Some Numbers of Interest, So Far.

By: Mauro | April 21st, 2008

This week will see the end of the Copa Libertadores second round group stage come to a close. Groups 3, 4 and 7 will be finishing off their final matches and those teams still in the hunt for a place in the knock-out rounds are looking to do all they can to earn what they need in order to advance. Below are some numbers of interest in the competition so far. This is a big week.

In 102 matches so far in this competition, the visiting team has won only 17 times. Again, the away team hardly ever wins in this competition and this year was no exception.

Some of the more memorable away wins this round so far? San Lorenzo’s win at Real Potosi did a few things for the Argentine squad; one, it turned their fortunes around and gave them hope for the next round and secondly, it dispelled the myth that away teams are uncomfortable playing in a high altitude stadium.

Cúcuta’s win away at Chivas in Mexico. This win began the unstoppable downward slide for Chivas and conversely, the upward stomp of Cúcuta to the next round.

Flamengo’s impressive 3-0 win away to Cienciano on 4/9 put an emphatic period on their qualifying campaign and may have dispelled a curse for them since their form in this competition is not usually very good.

In this year’s Copa Libertadores there has been a 2.54 goals per match average which is more goals than the 2006 World Cup in Germany. There have been quite a few 7 goal matches in this tournament which shows teams were coming out and really wanting to win.

Fluminense’s win last week helped make them the most effective team so far in this competition with 4 wins, 1 draw in 6 matches. Both Flu and LDU Quito fielded B squads to play the last match in this group and Flu’s boys got all three points.

Cruzeiro is the high scoring team in the tournament so far with 17 goals in 8 matches. Conveniently left out is their goals against, they have 10. They had to qualify for the group stage so they have 2 more matches than anyone else. They are a big contender to win this edition, but I am a little apprehensive since they fielded and B squad to face Potosi and fell 5-1 to the already eliminated team.

Having scored so many goals this far, it’s no surprise that Cruzeiro also have the competitions top scorer on their side Marcelo Martins Moreno (pictured above) with 8 goals.

Sebastian Abreu of River Plate became only the third player so far in this year’s Copa Libertadores to score a hat-trick. The other two are Mauricio Molina (Santos FC), he scored 4 goals in Santos’ 7 goal thrashing of San José, and Matías Urbano (Cúcuta) who also scored his goals against the fledgling Bolivian team.

Keep an eye out for my preview of tomorrow’s Group 3 matches.