Round of 16 Matches Are Set.

By: Mauro | April 24th, 2008

With the end of the group stage coming to a close, these are the round of 16 ties. You’ll find that there are no teams representing the following countries: Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Paraguay.

Fluminense - Atlético Nacional
Sao Paulo - Nacional de Montevideo
Atlas - Lanús
Cruzeiro - Boca Juniors
Flamengo - América
Cúcuta Deportivo - Santos FC
River Plate - San Lorenzo
Estudiantes de La Plata - Liga de Quito

For those of you who can’t visualize without a bracket, click here to get your own.

These are all great matches, I think that standing out from the rest of the ties is the River Plate - San Lorenzo tie. The opening leg of this one is to be played at the Nuevo Gasometro (San Lorenzo) and the second leg and El Monumental (River Plate). Fortunately for both sides, not much traveling involved. Away wins will be far less rare in this case. And this is the only tie where teams from the same country will face each other. For a little more on this match, check out Christian’s River Plate blog.

We also have Cúcuta Deportivo facing Santos FC again. They were group mates in Group 6 this year, so both teams have some background on their opponents. In Colombia, they tied 0-0 and in Brazil, Santos came away with a 2-1 win, but this was after Cúcuta had qualified and fielded a reserve squad in the last match of their group. Cúcuta have the second leg at their ground.

We have a tough draws in the Cruzeiro-Boca Juniors draw and in the Flamengo - CF América draw. Cruzeiro have been a solid squad with exception to their last group match where they fielded many substitution. Boca have a habit of returning from the dead and responding when their backs are to the wall. Cruzeiro will have to make sure they poor plenty of dirt on them before walking away. Flamengo had a great showing in the group stage. America had an ok showing, they performed about as good as they’ve been performing in their local league, which lucky for them was better than U San Martin and U Catolica. The Brazilians have the advantage of closing out this one on their ground.

Flamengo vs. CF America is also a tough draw. With the traveling involved and both teams performed about equally except for the one away win for Flamengo. As I said, with the traveling involved, it should be tough to see these teams play their best. Still, Flamengo earned the right to host the second leg in this one.

The longest commute to their draws will be awarded to Atlas and Lanús. Atlas coming from Guadalajara all the way down to South Buenos Aires for their match and conversely, Lanús traveling the opposite way. This will be a tough test for both squads. Atlas has not won any of their away matches but did manage two draws. Lanús did manage to beat Danubio in Uruguay (which may as well have been played in Buenos Aires) and did earn a draw in Ecuador against Cuenca. Atlas host the second leg in Guadalajara.

Fluminense face Atletico Nacional, this is going to be a straight up match. No geographical or major travel advantages here. This is probably the only tie where there appears to be a clear favorite, that being Fluminense, who earned more wins and was the most effective team of the group stage. With that said, it’s no surprise that Flu will host the second leg.

I’ll be sure to shed more light on team’s records against each other in this competition as well as team’s records when they travel to specific countries in this tournament should that info be relevant when those matches come up. I’ve purposely commented on only some of the ties, I did not forget anyone.

Also, keep an eye out for a more detailed schedule, I find it hard to believe that the first legs of ALL the matches will be played the 30th of April and ALL the second legs will be played on May 7th. Watch this space.

Check the CONMEBOL website for updated info, final group standings, results and stats.