Copa Libertadores 03/20/08

By: Mauro | March 20th, 2008

Club Deportivo Cuenca vs. Club Atlético Lanús (Estadio Alejandro Serrano Aguilar, Cuenca, Ecuador)

This video contains a recap of the Sportivo Luqueño vs. Sao Paolo match as well.

Lanús are coming into this match needing some points. Ramón Cabrero’s men have quite a few injuries including goalscorers José Sand and Lautaro Acosta and leading playmaker Diego Valeri. Cuenca, who opened up their participation in the Libertadores with a surprising win over Estudiantes, are in 3rd place. Lanús are in 2nd with 5 points.

Cuenca was betting on the complicating Lanús’ young defense with Mauricio Ferradás and Javier Toledo. On the other hand, Lanús was able to field their tireless midfielder Agustin Pelletieri to try to create some chances for their side. 7 minutes in, Sebastian Salomon found the back of the net on a fantastic strike that should not be missed.

Fun Fact: Cuenca’s keeper, Javier Klimowicz is the brother of Diego Klimowicz, striker playing for Borussia Dortmund. Both are Argentine footballers.

Cuenca had a good match, attacked and was closer to scoring but had no response. Lanús’ defense was stingy but to make matter worse, Carlos Bossio had a hell of a match. Still, in the 70th minute, John Garcia scored off a free kick with some help from the wall of Lanús players. 1-1. Javier Toledo scored later, minutes before the end of the match but the goal was disallowed.

Estudiantes must have really enjoyed this result, it kept them at the top of the table in Group 2. The places in this group did not change at all. Lanús can also relish this draw, they are coming home with at very least a point in their bag when they could have come home with nothing.

This was Cuenca’s last home game which will be hard to see them gain more points. Lanús have one home and one away match left. Danubio is the only team left in this group with two home games to look forward to but they have one foot out of this competition.

Sportivo Luqueño vs. Sao Paolo (Estadio Cerro Porteño, Asunción, Paraguay)

Sportivo Luqueño is coming off a big loss in their away match at Atletico Nacional. I picked Sao Paolo to be Boca’s main obstacle in this competition, but so far, they have failed to live up to that designation and Adriano has been far from his prior form in Serie A, despite not being on the pitch tonight.

The first half looked to have Sao Paolo start off on the right foot, but Luqueño fought back and had a few opportunities of their own. The 1st half ended, deadlocked, on a 0-0 draw. In the 60th minute, Sao Paolo pulled rank on Luqueño with a great header by Aloisio. Nice technique, check the video. Sportivo fought back and in the waning minutes of the 2nd half, Blas Duarte scored to pull his squad level off a pass from Juan Hermosilla. Check here for updated group results. Sao Paolo have failed to impress yet again, and my home team rule stands. It’s much harder to beat a team playing on their own turf. Be grateful for a draw when your team plays away.

Colo Colo vs. Boca Juniors (Estadio Colo Colo, Santiago, Chile)

This was the marquee match of the day. Colo Colo have a bit of a soft spot in my heart, not only because of my disdain for Boca Juniors but because of Claudio “Bichi” Borghi. I would have rather had Borghi become River Plate’s coach instead of Diego Simeone.

If you haven’t heard yet, Colo Colo took all three points in this match. Jorquera and Bizcayzacu scored in the first half for the local side. Check the vid for the goals.

What the video doesn’t show you is that Jorquera was sensational and was a constant threat throughout the match. You also won’t see that Boca’s luck ran out in this match. I’ve seen many of their last matches and they have been the receivers of some very lucky bounces, calls and goals recently, so it had to end at some point. Also, Riquelme had to come off in the 32nd minute due to what seemed to be a pulled muscle but Boca doctors haven’t ruled out a possible muscle tear. It looks like he’ll be missing Boca’s match vs. Colón de Santa Fe at the weekend. He’s questionable for next Thursday’s return leg at La Bombonera against Colo Colo as well. Boca has only had one match at home in this competition and which they won, 3-0, over Atlas.