LDU Quito Takes On Fluminense at the Maracaná for the Cup Title. (I can’t sell it any better than that, right there.)

By: Mauro | July 2nd, 2008

Fluminense Football Club vs. Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito (Estadio Maracaná, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

LIVE @ 5:30pm on Fox Sports Español. Gamecast here. Online TV here.

The first leg was a tale of two halves. In the first half, we saw a wonderfully attacking exhibition of pure football by LDU Quito. In the second, a completely different match presented itself. An LDU team whose offensive production fell notably and a Fluminense team that was able to get their second goal, a goal that could cost LDU the title tonight. LDU Quito won the first half by many country miles outscoring Flu 4-1 and Fluminense was able to squeeze out a 1-0 win in the second half.

Still, coming home with a two goal gap against you is a tough thing, especially when the away goal rule is no longer in effect. Fluminense will have 80,000-90,000 souls behind them tonight and are looking to turn the tables on their Ecuadorian opponents.

With a 2-0 win or a two goal margin of victory, Flu can force extra time and possibly penalties should the 2-0 score line hold up. Flu can raise the cup with a 3-0 win or margin of victory of three goals at the end of regulation tonight .

Now, I know what you are saying… that’s just not possible against the LDU team from last week’s first half. But let’s not forget how woeful they were in the second half. I think Flu has a legitimate chance to see this one out.

After all, they did beat Sao Paulo at the Maracaná and covered the away goal that Adriano scored for them in the 70th minute. And granted it was a last gasp goal that came in the 91st minute to help them avoid penalties. Boca was also eliminated from competition at the Maracaná and lost on multiple goals as well.

And still, something tells me that Flu is not going to go quietly into that dark night. Not to sound like a broken record, but they eliminated not one, but BOTH of the top candidates to win this cup in Sao Paulo and Boca Juniors. I’m not ready to count them out yet.

Also, no one can argue that Flu are much better on defense than they’ve been on offense. I believe that they’ve had their debacle (last week in the first half in Quito) and they are going to capitalize and learn from the mistakes they made in the first leg.

While in Quito, Flu did not attack in numbers for fear the bloodletting would be worse, count on them to attack with many players, Washinton (or Dodo) and Cícero up front and Gabriel and Juniór Cesar on the wings. With Thiago Neves and Dario Conca sharing the play-making duties.

However, Roger has taken Conca’s place on the pitch in a few matches during this tournament and Washington is a game time decision as to whether or not he’ll play. Should he miss out, Dodo is ready to take his place. Way back when, in the group stage, Dodo was a nightmare for Arsenal’s defense. I’m hoping we’ll see that version of Dodo tonight.

Again, this is not going to be a pushover match for LDU. I don’t think I can express that enough. LDU does attack with a lot of their players and have proven to be tough to defend.

Count on seeing Damián Manso, Enrique Vera, Paul Ambrossi and Patricio Urrutia attempt to keep possession of the ball in the middle and try to kill the clock from early on. Their tactic should be to try to play a nice and easy match while frustrating Flu players and creating a panic among them. Count on seeing Luís Bolaños, who every day reminds me more and more of Faustino Asprilla, and Joffre Guerrón on the wings for LDU and Claudio Bieler on his own in the middle on counter attacks.

And while LDU do defend with only three at the back, they do it with quite a bit of authority and adeptness. Renán Calle was fantastic in the first leg and between Norberto Araujo and Jairo Campos they did a good job of keeping Washington, a big guy that can move very quickly for his size, under wraps.

Expect the exact same strategy as last week’s match which might mean that we’ll see that team form the first half of last week’s match at some point.

LDU look to be the first Ecuadorian team to ever win the Libertadores. EVER. And that’s a pretty huge motivation for winning it in itself. Barcelona, one of the Ecuadorian league’s more storied clubs, was the only other club from that country that ever made it to the final of the Copa Libertadores, but came away on two occasions as the continent’s second best.

Couple that with the lead they gained and the corresponding performance in the first half of the first leg and tonight’s match should end on a similar result. LDU Quito faithful have already printed up many flags and t-shirts emblazoned with “Copa Libertadores Champions” on them, dispelling the gravity of this match.

Big mistake. That could be their kiss of death.

Fluminense also stand to become winners of this cup for the first time in their club’s history. LDU and Ecuador’s story contrasts well with Flu’s. Fluminense is a Brazilian side (please tell me you already know this) and it’s well documented that Brazilian sides do very well in this tournament. In fact, a Brazilian side has reached the final of this tournament no fewer than 26 times and half of those appearances resulted in cup victories for them.

Bottom Line: Regardless of the result of last week’s match, I believe that Flu is capable of anything at this stadium tonight. LDU Quito lost in their last visit here, again regardless of the side they fielded, the Maracaná is nowhere to have a nice and easy match. The only club successful at winning on Brazilian soil in recent years is Boca Juniors. And I’m not sure that LDU have that kind of resolve.

My pick: Well, I have to call it one way or another and I’m honestly torn. Part of me wants Flu to come back and give us a hell of a match, but part of me wants to reard LDU Quito for playing such a wonderful half last week. So, I’m going with LDU Quito. They’ll play Fluminense off the park and earn the applause of the stadium after another display of great organized and tactically proficient football.

Hopefully we’ll have a good final and I’ll chat with you all tomorrow after I post my thoughts on the match and the new champion of the Copa Libertadores.

Be sure to check the CONMEBOL website for any and all information regarding the Copa Libertadores, like stats, results and upcoming matches. Check out the pull down menu where you can see stats from past editions of the Libertadores.