Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Copa Libertadores 2016 Draw – First Round

Last night, the draw for the upcoming 2016 Copa Libertadores edition was being held in Asunción. Due to the large amount of good teams, quite a few competitive groups that should be fun to follow were the result.


(picture from eltiempo.com)

Let’s get started with the first stage of the tournament though, the six two-legged elimination games for the last spots in the group stage

Oriente Petrolero are hosting the recent Copa Sudamericana winners from Santa Fe. The Bolivians, who finished as third best team back home, should not have too much of a chance, but then again it’s South American football we are talking about. 

The runners-up Huracán from Argentina are facing Venezuelan club Caracas. While I would personally give Huracán who had to get through the same qualifying round last season the advantage, it should be a pretty evenly contested duel. 

Mexican Supercopa MX winners Puebla enter the competition with a matchup against Argentina’s Racing Club. With all due respect to the Mexicans, anything but exiting the Libertadores early would be a surprise to me. Higuain, Bou and Co. are the huge favourites. 

Uruguay’s River Plate will be outsiders against one of Chile’s big sides, Universidad de Chile

Guaraní, last year’s surprising semifinalist, return to the Copa Libertadores in the premier round and battle Independiente del Valle from Ecuador. Maybe the Paraguayans can get through again, but it is by no means a cakewalk.

Finally, Peru’s Universidad César Vallejo face Brazil’s São Paulo. There is only one team that will go through here and it won’t be the Peruvians.

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