And it won’t be easy at the Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara, where Atlas is unbeaten but where Lanús was able to get a couple of goals and harry Atlas’ defense.
But I believe that these types of situations are where Boca come alive. When you think they are dead and buried, they come right back and make the impossible happen. I’m not ready to count the defending champions out. Again, this is why we watch these matches, it’s about the magic, making the impossible possible. If we knew the scores ahead of time, the stadiums would be empty and TVs would never tune to the matches.
I had this one going 2-0 to Boca. I mean, really, who would have thought Atlas was going to get that early goal. And, personally, I think that Boca really missed their stadium last night despite the Boca faithful turning out in droves and creating the same atmosphere.
Check the CONMEBOL website for results, stats and upcoming matches.
Category: Tournament NewsCheckmate São Paulo.
By: Mauro | 1 Comment
Again, São Paulo won on the very good, shit, I’d even venture to say, spectacular work by Adriano. Last night, the guy that Inter Milan picked up from Parma and the same guy that drew Brazil level in the final of the Copa America in 2005 against Argentina, in the waning minutes of the match, decided to show up.
He dominated play in the final third of his end of the pitch. And I mean it when I say HIS end of the pitch. It was exactly how he treated it. He trashed Flu’s central defenders. He was able to create space, when they decided to play him close he was able to beat them, he beat them on crosses, he was able to take long shots from outside the area and he made some spectacular passes to his team mates.
It’s hard to decide if he was really that good or if the Fluminense defenders were really that crap. I think it was a little of both. Adriano is not an easy dude to mark, he’s got a big body, is good with the ball at his feet, is damn fast and last night he showed that he can make a deadly good assist.
After 19 minutes of pressure, Adriano was able to hit pay dirt off a rebound from a shot by Dagoberto. Turns out Adrian found Dagoberto out on the left flank all by his lonesome just prior to his shot.
Flu tried to react but because they lined up a line of three midfielders and coach Renato Gaúcho decided to have midfield playmaker Dario Conca on the bench, they lacked a certain depth and dominant style of play that charaterized them in this competition so far. Without Conca on the pitch, Flu’s strikers, Washington and Dodo almost never touched the ball or created any kind of danger for São Paulo keeper Rogerio Ceni.
In the 60th minute, Gaúcho subbed on Conca for Thiago Neves who was not playing near his capabilities. With Conca on the pitch, Flu had more possession and were able to dominate play for a little while and showed that São Paulo’s back line was also quite unstable.
But once São Paulo realized they had the match under control, they played more defensively but even then, with the few opportunities he was given, Adriano still made the Flu defenders poop themselves a little bit.
With this result, São Paulo can afford to draw or even lose by one goal provided they score a goal. There is time yet for one more Maracanázo.
I had this match ending 1-1. I figured it would be a low scoring affair but at least I figured Aloisio or Adriano would score one last night. I was also sure of the fact that Conca was going to make things tough for Fluminense.
Check the CONMEBOL website for results, stats and upcoming matches.
Category: Tournament NewsNothing to Hide Here.
By: Mauro | Add Comments
São Paulo Futebol Clube vs. Fluminense Football Club (Estadio Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil)
LIVE @ 5:30 pm PST on Fox Sports Español.
These two teams know each other very well. Having seen each other many times in the Brasilierao and in the Copa do Brasil, there are not many secrets in this tie. The only thing certain is that only one Brazilian club will qualify for the Semis.
São Paulo, still a candidate to win it all, in my opinion, despite their lackluster play, have not been able to really get the most out of their midfield like they did in last year’s Libertadores but their plan has been, up ’til now anyway, to win on the technical abilities of their individual players. They haven’t been able to play as a team but have been able to have a few players hook up sporadically to create chances on goal.
All this, however, could fly out the window when they take the pitch against their countrymen. Not unlike the San Lorenzo - River tie in the round of 16, I could see São Paulo come out and stomp Fluminense because it’s a Brazilian derby within the confines of the Libertadores. And São Paulo simply have the players to do it, if only they could manage to put together a solid match.
São Paulo are coming into this match after putting away fellow three-time winners Nacional de Montevideo in the round of 16, drawing 0-0 in Uruguay and winning 2-0 at the Morumbi. Before that, they won their group, not with authority as they had good results but failed to create the gap that most people, including myself, expected them to be able to create in that particular group.
São Paulo will be able to count on Adriano up front, he missed this last weekend’s opening loss to Gremio in the Brasileirao, along with Aloisio. Hugo was rested at the weekend so he would be fresh for tonight’s match and SPFC coach Muricy Ramalho is waiting for game time to see if Jorge Wagner is ready to play since he has been nursing an injury.
Look for Adriano to be a big factor as he has been in all of São Paulo’s matches up to this point.
Fluminense, on the other hand, is coming into this match having put away Colombian Atlético Nacional over two legs. 2-1 in Colombia and 1-0 in Brazil. Flu was far and away the most successful team in the group stage winning 4 of their 6 matches and drawing once and losing only once. Basically, Flu has an away win where São Paulo had managed two away draws.
Fluminense is coming off a draw in their opening match of the Brasileirao, against Atlético Mineiro in their stadium, the Mineirão in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Dodo is again available for this match now that he is recovered from his injury. He appears to be fighting for a spot on the starting squad with Arouca. He may even be able to come on for Cicero should Flu decide to set up with two strikers. Still, I think he’ll be coming off the bench. Thiago Silva is still injured and will not be able to make this match.
Look for Cicero, Washington, Thiago Neves and Dario Conca to make things tough for the São Paulo’s defense.
Bottom Line: São Paulo are a tough nut to crack at home and have won every match they have played at the Morumbi in the Libertadores. While they play a decidedly more direct, rough style, Fluminense play a more lyrical, flowing style of football. Still Flu are not great on the road and managed an away win in the group stage but that was against Libertad who only managed to win one single match and played something awful.
My pick: 1-1. Flu will come out and get the away goal and São Paulo will find a way to level out the affair via an Adriano or Aloisio wonder-goal. The match next week at the Maracaná will decide who will advance into the Semis.
Check the CONMEBOL website for results, stats and upcoming matches.
Category: Tournament NewsBoca Start Their Engines.
By: Mauro | Add Comments
Club Atlético Boca Juniors vs. F.C. Atlas A.C. (Estadio José Amalfitani “El Fortin”, Buenos Aires, Argentina)
LIVE @ 3pm PST on Fox Sports Español.
Boca host the first leg in Buenos Aires against a team that they played against in the group stage, twice. These two seem pretty evenly matched.
Both teams won the match they hosted in the first round. In Buenos Aires, the final score was 3-0 to Boca with Rodrigo Palacio running rampant behind Atlas defenders and in Guadalajara, it ended 3-1 to Atlas with a Bruno Marioni hat-trick. Since then, Boca eliminated Cruzeiro with an authoritative win at their ground and a less than lustrous one in Brazil but both by the same score line. 2-1. Here’s the link for the second leg. In Atlas’ favor is Boca’s record against Mexican teams in the Libertadores. Check here for that record.
Riquelme is supposed to be fit to play this match. He’s been separated from his teammates in training and given a different workout regime to help him arrive in good fitness come match time. Should he, for one reason or another, I imagine that Boca coach Carlos Ischia will not hesitate to put Leandro Gracian in his place.
The big player out for Boca this time is their stadium, La Bombonera. After the ice throwing incident, the CONMEBOL has decided to suspend Copa Libertadores matches for 30 days from the incident, enough time for Boca to install some sort of protection for the linesmen on the luxury box side of the pitch. Should Boca make the final, they could host one of the legs there.
Atlas arrived in Buenos Aires on Monday to begin training. They are coming into this match on the shoulders of their leading goal scorer, Bruno Marioni, who has seven goals so far in this competition. Atlas have won all of their home games except for last week’s draw against Lanús, a result which allowed them to advance. Here’s the link to their first leg against Lanús.
The person for Boca defenders to keep their eye on is Marioni. He was cold and calculating when they faced off in Guadalajara in the group stage. Also, look for Diego Colotto to be dangerous, keep an eye on Ulises Mendivil and goal keeper Jorge Bava to keep his squad close.
Look for Riquelme to possibly play a lighter role than usual, he is still nursing an injury but those who know him, know he won’t sit this one out. Morel Rodiguez and Julio Cesar Cáceres will anchor the defense and Martin Palermo and Rodrigo Palacio should keep the Atlas defense busy. Jesús Dátolo should play a bigger role today as he is very mobile on Riquelme’s left, look for him to hook up with Palacio and cross the ball into Palermo.
Bottom Line: While this match is being played at Vélez Sarsfield’s stadium, this is a home match for Boca, look for their fans to come out in force. Boca should take care of business here. The only question is whether or not they can dominate on another pitch that’s not La Bombonera like they did against Cruzeiro. Atlas face an uphill battle in this leg, at home they’ll be more comfortable.
My pick: 2-0 to Boca. Enough to keep the second leg interesting. Atlas are a good side but Boca took them apart in Buenos Aires in the group stage. I look for that to happen again tonight.
Check the CONMEBOL website for results, stats and upcoming matches.
Category: Tournament NewsA Look at the Quarter-Finalists.
By: Mauro | 1 Comment
Looking ahead to the quarter-finals, it isn’t as one sided as the round of 16 was with respect to the number of Brazilian and Argentine clubs. The balances have shifted slightly and there is only one non-Mexican, non-Argentine and non-Brazilian team left.
Atlas, who came into the Lanús tie with authority and took care of business with an important 1-0 win in the first leg in Buenos Aires, look to open their first leg of the quarter finals when they host Boca at the Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico. Atlas secured their next round status with a 2-2 draw at their ground in Mexico, last week.
Boca, also came out meaning business, outplayed Cruzeiro but failed to score more goals in the first leg at La Bomonera and only managed a 2-1 win, the away goal for the visitors coming in the waning minutes of the match. Boca then traveled to Brazil where they are fortunate to have gained some good results and won 2-1 again, this time in Belo Horizonte.
LDU Quito made short work of Estudiantes, winning 2-0 in their high altitude stadium in Ecuador and that difference was enough for them to cruise through to the next round after losing the 2nd leg in La Plata only 2-1.
San Lorenzo won the round of 16 epic battle of Argentina against River Plate. They showed tremendous heart, passion and fire in the second leg coming back miraculously from being down two goals and two men short to tie the match and qualify for the next round. Bergessio, D’Allesandro and Acevedo were fantastic. They won the first leg at home with the help of a hand ball in the area and a penalty that gave them the 2-1 win.
Fluminense might have had the easier tie only because Atlético Nacional was sort of lucky to have gotten this far. Still, they put up a good fight and Fluminense won by a slim margin in Colombia and again, a 1-0 only win in the return leg on Brazilian soil. They host fellow Brazilians, Sao Paulo in the first leg of their tie in the next round.
Sao Paulo played to scoreless draw in the first leg of their tie with Uruguayan side Nacional de Montevideo and were able to beat them, with some difficulty, in the second leg at home. They haven’t impressed while having arguably the most important player, Riquelme aside, in Adriano, still remaining in the cup.
Santos was able to beat Cúcuta twice 2-0, handily, in both legs of their round of 16 tie. Cúcuta had appeared to be a tough opponent but folded under the pressure of the Brazilian attack. Santos will host América in the first leg of their quarter final match at the Vila Belmiro before making the long flight out to Mexico City the following week for the second leg.
In the other unbelievable result of the round, América, who seemed really down and out, came back to the Maracaná and beat Flamengo 3-0 to qualify in miraculous fashion. Lots of back story here so hold on. América seemed destined to be eliminated coming into the second leg after losing at home 4-2 but what made matters worse was that their coach resigned following that defeat after many bad results. Flamengo on the other hand was just celebrating their recent Rio state championship and were looking to send off their coach Joel Santana, who was going to leave to coach the South African national team. So, in short, a HUGE result.
Gone are the Colombian teams and all that is left is the Mexican teams (Atlas, América), the Brazilians (the country with the most representatives in this round, Fluminense, Sao Paulo and Santos), the Argentines (San Lorenzo and Boca Juniors) and lastly, the sole Ecudaorian squad (LDU Quito).
It is of note that last year at this stage the competition was decidedly more mixed with a teams from not just Argentina and Brazil but two from Uruguay, one from Paraguay, one Mexican and one Colombian team. Brazil had two teams in the cup at this point last year and Argentina only one side representing them.
Check the CONMEBOL website for results, stats and upcoming matches.
Category: Tournament NewsSantos, Unquestionably the Better Team.
By: Mauro | Add Comments
Having to follow up the River Plate-San Lorenzo match was tough work for these two and if anything you’d think it would have energized Cúcuta more since they were coming home after having faced an adverse result at Vila Belmiro a week ago.
Santos had smelled blood in their stadium and are back this week in Colombia looking for more of that. They had been able to get two goals past Cúcuta keeper Leandro Castellanos on their ground last week.
In my preview of this match, Emerson Leao had said his boys were going to adopt a more counter attacking style of play last night and they did. They defended well in the midfield, dissecting Cúcuta’s midfield and forward line forcing them to beat Santos’ players in one-on-one situations. Which proved to be really tough.
Despite that, Cúcuta was able to keep possession regardless, they were just not able to do much with it. In fact, the Brazilians had the early chance to go up a goal because they were deadly on the counter. A fact that made Cúcuta’s keeper Castellanos, his team’s best player.
But Kleber Perreira had a chance after a rebound from the keeper and was able to bend it past Castellanos for the opening goal of the match about three minutes from the end of the first half. In order to qualify, Cúcuta would need to score four goals to secure their pass into the next round. A huge uphill battle faced them. One they were not ready for.
In the second half, it only took seven minutes for Santos to put Cúcuta away this time for good. On a return play from a poorly taken corner kick by Cúcuta, a three on three counter attack allowed Lima to get the ball with space and shot it past Castellanos at the first post for the 2-0 score and the qualification for Santos.
Santos continued to press forward and looked for the third goal while Cúcuta completely folded. At this point the match became very predictable, Santos searching for the third with Mariano Tripodi, Michael Jackson Quiñonez (I swear, that’s his real name) and Kléber (Not that Kléber, the other one) making more of a mess in the back for the Cúcuta who looked like they just wanted to hear the final whistle.
I had this match going 1-1 with Santos going through. I didn’t expect Cúcuta to fold the way they did. I believe they are the type of team that can grind out a 1-0 type result, not one to score 4 or 5 goals in a single match (despite doing that in the high altitude of San José’s stadium), especially against a quality opponent or a better opponent which Santos truly was last night
Santos, on the other hand, have the players and the football play that allows them to light it up. They’ve got a solid defense and can adapt to various styles of play. In the next round, Santos face América and the long flight to Mexico City in the first leg.
Check the CONMEBOL website for results, stats and upcoming matches.
Category: Tournament NewsSan Lorenzo, Create a Miracle, Qualify For the Quarters.
By: Mauro | 3 Comments
This was an amazing match. It had it all. Great back and forth play, moments where one team dominated completely, plenty of fouls, a few red cards, there were goals and goddamit there were broken hearts.
The stage was set, River Plate had their stadium almost full, the players were ready for what was going to be the biggest match of the season and both coaches were primed for the fast paced chess game before them.
San Lorenzo came into this match with a big head of steam from having a great record in recent matches.
The first half kinda picked up where last week’s match had left off. Lots of back and forth. San Lorenzo doing damage with Andrés D’Allesandro and Diego Rivero but neither of them unable to get the ball to either Andrés Silvera and Gonzalo Bergessio up front. River Plate arrived at the penalty area very frequently through great connections between Sebastian Abreu, Radamel Falcao, Diego Buonanotte and Matías Abelarias.
A fantastic play in the penalty area between Falcao and Abreu appeared to have ended the stalemate between the two sides but the linesman incorrectly called Abreu offside. A moment later, off a free kick, Abelairas was able to swing the ball into the penalty area and into what appeared to go into the goal past San Lorenzo keeper Agustín Orión, off of Falcao. It touched no one and Abelairas got the much deserved goal for River Plate.
The match opened up but after a play where Falcao took down Sebastian Mendez deep in San Lorenzo’s side of the pitch, the match took a bad turn. Lots of starts and stops due to rough play and hard fouls. Lots of near red card fouls were rewarded with yellows instead. Just look at the sheer number of yellows for the River Plate side and the match overall. The ref clearly, had let the match get out of hand.
The flank tandems for River between Abelairas and Cristian Vilagra on the left and Paulo Ferrari and Augusto Fernández on the right were fantastic, both sides overlapping and in most instances, getting deep almost all the way to the touchline for long high crosses into Abreu and Falcao.
On the other side of the ball, Rivero, Walter Acevedo and D’Alessandro were pulling the strings in midfield for San Lorenzo. But while San Lorenzo seemed to dominate play, they failed to get the ball into the danger zone near River keeper Juan Pablo Carrizo.
It didn’t take long for the rough play to turn even worse. Rivero took down Villagra on the left and the ref had to give him his second yellow on the night and the early shower. The first half ended at 1-0 to River and they were halfway to the quarter finals.
In the second half, I half expected San Lorenzo to come out and play a more defensive posture but Ramón Díaz’ players were having none of that. They continued to win possession from River and were forcing the match reverting to how it had started, lots of back and forth, even with only ten men on the pitch.
But then came the play that changed the match even more. Falcao and Jonathan Botinelli were disputing a ball that the defender won and touched back to his keeper. Falcao chased after him and when he got close enough, Botinelli threw an elbow into his face/neck in a stupid vengeful manner. The ref gave Botinelli a straight red card and awarded River a penalty that Abreu exchanged for a goal and what seemed like the final nail in the coffin.
But San Lorenzo were still not down and out. I, personally, credit the coach on this one. Players in this situation don’t keep their spirits up. This is the coach’s good work to keep them focused on the one goal. Get the ball and keep it. And River helped out, they snoozed when they shouldn’t have, they gave San Lorenzo too much time to catch up.
And catch up they did. The regained possession of the ball and they pressed River into their half. Off a fantastic play starting with Silvera, Gonzalo Bergessio scored with a fantastic strike. Check the vid, seriously, it’s un-fucking-believable. But wait, before you stop reading, not a few minutes later, Bergessio scored a spectacular/improbable header off a corner kick and the stands filled with San Lorenzo faithful exploded while the River Plate fans were silenced.
San Lorenzo was utterly heroic. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen nine men run so much to steal away possession from eleven other men. It was breathtaking and terrifying all at once for me. D’Allesandro showed all the heart he had like back in the old days when he played with the red band across his chest. And Gonzalo Bergessio, WOW. He was fantastic when he finally was able to connect with his midfielders, he was unbelievable.
If San Lorenzo go all the way to the final match, this match, last night, will have been pivotal. Last night, they discovered that they could take hold of an adverse situation and make it their own. God knows they have the squad and the coach to do it.
River didn’t take the saying, “You snooze, you lose.” to heart. They snoozed and lost. Meanwhile, San Lorenzo are still alive in this one due to their win at home last week and they face LDU Quito in the quarter finals.
I had this one going 3-1 to River and had them qualifying to the next round. I felt they had a deeper squad and had shown more heart. San Lorenzo really pulled this match from out of their hats and were spectacular. If you missed this match, you missed a completely epic performance by San Lorenzo and an absolutely heart-breaking lack of concentration on the part of River Plate in the final half hour.
This is why we fill to the stadiums, why we turn on the TVs, because not all is said and done until the 90 minutes are up. San Lorenzo proved that last night and América proved that on Wednesday night. Fan-fucking-tastic!
Be sure to check the CONMEBOL website for results, stats and upcoming matches.
Category: Tournament NewsCúcuta Host Santos, Look to Turn the Tables.
By: Mauro | Add Comments
Cúcuta Deportivo vs. Santos FC (Estadio General Santander, Cúcuta, Colombia)
LIVE @ 7:00pm PST on Fox Sports Español.
If Cúcuta have a big top hat to start pulling tricks out of, they had better start pulling those tricks out now. According to Cúcuta coach Pedro Sarmiento, he and the team believe they can close out this tie with a win on their ground.
With a 2-0 score line, they get penalties. With a 3-0 score line they go through automatically. Stranger things have happened and last night’s result in the Maracaná is a testament to that. The matches are played for a reason.
At home, Cúcuta have had a modest 1-0 win and two 0-0 draws. Away is where they’ve earned their bread and butter, winning two away matches and losing the very last one at Santos. Basically, this means that Cúcuta have lost two in a row to Santos, both at Vila Belmiro.
Out with a broken toe for Pedro Sarmiento is Leonard Pajoy. He made up with Matías Urbano, a troubling strike force for opposing defenders but in his place will be Bolivian Diego Cabrera.
Despite having, what seems as, the upper hand coming into this match, Santos coach Emerson Leao has decided his boys will play a counter attacking style in this match since they want to wait for Cúcuta to come out and look for the match and when they do, they’ll leave themselves unguarded at the back for Santos to swoop in.
This will be interesting to see since that style of play has been Cúcuta’s brand of football since the beginning of this competition.
Santos brought along their two most recent signings for the Copa Libertadores, defender Marcel Guedes Filho and striker Rodrigo Lima Santos. Wesley is not an option for this match since he was sent off in the first leg of this tie.
The winner of this tie faces América and the long flight to Mexico City in the quarter finals.
Bottom Line: Cúcuta need a convincing win by a wide margin and fortunately they are at home and have quite a few things in their favor, except the score line in the first leg. Santos have a nice lead in their favor and with a single goal or a draw will qualify to the next round.
My pick: 1-1. Santos qualify with a modest match and Cúcuta won’t overcome their mistakes from one week ago.
Check the CONMEBOL website for results, stats and upcoming matches.
Category: Tournament News
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