New Champions, Qualify for the Copa Libertadores 2009 Edition

By: Mauro | July 7th, 2008

Google Search Results

You arrived here after searching for the following phrases:

san
copa
2009
lorenzo
libertadores

Click a phrase to jump to the first occurrence, or return to the search results.

I know, I know, it’s about 7 months out but I’m already thinking of next year’s Copa Libertadores. And with that in mind, a few more teams have qualified for that competition by winning a local league title before the summer break here.

I’m talking about Boyacá Chicó FC winning the Colombian Apertura and Universitario de Sucre taking the Bolivian Apertura. The win counts for more that just the championship as it earns both sides an entry directly into the group stage of next year’s most important continental cup, the Copa Libertadores.

First time Colombian championship winners, Boyacá Chicó FC, took the Apertura on penalties against a heavily storied side, América de Cali. At the end of regulation, the match remained tied 1-1 with goals from (ex-Boca and Argentine) Miguel Caneo for Boyacá Chicó and (Panamanian) Luis Tejada for América. In the penalty shoot out, Boyacá won 4-2 after América players, Adrian Ramos and Paulo Arango missed their penalties.

This is an impressive result for a small club like Boyacá. They were founded in 2002 (Just 6 years ago! Take that MLS!) and have only been in the Colombian first division since 2004. Caneo is the player to watch as he reached the top of the goalscorer’s column along side Iván Velásquez of Once Caldas (won the Libertadores in 2004) with 13 goals a piece.

Another squad who is winning their first local title, Universidad de Sucre won the Bolivian Apertura title this last weekend by playing San José (Group 6 minnows who beat Santos of Brazil in this year’s tourney) to a 1-1 draw. Universidad had a 6 point difference coming into this weekend and San José was obligated to win in order to stay in the hunt for the title but the draw forces them to settle for a battle for second place with La Paz FC and Oriente Petrolero who are all on 33 points with two matches left to play.

The fight for second place also has the added bonus of qualifying the lucky team in the Copa Sudamericana 2009. Universidad took the opposition by storm this season by creating quite a lead early on in the standings. Bolívar, The Strongest and Oriente Petrolero are the more storied clubs from Bolivia but that has changed in recent years with La Paz FC, San José and Bamin Real Potosi enjoying a surge in their form and final places on the local league tables.

These two teams join Sport Recife who, just a little less than a month ago, beat Corinthians, arguably the most popular club in Brazil, 2-0 in the second leg of the Copa do Brasil to give their very first piece of silverware.

Already qualified teams include Everton of Chile, who won the Chilean 2008 Apertura, Libertad of Paraguay (Group 8, fourth place with 3 points in the CL 2008 and one of the only teams to beat this year’s champion), 2008 Apertura winners, Universitario of Peru, 2008 Apertura champs, Defensor Sporting who won the 07-08 season in Uruguay and Venezuelan sides Caracas FC (Group 1, third place with 7 points this year), Deportivo Táchira (2008 Clausura winners) and Deportivo Anzoátegui the best place finishers in Venezuela.

Also qualified are Argentine sides, Club Atlético Lanús (Group 2, second place with 10 points, eliminated by Atlas in the round of 16) who won the 2007 Apertura, Club Atlético River Plate, (Group 5, 12 points, eliminated by San Lorenzo in the round of 16) 2008 Clausura champs, Club Atlético Boca Juniors (Group 3, 2nd place, eliminated in the semifinals by finalists Fluminense) 07-08 best place finishers, Estudiantes de La Plata (Group 2, 1st place, eliminated in round of 16 by champs LDU Quito) 07-08 2nd place best finishers and Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro (Group 1, 2nd place, eliminated in the quarters by champs, LDU Quito) 07-08 third place best place finishers. Basically, the same five teams who represented Argentina in this year’s Libertadores. Since one more team qualified to represent Argentina this season, since the winner last year was Boca Juniors, Arsenal de Sarandi was able to qualify.

Be sure to check the CONMEBOL website for new developments on next year’s Copa Libertadores and new champions in South America.