Copa Libertadores 03/18/08

By: Mauro | March 18th, 2008

Estudiantes vs. Danubio (Estadio Unico, La Plata, Argentina)

Veron celebrates his goal Right out of the gates, Estudiantes poured on the pressure making it known to their rivals tonight, Danubio, that they wanted the top spot in their group. Pablo Piatti started the match with a great opportunity at putting his squad up 1-0 in the very first minute of play. Later, Veron had a shot go off the crossbar and Ezequiel Maggiolo had a goal disallowed because of an offsides call.

But it was not all Estudiantes. Danubio did keep possession of the ball and the pitch in the opening 30 minutes of the first half but lacked some finishing from their strikers. Not unlike the away leg of this match in Montevideo, Estudiantes fans made themselves heard. Unfortunately, Estudiantes had the ref, Leonardo Gaciba Da Silva (BRA), on their side when he called a non-existent penalty in their favor. It seems that Piatti drew the “foul” when he ran into Matias Perez in the penalty area when the Danubio defender was trying to clear a ball. Veron took the penalty with a certain authority and put his team up 1-0. Danubio ended a half that saw them with more possession but without the final bite necessary to put Estudiantes away. Veron was an unfortunate casualty in this match, he suffered a knee injury which will keep him out of the match on Sunday

The second half was more of the same, with Danubio impotent in the offensive third, and Piatti on his end of the pitch would shed his marker, Damian Malrrechaufe, regularly but couldn’t do more damage because he was often left to resolve his chances on his own. The second goal came off a header from a free kick in the 30th minute of the second half. Leandro Desabato scored from what appeared to be an offsides position. Estudiantes may have earned their wins on other days, but today the difference between the two sides was not 2 goals.

Cuenca host Lanus on Thursday in Ecuador to bring all teams in this group level on matches played. Estudiantes leads Group 2 with 7 points, Lanus follow with 5 and a better goal difference than Cuenca. Cuenca also have 5 points. Danubio is in the cellar with only 1 point.

Caracas FC vs. Cruzeiro (Estadio Olimpico de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela)

Caracas FC hosted Cruzeiro tonight in Venezuela, Caracas looking to defend their home turf, have had positive results at home, a surprising 2-0 win over San Lorenzo and a 2-1 win over Real Potosi. Also Caracas FC is hoping for the win in order to leap frog over Cruzeiro for the group lead. Cruzeiro on the other hand is already leading Group 1 and is looking to maintain their lead away although they fielded a under strength side due to some key injuries including only being able to have 4 players on the bench.

Again, I underline that winning away in this competition is very tough and tonight will prove my point. The match begun with some surprisingly football from the locals, Ronald Vargas was directly responsible for making a mess of the Cruzeiro defense on the right side of the pitch. In the first minute of play Juan Cominges has a fantastic shot from outside the penalty area that went just wide of the Cruzeiro goal. Martins Moreno was the main threat for Cruzeiro who played the counterattack.

When it seemed the two were evenly matched, Caracas won a free kick on the left. Cominges crosses it in and Valencia was there to knock it in with his head. The Venezuelans managed to maintain possession until the end of the first half. The 2nd half started with more Brazilian possession and an early header by Moreno. Thanks to the pressure Cruzeiro put on the locals they managed to win a penalty kick from a hand ball on the part of defender Franklin Lucena. Moreno exchanged the call for a goal and the teams were level.

Caracas seemed closer to their 2nd than Cruzeiro was closer to theirs. They even had a shot off the cross bar but failed to convert. 4 minutes from the end, Oswaldo Vizcarrondo was sent off for a hard foul. Until the end of the match, Cruzeiro kept possession until the final whistle. This result leaves Cruzeiro with 8 points, Caracas FC follow with 7 points after 4 matches. San Lorenzo and Real Potosi play their 4th match next week.

Audax Italiano vs. Atletico Nacional (Estadio Colo Colo, Santiago, Chile)

At the same time the Caracas FC – Cruzeiro match took place, Audax Italiano and Atletico Nacional played their match as well. Audax have failed to impress so far in the tournament after two consecutive losses and needed to at very least get a draw which wouldn’t help them qualify for the next round but would salvage some of their pride. The 1st half saw the home team lack a certain amount of ball control and therefore allowing the visiting team to control the midfield with the likes of Camilo Zuñiga, Jose Amaya, Diego Toro and Elkin Muriilo commanding play.

Despite the lack of possession Audax still found a way create dangerous situations when they attacked and were more precise when they won free kicks near the penalty area. Atl. Nacional’s young 19-year old keeper, David Ospina was put to the test making five big saves off dead ball situations in the 1st half.

The 2nd half was more of the same, Atl. Nacional with more possession and Audax countering with some effectiveness until the 49th minute when Braulio Leal found Carlos Villanueva who lobbed a perfectly weighted ball into the area to Fabian Orellana who managed to lob the ball again over the keeper’s head for the go ahead goal. It was a surprising 1-0 that allowed the Chilean team to dream a bit. Atl. Nacional’s coach made a few substitutions but it was to no avail. The Colombian team maintained possession of the ball but failed to convert on five decent attempts in the final offensive third. On the other side of the ball, Audax defended astutely and had a few more dangerous counterattacks but Ospina managed to keep his team in the match until the end. Two minutes from time, Oliver Toledo managed to score a goal but it was disallowed due to an offside position on the part of goalscorer Orellana. 1-0 to Audax.

Audax Italiano sees their first points in this competition and allows them to go up over Sportivo Luqueño on goal difference. Both sit behind Atletico Nacional and Sao Paolo both with 4 points, Atl. Nacional have the slight edge on goal difference. Sao Paulo host Sportivo Luqueño in their 4th match in 2 weeks time. Nothing is resolved in Group 7, it is still a tight race and is still wide open.