Still Something to Play For in Uruguay.

By: Mauro | July 21st, 2008

While the rest of the world seems to have come to a standstill, in football terms, down in Uruguay, there are still matches being played that mean something to the clubs that are participating. This weekend saw the Uruguayan Liguilla (that’s playoffs in Spanish) come closer to an end and more importantly, defined which teams had earned themselves a spot in the upcoming continental tournaments.

I watched as a nine man Defensor Sporting beat River Plate (who had all 11 men on the pitch), 1-0, earning themselves a spot in both upcoming continental cups. This was the first of two matches taking place in Uruguay this Sunday. The man of the first match was easily Defensor player Julio Marchant.

For Defensor, it means they’ve earned themselves a berth into the Copa Libertadores 2009 edition because they have earned the most points over the Uruguayan Apertura and Clausura. But as an added bonus and because they edged River, they earned themselves the third place slot which sees them into the Copa Sudamericana 2008 as well.

For River, because of their loss and inability to score over Defensor, they are looking at a 4th place finish which qualifies them for the Copa Sudamericana 2008. Had they won, they could have been in Defensor’s position and could have qualified for the Libertadores 2009 as well.

In Sunday’s second match, Peñarol drew with Rampla Juniors, 2-2. This is important because, Peñarol earned themselves a berth in the 2009 Copa Libertadores for the first time in three years. Peñarol is a five time winner of the Libertadores, their last win coming in 1987. The last Uruguayan team to win the Libertadores was Nacional de Montevideo who did it in 1988.

The Uruguayan Liguilla comes to an end with the final match this Sunday when Defensor and Nacional meet to define the Uruguayan champion.

The Libertadores picture is much clearer while the Copa Sudamericana is completely in focus. The only two teams remaining to qualify were Defensor Sporting and River Plate, basically the #3 and #4 teams from Uruguay. The competition begins on July 29th.

I’ll be covering the Copa Sudamericana on a separate page, in the meantime you can download a bracket for the tournament to get a good idea of how the matches will be played and look for my first upload on the new page soon.