Unstoppable - Colombian clubs excel in Copa Sudamericana

If someone had told me a year ago that both international club trophies in South America were being held by Colombian teams and three of them were in the quarterfinal yet again, I likely would not have taken that person too seriously. Colombia's elite proved me wrong. After Santa Fe won the Copa Sudamericana and Atlético Nacional marched through the Libertadores early this year, there are once again three clubs in the 2016 Sudamericana. 

Atlético Junior will keep on shooting in the quarterfinal after beating Montevideo Wanderers (Photo: elespectador.com).

The development in Colombia is eye-opening lately, with fantastic performances on club level and a strong national team that did well ever since qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. While it helps to have the likes of James Rodríguez playing for you, South American dominance comes even more surprisingly, considering the early exit of the most talented youngsters from their youth clubs.

Three of eight clubs in the Copa Sudamericana quarterfinal are Colombian: Atlético Nacional are there yet again, vying for the next silverware. Independiente Medellín, the champions of the Apertura could not be stopped so far either. Lastly, Atlético Junior completes the strong field. Giovanni Hernández' team was stopped just short of the league title, losing the final. Just one team in Deportes Tolima exited early after a first round loss to Deportivo La Guaira, title holders Santa Fe in the round of 16 in poor style.

Reasons for this success are found quickly. Excellent youth work, that brought along players such as the exciting Marlos Moreno, paired with finally gaining somewhat of a killer instinct, that was certainly also assisted by the success of the national team. While they were stopped short countless times throughout the years, despite counting as favourites more than once, Atlético Nacional dominated in the Libertadores from start to finish this time. 

Going back to the present, they will be facing Brazilian side Coritiba for a spot among the last four. They are playing a completely average Serie A season, ranking 13th and still very much in danger of relegation. Their road to the quarterfinals of the Sudamericana was also a rather lucky one. After beating their countrymen from Vitória via away goal rule, they needed penalties to get past Argentine side Belgrano. Atlético Nacional can feel confident about themselves (as they would anyway currently) following wins over Deportivo Municipal (6-0 on aggregate), Club Bolívar (2-1) and Sol de América (3-1). It is hard to see anyone other than Nacional coming out on top of this tie.

Independiente Medellín will have a home game first, facing the side that got the better of Santa Fe: Paraguay's Cerro Porteño. After losing the first leg 0-2, it all seemed over, even more so when it was only 3-1 after 89 minutes in the return leg. Midfielder Cecilio Domínguez thought otherwise and completed a last minute hattrick that brought Cerro into the round of the last eight. Independiente themselves were on the verge of elimination in the past round as well after falling down 3-0 to Santa Cruz due to a Grafite hattrick. Carlos Ibargüen saved the day on the away goal rule. It is hard to determine a favourite in this matchup, it could once again go all the way to penalties. 

All of Independiente's efforts were not enough for Chapecoense (Photo: mundotkm.com).

Atlético Junior could possibly count as the least strong side of the three. They are going to meet Chapecoense, who are in the middle of a typical midfield range season in Brazil. In the Sudamericana, they did a better job, recently knocking out Libertadores record champions Independiente from Argentina. Junior themselves have not lost a game in six so far and will have to make their home advantage count before a tough travel to Brazil. Whether it will be enough at the end remains to be seen. At least they can count on the support of their VIP fan Shakira.

The final quarterfinal tie sounds like a great one on paper, even if no Colombian club is included. San Lorenzo have finally been able to go deep in a South American competition again and are going to meet Chile's Palestino. The fact that San Lorenzo are still alive is relatively surprising after they lost their first game to Banfield 0-2, before storming back with a 4-1 trashing in the second leg. Palestino have raised some eyebrows by finishing off Brazil's title fighting Flamengo after a first leg loss as well. Yet again, two close games are to be expected with the outcome fully open. San Lorenzo's squad quality speak for the Argentinians, but you can never be certain of anything in South America.

Prediction: Atlético Nacional, Independiente Medellín, Chapecoense and San Lorenzo will make it to the semifinals.

Read More

Copa Sudamericana Draw 2016

The Copa Libertadores has not even reached its final stage yet, but CONMEBOL does not take a breather. Last night, the first and second round of the Copa Sudamericana were drawn in Chile. Let us take a look at the results.

The trophy of the Copa Sudamericana. (Photo: bolavip.com)

Eight countries have their teams taking part in round 1, divided into two zones, North and South. North includes Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia. South on the other hand is joined by Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Chile. The two heavyweights Argentina and Brazil are getting a free pass to the second round, where they will face each other in internal matchups. 

First round draw

The North Zone has several interesting matchups coming up during the first round of the competition. Peru's Universitario de Deportes and their famous U logo are going to host Emelec in one of the biggest of all clashes during this stage. Two other big names are involved when Emelec's Ecuadorian countrymates Barcelona SC face Zamora. Barcelona played really well in recent weeks and will look to keep up their good form against one of the biggest clubs from Venezuela.

Deportivo La Guaira (VEN) are going to host Tolima (COL) in what looks like a pretty even affair on paper as well. The other Venezuelan participants, Deportivo Anzoátegui and Deportivo Lara, are going to face Sport Huancayo (PER) and Atlético Junior (COL) respectively. Especially the latter Colombian team looks like it might have a chance to make some noise in the competition this year. 

Colombia's champion Independiente de Medellín has a trip to Ecuador on their schedule as well. They will be facing Universidad Católica. A surely not easy, but very doable task.

The last two games are Aucas (ECU) vs Real Garcilaso (PER) and Deportivo Municipal (PER) vs Atlético Nacional (COL). The Colombians are about to reach the Copa Libertadores final in the meantime. 

Players of Cerro Porteño. The Paraguayans are facing Fénix. (Photo: cronica.com.py)

Over in the South Zone, Uruguay's champion Peñarol will attack in the Copa Sudamericana after horribly failing in the Libertadores. Their chances to make the second round could be worse, as they face Sportivo Luqueño from Paraguay. One of my highlights of the first round is another meeting between clubs from those same countries: Fénix (URU) were matched up against Cerro Porteño (PAR). 

Uruguay's Clausura winner Plaza Colonia are going to play in Bolivia, facing Blooming. It is quite difficult to determine a favourite here, but traditionally, playing in Bolivia's height is no fun, so I would give the edge to them. The last participant from the country of the first World Champion, Montevideo Wanderers are playing O'Higgins from Chile. 

Palestino (CHI) are playing against iconic side Libertad (PAR) in what looks like a great tie on paper. The last Paraguayan side Sol de América are battling Jorge Wilstermann (BOL), who can probably count as favourite going into this game. 

Finally, Real Potosí (BOL) are meeting Universidad Católica (CHI, yes we have both of them in the competition again), while Universidad de Concepción (CHI) entertains Bolívar (BOL). 

Second round draw

Not all Brazilian clubs have qualified for the competition yet (only Sport Recife and Cuiabá so far), but Argentina's field of six teams is complete. 

Champions Lanús are meeting Independiente in a great matchup. Will this be the season, when Independiente finally return to glory or will Lanús keep up their fantastic form from the past half year? Banfield and San Lorenzo will meet in the second all Argentine tie. Last but not least, Estudiantes de la Plata are facing Belgrano.

Read More

Penalty thriller - Santa Fe win Copa Sudamericana

Santa Fe have reached their goal: After two goalless draws against Huracán, the Colombians have won the Copa Sudamericana in a penalty shootout, 3-1, at home.

Champions: Santa Fe celebrate their first Copa Sudamericana title.

The game itself was not the greatest, as it often is in the finals of big competitions. In the first half, Huracán did surprisingly well and had the biggest early chance. In the first minute, striker Rámon Abila might want to have  one back. Home goalkeeper Robinson Zapata made a mess of a back pass and did not get rid of the ball in time. It was deflected towards the goal by Abila, the Argentine went after the ball just to put it wide again across the face of the goal.

Apart from that mishap, Santa Fe controlled the early goings without showing too much offensively. While both teams’ midfielders had tons of time for their passes, they still were not accurate enough and did not exactly offer the fans any spectacle.

The best chance for the Colombians came in the 42nd minute, when Daniel Angulo headed a Seijas corner towards the goal, but into the catching arms of Marcos Díaz. The Argentinian guests defended so well that it remained the only chance of Santa Fe before halftime.

Luis Seijas did not like that very much and thought “let’s get to them earlier now” at the start of the second half. His dropkick was saved with some extra work by Díaz. Four minutes later, Juan Daniel Roa had the next chance for the hosts, but was kept from shooting in the last second.

As time went on, the match got worse and worse. No teams was willing to make any decisive mistakes and therefore a nervous midfield battle was the logical consequence.

The Colombians were the only team with further chances, substitute Omar Pérez clearly helped out his colleagues with his technical class. He was unlucky that Wilson Morelo was offside after his excellent through ball. Since noone showed any more quality moments, the game went to extra-time.

That extra time was highly eventless. Well, apart from an extremely stupid red card from Rámon Abila. Inexplicably, he completely lost his cool and punched the opposing player in the stomach from behind. A heavy loss for the guests for the upcoming penalty shootout.

It was a one-sided affair and left Santa Fe in a euphoric state. Huracán missed three out of four penalties, through Bogado, Nervo and Toranzo. Only Federico Mancinelli was successful with his attempt. Since Omar Pérez, Luis Seijas and Leyvin Balanta were all scoring, the title of the Copa Sudamericana goes to Santa Fe and to Colombia for the first time in history.

Read More

River’s title defense fails – Huracán in Copa Sudamericana final!

For the first time in club history, Huracán have reached the final of the Copa Sudamericana. A 2-2 draw was enough to eliminate local rival and defending champions River Plate 3-2 on aggregate.

Patricio Toranzo celebrates his early goal against River. (photo from infobae.com)

Key to their success were long balls that showed the visitor’s defensive vulnerability. On the first goal from Patricio Toranzo after only 3 minutes, a long clearance became a thorn in the eye of River and goalkeeper Barovero. He was impeded by striker Abila, could not reach the ball cleanly and put it right in front of Toranzo’s foot, who then slotted it into the basically empty net.

The second goal after 26 minutes was initiated by a neat through-ball into the run of striker star Ramón Abila. The Argentine lobbed it over Barovero, who was late to get to the ball. Another empty net, another goal. 2-0 for Huracán was also the halftime score.

One of the main reasons that had River nearly come back and turn the game around was one man: Rodrigo Mora. The striker fired home a fantastic attempt into the top right corner from the edge of the penalty area. No chance whatsoever for Marcos Díaz. After 69 minutes, the guests suddenly had hope again, fueled by their past successes and knowledge that they could turn any game around if needed.

The defending champions now threw everything forward and were rewarded for a second time in the 82nd minute, when Mora was wide open and finished composedly again.

At the end of the day, it was not meant to be. Mora’s striking partner Alario had a few other chances that he could have buried, but did not. While River was more precise in the passing game and had a little more of the ball, the shots ended up being contested pretty evenly. Especially after the first leg, you cannot say it was an undeserved way to advance for Huracán.

The club from Buenos Aires will face Colombia’s Santa Fe in the two-legged final.

Read More

Final! Santa Fe advances with two draws

The first team in the 2015 Copa Sudamericana final is known since the past night. Santa Fe’s 0-0 home draw was enough to get by Sportivo Luqueño with an aggregate score of 1-1. Away goal to the rescue.

Midfield battle between Santa Fe and Sportivo Luqueño. (EFE)

Sadly, the game could never really live up to expectations which were also fueled by the fantastic welcoming of the Colombian crowd. At the end of the night there were only 10 shots fired towards the goal, by both teams mind you.

Santa Fe remained the clearly superior team in the process and had most of the quality chances, especially through their striker and the competition’s top scorer Wilson Morelo. The Paraguayans did not manage a single shot on target, yet should have scored a tap-in. After a low cross from the right from Guido di Vianni, Marcelo Báez was wide open at the far post and managed to deflect the ball onto his own other leg and wide from there.

When Santa Fe had the ball in the net during the second half through a freekick from Omar Pérez, the goal was correctly not given by the referee, as a whole collection of home players were offside and deflected the ball past goalkeeper Arnaldo Giménez.

Through both games, there is not much doubt that Santa Fe is the deserved winner. They now await their final opponent from the matchup between Huracán and defending champions River Plate (1-0 after the first leg). That game is taking place tonight at 12:45am CET.

Here are the match highlights:

Read More

Copa Sudamericana – Semifinals Complete

The semifinals of the 2015 edition of the Copa Sudamericana are complete. After the Argentinian clubs Huracán and River Plate, as well as Paraguay’s Sportivo Luqueño, Santa Fe from Colombia reached the round of the last four the past night.

To the semis they go: Santa Fe have reached the round of the last 4 by beating Independiente (CONMEBOL).

In doing so, Santa Fe prevented the total Argentinian dominance that many feared ahead of the second legs by beating Copa Libertadores record champions Independiente 2-1 on aggregate. The Colombians profited especially from a strong first half, which saw them with most of the possession and chances. Defender Francisco Meza gave the hosts the lead in the 31st minute after heading a corner that was in the air for quite some time into the bottom left corner.

Independiente never got any clear cut scoring chances, even in the second half, while Santa Fe should have built further to their lead. In the 93rd minute, the surprising equalizer came via own goal from goalkeeper Robinson Zapata after a shot was deflected to the post and from there up into his face and into the net.

It was a goal that came a little too late as time was up right after. Here are the match highlights:

---

Notes from around the Copa Sudamericana:

Through their win last night, Santa Fe continue their impressive run. LDU Loja, Nacional, Emelec and now Independiente have been their victims thus far. Next opponent? Sportivo Luqueño, who have reached the semis through a 2-0 home win against Atlético Paranaense, erasing the 0-1 deficit from the first leg.

Wilson Morelo (Santa Fe) continues to lead the goalscoring race along with Bolaños and Núñez, but is the only player of those three left in the competition.

The other semifinal will be an all-Argetinian affair, because the Copa Sudamericana rules state that if two clubs from the same association are left, they have to face each other. That means River Plate (4-3 on aggregate vs Chapecoense) battle it out for a spot in the final with Huracán (1-0 on aggregate vs Defensor Sporting).

Not the worst chances to defend the title for Superchampion River, who counted on Carlos Sánchez in the quarterfinals. The Uruguayan scored 3 of the club’s 4 goals.

None of the other teams that are left (apart from River Plate of course) have ever won the Copa Sudamericana.

Read More

Sánchez Show to Victory – River Plate March On

In last night’s second matchup, the defending champions of every competition, River Plate, entered the Copa Sudamericana quarterfinals with a never endangered 3-1 home victory over Chapecoense.  Man of the match was the brilliant Uruguayan midfielder Carlos Sánchez, who scored twice.

Carlos Sánchez celebrates Leonardo Pisculichis (right) freekick beauty (photo: CONMEBOL).

Right from the get go, River suddenly turned on their form again, that got lost since weeks in the Argentinian league, where they lost game after game. It always amazes me when a team can focus completely on one competition and put all their energy into it.

It took the home team 20 minutes, until they made their dominance count for the first time. A beautiful goal from Carlos Sánchez, who slotted home a low shot into the far corner from the edge of the area, assisted just as nicely by fullback Milton Casco, that showed tremendous overview while storming down the left flank.

River did not sit back and was determined to not let the guests come into this game and it worked well until the 37th minute. Then the Brazilians scored in a pretty simple way. Two times, the ball was deflected further forward, until it reached Maranhao. Chapecoenses left winger did not ask twice and shot the ball under Barovero and into the back of the net. River’s defender Jonatan Maidana was a little slow to react on that scene and let the opposing player walk right in.

It went to halftime tied 1-1 and the Argentinians knew that something had to happen offensively to not travel to Brazil with a disadvantage. They delivered yet again with a heavily dominated second half.

Coach Marcelo Gallardo made a positive offensive-minded substitution by bringing on Tabare Viudez for midfielder Lucho Gonzalez. Two minutes after, River took the lead back. No, it was not Viudez, but instead Leonardo Pisculichi stepped up with a direct freekick hammered into the top left corner: 2-1!

4 minutes from the end, they collected the highly earned third goal. After a tireless battle for the ball inside the area, Driussi crossed it low into the middle, where Carlos Sánchez only had to tap it in for his second goal of the night.

El Monumental was electric all night, as River Plate appear to be on the way to yet another international semifinal appearance, if they can hold on to their two goal lead when visiting Chapecoense in exactly a week.

Here are the highlights for you:

Read More

Controversial Goal – Paranaense beat Luqueño

It’s the Copa Sudamericana quarterfinals week and Brazilian club Atlético Paranaense hosted Paraguay’s last team in the competition, Sportivo Luqueño.

The guests had yet to lose a game in this year’s competition, that also marked their first ever participation. 5 wins against Aurora, La Guaira and Deportes Tolima, along with a draw against La Guaira in the second round, show the strong international form of the Paraguayans.

For Paranaense on the other hand, it’s the first non-Brazilian opponent after advancing past Joinville and Brasília.  At this stage of the competition, easy games should be out of the question and I expected a low scoring affair, which is exactly what we got at the end.

Goalscorer Marcos Guilherme celebrates the matches’ lone goal (photo: CONMEBOL).

A 1-0 home win was the final result, the way it came together was quite controversial, as a foul before the deciding goal was not given by the referee. Walter’s foul was used by Marcos Guilherme, who fired an accurate shot into the bottom right corner, leaving opposing goalkeeper Jorge Chena no chance to make a save. Obviously, the ref should have taken the goal back, apparently did not see the foul though. I will link you the scene in video form below.

In fairness, the win was everything but undeserved. Atlético Paranaense was the dominant team throughout the game and had the better opportunities in the relatively boring first, as well as the second half. A shot total of 9-4 underlines that fact. Sportivo Luqueño on the other side have to come back with a strong home game to erase the deficit from this first leg.

Read More

Argentina Dominates – Copa Sudamericana Round Of 16

The Argentinian clubs had an extremely successful outing last night, with River Plate, Independiente and Huracán all advancing into the quarterfinals. They were followed by Sportivo Luqueño, Atlético Paranaense and Santa Fe.

The champion survives: Matías Kranevitter #5 from River Plate (EFE).

Tonight, the last two matches will be played between Defensor Sporting and Lanús (first leg 0-0), as well as Chapecoense and Libertad (first leg 1-1).

Therefore the quarterfinal looks as follows:

River Plate vs Winner of Chapecoense/Libertad

Sportivo Luqueño vs Atlético Paranaense

Winner of Defensor/Lanús vs Huracán

Santa Fe vs Independiente.

Throughout the game, there were chances on both sides between defending Sudamericana champion River Plate and their Ecuadorian opponents from LDU Quito. Mostly it was a pretty aggressive affair though. A total of 10 yellow and one red card were the result after 90 minutes. The only goal came through a shot from Narciso Mina in the 54th minute, which goalkeeper Barovero maybe should have saved. Quito striker Jonatan Alvez later missed a penalty that would have extended this tie. Like this, River moves to the next round with a 2-1 aggregate win over one of the most inform teams of South America (check the latest TOP ranking).

Independiente was the weaker team than Olimpia for most of the 90 minutes, but sneaked out with a 0-0 away draw which let them advance 1-0 on aggregate. What made the Paraguayan’s performance even more remarkable is the fact that they were down to ten men already in the 39th minute after a stomp from Eduardo Aranda that I am honestly not so sure about. Uruguayan Cristian Rodríguez wasted the biggest chance for the guests when he was wide open running towards goalkeeper Diego Barreto. As Olimpia waves goodbye to the competition I’m leaving you with the pre-match reception of the team from last night.

Huracán on the other hand convinced throughout their game against Brazilian Recife, scoring three goals until the 71st. Big striker Ramón Abila found the back of the net twice and Mauro Bogado did as well with a nice shot from distance in the middle of the two. Towards the end of the match, Recife fell apart, receiving two straight red cards in the last 15 minutes for Ferrugem and Wendel.

In the other game last night, the all Brazilian affair between Brasília and Atlético Paranaense, there was no winner in a goalless draw. Still, the visitors were the much better team with all the good chances, keeping the hosts from having any shot on target. Therefore it’s only right, that they advance to the next round 1-0 on aggregate.

Notes from the Copa Sudamericana:

Sportivo Luqueño played a day before and, with a 1-0 win (2-1 agg.) on the night through a Luis Miño goal, advanced over Deportes Tolima.

With Tolima going out, the only Colombian club left is Santa Fe.

That Santa Fe also won Tuesday night, 1-0 over Emelec, and advances through the away goal rule.

Goalscorer Wilson Morelo was the hero despite missing a penalty.

Read More

Belgra No – Lanús Eliminate League Rival

The round of 16 of the Copa Sudamericana is complete after last night’s action. Exciting matchups are coming up again in the next round. Let us have a look at those and at this week’s results.

Lanús celebrate a big win over Belgrano that puts them into the round of 16 of the Copa Sudamericana. (AFP)

Lanús had no problems whatsoever with Belgrano. After a 1-1 draw in the first leg (with Belgrano’s second fastest goal in Sudamericana history), it did not take long again for the game to get going. Goalkeeper Pablo Heredia was sent off in the first minute after bringing down Sergio González inside the penalty area after a horrendous mistake of his defender. So Nicólas Aguirre stepped up and made it 1-0 early in the game, giving Lanús all the tactical advantages in the world.

They made use of it throughout the game and had the bigger share of possession. It took them until the 40th minute to double the lead when Diego Braghieri cleaned up the leftovers of a deflected freekick. The 3-0 after an hour effectively ended this tie. Belgrano midfielder Guillermo Farré was the poorest person on the pitch after he scored an own goal with no opposing player anywhere near him.

Shortly after, Jorge Vélazquez gave the guests a little hope, but it did not prevail too long. Miguel Almirón and Gonzalo Di Renzo added another two before the end to give Lanús a commanding 6-2 win on aggregate. The Argentinians get to play Uruguayan side Defensor Sporting in the upcoming round. Belgrano meanwhile need to find a way to stop the recent downward trend, that saw them fall from contender for the Argentinian league title to being eliminated awfully from the Copa Sudamericana.

---

Elsewhere, Libertad has followed Lanús into the next round and will face the Brazilians from Chapecoense after a 1-0 win over Universidad Católica (4-2 aggregate). The guests from Chile ended the game with only 9 men, after both Guillermo Maripán and Marco Medel were sent off in the last ten minutes. It did not change much about the result anymore though, as the decisive goal was already scored in the 17th minute by Rodrigo López.

Emelec were extremely lucky to make it to the next round. Juventud not only missed a penalty during the game, also several other chances were wasted or survived with pure luck by the Ecuadorians. Since the first game ended 0-0 as well, this affair went to penalties right after the 90 minutes ended. The Uruguayans missed one too many. One of them by goalkeeper Carini, who interestingly enough took the very first one.

A surprise win was celebrated by Deportes Tolima, who decided the Colombian duel in Barranquilla against Atlético Junior for themselves. After losing the first leg at home, not much was expected from them anymore, they knew better and won the second leg 2-0. First half goals from Jonatan Estrada and Didier Delgado were enough to sneak into the next round after all. One reason for that? A saved penalty by goalkeeper Joel Silva on Vladimir Hernández.

Independiente striker Albertengo celebrates with teammate Vera after his goal. (infiernorojo.com)

A late goal from Lucas Albertengo (87th) sent Independiente into the next round after beating Arsenal de Sarandí 2-1 on aggregate. After their recent run of good form, the Argentinians might be a possible favourite for the whole competition itself. First though, they will have to deal with Olimpia that eliminated Águilas Pereira with a 1-2 away win. Striker Ariel Núñez scored his fifth goal of the Sudamericana and is the top scorer after two rounds.

Club Nacional are out despite winning the second leg against Santa Fe 1-0 with a goal from Santiago Romero. The unlucky 0-2 loss at home which I described in detail in the first leg was too much to come back from eventually. The Colombians now face Emelec in a game between (theoretically at least) two of the top teams.

LDU Quito, the team that collected the most points throughout South America (look out for the next TOP ranking!), won late but comfortably against Nacional Asunción. An 86th minute penalty from Juan Cavallero gave them a 1-0 victory on the night, 2-0 on aggregate. They now face the struggling defending champions River Plate, who only enter the competition in the upcoming round.

The only Uruguayan team left, Defensor Sporting, looked good at least in their away win at Peruvian side Universitario. Facundo Castro should score the only goal of the match already five minutes in. Since they won their home leg 3-0 as well, they now get to face Lanús as previously mentioned.

Huracán beat Tigre again, this time 1-0 (6-2 aggregate), Federico Mancinelli scored the winner an hour into the game. The Argentinians battle Brazil’s Recife in the next round.

Finally, Sportivo Luqueño smacked Deportivo La Guaira 4-0 (5-1 on aggregate). While the Paraguayan teams look really strong, La Guaira was the last Venezuelan team to wave goodbye.

---

Here is the overview of the round of 16 matchups:

LDU Quito – River Plate

Chapecoense – Libertad

Sportivo Luqueño – Deportes Tolima

Brasília – Atlético Paranaense

Defensor Sporting – Lanús

Huracán – Sport Recife

Santa Fe – Emelec

Olimpia – Independiente

Read More

Update – Copa Sudamericana 2nd Round Results

Nacional have lost 0-2 to Santa Fe in an eventful and controversial game. You can find the match report here.

Deportivo La Guaira drew 1-1 with Sportivo Luqueño.

Universidad Católica, after a 2-0 halftime lead, lost 2-3 to Libertad.

What a win: Libertad came from two goals down to win away in Chile.

Emelec were unsatisfied with a goalless draw against Juventud. Especially the away goalkeeper Carini left the Ecuadorian strikers behind desperately.

Belgrano only needed 17 seconds to get the lead against Lanús. While it was the second fastest goal in Copa Sudamericana history, it was not enough to get the win. The guests scored in the 89th minute, so it is all tied up before the return leg.

Fernando Márquez scores the 2nd fastest goal in #CopaSudamericana history, assisted beautifully by Lucas Zelarrayán https://t.co/Lxs39wJfhl

— Steffen (@germancopablog) August 28, 2015

Finally, Atlético Paranaense has reached the round of 16 after a 1-0 win over Joinville.

Read More

Santa Fe celebrate lucky win over 9 men Nacional

Thursday evening in Montevideo: Nacional versus Santa Fe, probably the best matchup of the second round, kicked off with its first leg. Due to their home advantage I would have named the Uruguayans favorites today. The lineups were as follows.

Nacional: Conde - Eroza, Malvino, Polenta, Espino - Porras, Romero - Barcia, González, De Pena - Alonso.

Santa Fe: Castellanos – Otalvaro, Mina, Meza, Cummings – Anchio, Roa, Salazar, Seijas – Morelo, Angulo.

In particular striker Wilson Morelo, who scored a hattrick for Santa Fe in the previous round, needed to be contained by the host’s defense. To be fair, Nacional were on a high themselves going into this match, after their last minute league victory over River Plate. Maybe Santiago Romero would be the hero again today?

Finally the wait was over and the match kicked off in a very atmospheric Gran Parque Central. And just as it started, it might have been decided already. Diego Polenta stomped on an attackers leg right after fouling him and therewith brought Nacional down to 10 men only three minutes in. Coach Munúa sacrificed offensive midfielder Nacho González and brought on Gorga to complete the back four again. Let’s see to what extent the Colombians could use the nearly full distance man advantage.

The game itself developed into a pretty hectic one in the opening stages, probably understandably so after the early events. Many little mistakes, too long balls, simply misplaced passes and the like. Nacional still enjoyed a good amount of possession and actually had the first big chance of the match a quarter of an hour in. De Pena headed a freekick towards the bottom right corner, but Castellanos got there in time to make the save.

Best player on the pitch in the first half: Carlos De Pena.

Nacional really started to take control in the following minutes, dominated across the wings, in particular De Pena, who convinced with his runs and technical excellence. The next cross from the right found the Iván Alonso in the middle of the penalty area, but his looping header went over the crossbar. In the meantime, the guests did not find a way into this tie. Instead, leftback Cummings himself got in danger of a second yellow card after half an hour. He had quite some difficulties defending the Uruguayan attacks down his side. His coach apparently saw the same and took him off after 33 minutes, which was likely a smart decision considering the way he looked. Did the new guy do it better? Nah. It took Villarraga two minutes to go into the referee’s book himself after bringing down Barcia like Cummings did multiple times.

A few minutes before halftime, the whole affair escalated fully. The referee sent off two more players after a bit of pushing and shoving, one from each team, Anchio and captain Alonso. Yellow cards might have done, but seemingly not tonight. By halftime we had 6 yellow and 3 red cards. 9 vs. 10 in the first half, pure entertainment. Oh yeah, the match itself was alright too. Nacional impressed despite being a man short and completely dominated their Colombian guests, who showed less than nothing and will be disappointed after 45 minutes.

After a quarter of an hour to calm down everyone’s nerves, we were back at it with the second half. My guess would be that we see at least one more sending off. Oh, and a goal maybe since it was not like the room got any less for the players that were left. Even though Santa Fe appeared more willing to get something done offensively, the Uruguayan champions’ defense continued to look marvelous and did not give away anything. On the other side, Nacional had the first big chance of the second half again through a counter attack, Espino’s nice sprint and pass into the run of Barcia, but the right wing’s shot was blocked by a sliding tackle.

An hour into the game, Santa Fe had their first real chance, but no shot on goal because of a nice interception from Porras, at least they showed up a little more in dangerous areas now, proving that defending with 9 men is not always an easy task. Right away it paid off then, pretty undeserving at this point: One long pass was enough to get by the whole defense and it of course it found Wilson Morelo. After being around goalkeeper Conde, he only had to tap it into the empty net, 0-1.

It was a difficult question for the hosts at this point 20 minutes from the end: How much offense is justifiable being down a man, but also a goal in their home game? They elected the “a lot” option, had two good chances right after falling down. Why not come from behind in the Sudamericana as well? Santa Fe had something against it and should have made it two themselves, but Angulo backheeled it wide. Luis Seijas did it better and punished Nacional for committing too many players forward with a nice finish off a counter: 0-2.

It just was not meant to be for the hosts despite all battling and fighting. There were few more chances both ways, but it remained a two goal away win in Montevideo. 0-2 is a very disappointing result for Uruguay’s record champion, as they were the better team for large parts of this game, while being a player less since the third minute. Santa Fe were extremely effective and I guess that is how you can do it if you want to be successful. One moment of abstraction and a counter were enough to get a big advantage before going home for the second leg in about three weeks.

Read More

From Surprises, Hattricks & The Same Old

The second round of the Copa Sudamericana started for most and continued for others.

It was kicked off by the second leg between Brazilian teams Goiás and Brasília. The away team, after drawing in the first leg, managed to upset in the return one. A 0-2 away win for the Serie D side means they advance to the round of 16 after silencing the crowd at Goiás.

Defensor Sporting started off their tie against Universitario de Deportes with a 3-0 home win. Like in the first round, the Uruguayans go into the second leg once again with a huge advantage that they cannot possibly lose. Or can they? La U did not defend very well throughout the match and disappointed in this form. They are the last international hope of Peru and will need to pull a surprise out of their bags back at home.

Ecuador’s LDU Quito continued their magnificent recent form with a 1-0 home win over Paraguay’s Club Nacional. The guests went down in the 41st minute due to a strike from midfielder Holger Matamoros, which they could not recover from.

Chapecoense dominated in the rain at home and are qualified for the round of 16.

Two Brazilian clashes saw pretty clear scorelines after 90 minutes. Sport Recife beat Bahia 4-1, scoring most goals late after the game was tied nearly 80 minutes in. Chapecoense got things going with a penalty goal in the last minute of the first half and followed it up with two more goals in the second half against Ponte Preta, making it a 3-0 final. With those high results, both Chapecoense and Recife have qualified for the next round of the Copa Sudamericana.

Over in Argentina, Arsenal de Sarandí faced Independiente. The game ended 1-1 and kept the guests’ 9 match unbeaten streak (through all competitions) going. Federico Lértora (32’) gave Arsenal the lead with a fantastic goal from the edge of the area that I linked below. But it was not enough to get the win. Goalkeeper Oscar Limia did not look on the tying goal from Julián Vitale in the 70th minute.

Usually one of the lower scoring teams in the Argentinian league, Huracán burned down a firework last night with a 5-2 away win at Tigre. The hosts had seemingly zero defensive control in this match and fell down 0-5 after about an hour. In the process, Cristian Espinoza scored a hattrick. Wilchez and Luna got two goals back before the end, but it looks very doubtful that Tigre can make a comeback away to Huracán.

The Paraguayans from Olimpia, who have also had a fantastic August, need a strong performance away at Águilas Pereira. The first leg at home only ended 1-1, after Olimpia had led for a long time through yet another Núñez goal. But the Colombians fought back and equalized through Luis Páez’ late strike in the 87th minute.

Finally, Deportes Tolima dropped their home game to Atlético Junior from Colombia. While the game was tied 0-0 for a long time, an unnecessary penalty was converted by substitute Vladimir Hernández in the 74th.

---

TONIGHT: I will follow the Nacional vs Santa Fe match in detail. Look out for the match report!

---

Read More

The Next Mascherano – Matías Kranevitter

After winning the Copa Sudamericana and Libertadores, it is time to look at a player that had some of the most significant impact on River Plate’s recent successes and who will be transferred to Europe as early as December: Matías Kranevitter.

View image | gettyimages.com

Roots and the person behind the footballer

Kranevitter, born in San Miguel de Tucumán in May of 1993, received his European sounding surname from his German ancestors and is a family man by all means. Whenever time and schedule allow it, he travels to his hometown village Yerba Buena in the surroundings of Tucumán. In a small football field, improved by Matías himself by adding new metal goals and spotlights, friends and family gather during those times to spend some time with the man who left for Buenos Aires as a boy aged 14 to conquer the football world. Back in the days, he used to earn some extra dollars working as a caddy on the golf course and therewith helping out his parents, who were taking care of 5 more sons on top. His nicknames are “Colorado” and just short “Colo”.

Debut and Beginnings

On December 2nd, 2012, Matías Kranevitter celebrated his debut against Lanús when he played a minute after coming on as a substitute for Rodrigo Mora. Since the game ended 1-0, he won his first ever match for River Plate.
Kranevitter's first full 90 minutes came about half a year later after being called up to the first team for the final few games of the year against San Martín in the Torneo Final's last week. It was the game where he contributed his first and still only assist of his professional career.
From there on out, there was not much looking back for the Argentine, who received significantly more playing time in the following year and became a full time first team player. Starting the year 2014, he played in each but one league game, nine of them over the full distance. The season ended with the league title, ahead of archrival Boca and Estudiantes, just two years after the club had been relegated into the Primera B.

Champion Kranevitter

A couple of months before his first team debut, Matías Kranevitter added the first piece of silverware to his trophy cabinet that got larger ever since. With River's U20 team, he won the Copa Libertadores youth tournament played in Peru. The first professional title came two years later with the aforementioned Argentinian championship. Marcelo Gallardo turned the team into a mean winning machine that specialised in knockout games. Triumphs in Copa Sudamericana, Recopa and Copa Libertadores would follow. The midfielder, aged 22, holds every international trophy possible.

View image | gettyimages.com

Playing style

Kranevitter is a traditional Argentinian #5. His idol is Fernando Redondo, but his comparable in more recent past would be Javier Mascherano. Experts call him the legitimate successor of the Barcelona star.

Being a defensive midfielder, his strengths lay predominantly in his own half. It shows in the fact that in 74 games, Kranevitter has not scored a single goal yet and assisted just one. The Argentine sets the tempo of his team and distributes the ball to each side beautifully, whether alone or with Leonardo Ponzio alongside of him. To support the centerbacks while defending, he often falls back between them when needed. A huge strength of his is breaking up play by either intercepting the pass or with his tackles which are usually timed particularly well.

On the field you simply recognize him, because his teammates search and want him to have the ball. He is tactically one step too big for the Argentinian league already. With his 1.79m body size, he shows excellent technical qualities on top of it, controls the ball well and avoids opponents before they even know it. Kranevitter has the stamina to do it all in a high tempo throughout the game.

His weaknesses are the obvious ones. With a rather short size, he will not dominate the aerial battles in European midfields. Furthermore, he avoids joining attacks from his defensive position, which results in basically no scorer points. The Argentine needs to work on that and improve his offensive game, then, and I have no doubts about that, he will be a name that will be one of the most sought after in the world.

View image | gettyimages.com

The future

Reportedly, the player has already given his word or even signed a contract with Atlético Madrid and will join them for about 8 million € in the coming December. It is a transfer that fits into the “System Atlético”, who have done a lot of nice youth work lately. With Diego Simeone, he will find an Argentine coach, who is not unlikely to build on Kranevitter. After all, he is a player for all the dirty work, and any team loves to have them. In addition, his Italian passport makes him even easier to carry for a Spanish team that has a limit on 3 non EU foreigners.

Europe and Atlético Madrid, get ready for the new Mascherano, for Matías ‘Colo’ Kranevitter.

Read More

Melgar Close to Sensation - Copa Sudamericana Second Legs

Close enough: Melgar were just eliminated after losing 4-5 on aggregate.

After losing 0-5 away in Colombia last week, noone gave FBC Melgar any sort of chance in the return leg this Tuesday night. And how wrong they were. The Peruvians came so close to actually forcing extra time against Atlético Junior, that it should count as a sensation in itself. 4-0 was the final result in a game that was dominated by Melgar at all times and nearly had a happy ending. The fact that they even believed in their chance after what happened last week shows you a lot about South American football and that absolutely everything is possible. Do not count out anyone at any time. By halftime, a 2-0 lead through two goals from Bernardo Cuesta looked nice, but more chances were wasted and those are what was missing at the end. Since the hosts scored two more by the 83rd minute, everything was set for a sensational finish, but the Colombians just crawled across the finish line. Never had they expected a run for their money as shown by Peru’s Melgar on that day.

Atlético Junior, after their scare, face Colombian countrymen Deportes Tolima in the second round. It took them penalties to beat Venezuela’s Carabobo FC 3-1. The two legs were not all that exciting after a total of zero goals in 210 minutes.

Lots of reason to party: Sportivo Luqueño destroyed Aurora at home.

The one Bolivian team that did not get smashed in the first leg (see last article) happily made up for it in the second leg. Aurora lost in Paraguay to Sportivo Luqueño by a scoreline of 1-5 (2-7 aggregate). The favorite did not leave any doubts in the process leading 2-0 by halftime and 4-0 after an hour. Guido Di Vanni scored two goals in the second leg. In the next stage, Luqueño faces…

…Deportivo La Guaira who needed just one goal to eliminate Ecuador’s Universidad Catolica. Edgar Pérez Greco scored in the 41st minute, and after a 1-1 draw in the first leg away from home, it was enough to see the Venezuelans through.

The other Universidad Católica, the one from Chile, did a better job and kicked out Uruguay’s Danubio FC. The game was opened up by a weird own goal of defender Matías de los Santos, who headed the ball back over the top of his goalkeepers hands right into the top corner. The Uruguayan hosts fought back and got level with a goal from Juan Olivera (50th), but it was all over when the defense failed completely ten minutes from the end and Mark González scored to shoot Universidad into the next round.

The Chileans are going to play against Libertad in the second round. Paraguay’s 2014 double champion converted two penalties during the second leg and sneaked by the Santiago Wanderers who posed a challenge (2-1 agg.).

Club Bolívar, despite winning 2-0 against Defensor Sporting, are out of the Copa Sudamericana as well. The 3-0 burden from the first leg was simply too much to recover from. William Ferreira scored both goals for the Bolivians.

Continuing the theme of double goalscorers is Ariel Núñez. The 27 year old Paraguayan striker scored twice in Olimpia’s 2-0 win over Huachipato. Since he already scored in the first leg, Olimpia was absolutely cruising through the first round, beating their opponents from Chile 4-0 on aggregate.

In the last first round tie, which is already finished, LDU Quito saved Ecuador and got by Venezuela’s Zamora. While I expected some more of the team that already played in the Libertadores during the first half of the year, they disappointed in the second leg especially. A 2-0 loss in Ecuador’s capital meant game over, since all they managed in their own stadium before was a 1-1 draw.

---

Notes from around the Copa Sudamericana:

Not only the first round is still in progress, the Brazilians already started the second, in which they enter the competition. Here are the results from last night:

Brasília 0-0 Goiás

Ponte Preta 1-1 Chapecoense

Bahia 1-0 Sport Recife

Read More

Bolivian Disaster in the Sudamericana

Oriente Petrolero 0-3 Nacional.

Defensor Sporting 3-0 Club Bolívar.

CA Juventud 4-1 Real Potosí.

Club Aurora 1-2 Sportivo Luqueño.

A loss in an Uruguayan swimming pool: Bolívar fell 3-0 to Defensor.

The first round could have started off better for the Bolivian teams. Each and every one of them lost in a pretty heavy fashion. Three times, Uruguayan teams destroyed their opponents: Nacional, Defensor and Juventud were the clearly better clubs in their meetings. Club Aurora, who do not even play in the highest Bolivian league, remarkably managed the lowest of all losses. The way it came together though is one for every fail compilation and you need to see it.

Bolivia’s football does not look particularly strong at the moment. While they managed to at least get one team into the round of 16 of the Libertadores in Universitario Sucre, and therefore did better than Peru, Chile and Venezuela, this is a total disaster, as it looks extremely unlikely that any of them will advance.

Furthermore, it’s been 21 years since the last qualification for a World Cup from the national team. As the biggest success, a Copa América win is even longer ago (1963), not much speaks for a turnaround anytime soon.

Read More

La U and Nacional with quality efforts – Copa Sudamericana

The Copa Sudamericana has finally started last night and 47 teams from all over South America will fight for the second biggest continental club title. If you missed the preview, you can find it here.

Successful part time worker: Roberto Gutiérrez came on late and scored the winner for Universidad Católica.

One of Chile’s most famous clubs, Universidad Católica hosted Uruguay’s Danubio in the capital Santiago to kick things off in the first round. The game itself was not the absolute greatest, but the Chileans managed to come away with a 1-0 win and go to Uruguay with the narrow advantage. The lone goal came pretty late, scored by substitute Roberto Gutiérrez. In addition, Danubio were down to 10 men at the time, after right fullback Peña had been sent off. Still, it was a deserved victory, after U Católica outshot the visitors 10-2.

The other Universidad Católica in the competition, the one from Ecuador, faced Deportivo La Guaira, winner of the Copa Venezuela. The game was very evenly contested and subsequently had no winner. Goals from Facundo Martínez (penalty) and Daniel Benítez meant things ended in a 1-1 draw. A good result for the Venezuelans, who will have every chance to advance at home next week.

An according to the statistics even match finished goalless between Venezuela’s Carabobo FC and Colombia’s Deportes Tolima. 7-8 shots, 16-17 fouls, 232-219 passes. Maybe there was not meant to be a winner here. Advantage Tolima next week?

While we are talking of advantages, Club Nacional anyone? The Uruguayan champions smashed Oriente Petrolero away in Bolivia by a scoreline of 0-3. To be fair, the goals were handed to them on a silver platter. After a corner, Alonso could not direct the ball into the net, but centerback Aja did the job for him, taking it out of the air nicely and finishing it in a very composed manner. Right before halftime, Leandro Barcia used a huge blunder of goalkeeper Marcos Argüello. The Bolivian did not manage to catch the ball after his teammate ran into him, so Barcia said thank you and lobbed it over both of them. Finally, in the 71st, Nacional added a third via own goal from Ronald Raldes. Oriente was down a man through a red card by then already.

The last matchup of the night featured Peru’s iconic side Universitario de Deportes. La U, as they are called, beat their guests from Venezuela, Deportivo Anzoátegui, in convincing fashion. During the 3-1 success, the Peruvians also scored a goal from a fantastic combination that I will link below. Henry Giménez (13’), Ángel Romero (28’) and Germán Alemanno (57’) gave the hosts a 3-0 lead, before Edwin Aguilar gave the Venezuelans slight hope for the second leg by getting one back. That return leg will be have to played without defender Diego Araguainamo, who was sent off for two yellow cards.

Read More

Club Nacional de Football – Uruguayan Record Champions Attack Again

As a new season approaches, I’m taking a look at Uruguay’s record champion, Nacional, including possible problems and changes in personnel.

Important subtractions: Captain and goalkeeper Gustavo Munúa, now the new coach of the team, ended his playing career and takes a direct step onto the other side of the game. Gastón Pereiro took the opportunity to join Dutch club PSV Eindhoven for 7 million €. A nice sum for Nacional, but quite a loss in terms of player potential. Midfielder Diego Arismendi followed former coach Gutiérrez to Saudi-Arabia and joined Al-Shabab Riad. Not too shabby of an option for the pocket either. Wingers Bueno and Tabó returned to their clubs after loans. Club legend Alváro Recoba left the club with the national title in his last match.

Important additions: Esteban Conde (from Rafaela) and Luis Mejía (Fénix) are the new goalkeepers replacing Munúa and Bava. The defense definitely looks stronger than last year. Carlos Valdés and Diego Polenta came in on a permanent deals after being on loan last season already. They are joined by Matías Malvino from Lugano. Former Uruguayan international Sebastián Eguren  returned to his home country, while El Loco Sebastián Abreu did just the same.

Which way are Club Nacional on? Striker Iván Alonso (24) hopes it’s only up.

Good and bad: Offensively, Nacional lost a lot of quality and did not replace it too well yet. Abreu is not someone that will carry the team for example internationally (Sudamericana) anymore. On the plus side, the defense that was struggling a lot in the past half year was strengthened and should do better again. And as long as defense wins championships, Nacional should be fine. After an exit to Brazil was rumored earlier this year, top striker Iván Alonso stayed with the club and was made the new captain by Munúa. He keeps playing a key role in their plans.

Preseason friendlies: Argentinian teams did not look too well against Nacional. That was probably mainly because they did not field their A teams due to their own league action. 1-0 vs Estudiantes, 4-0 vs Boca, 2-2 vs GyE after being down 0-2. It looks like Uruguay’s record champions are ready for the season.

Key dates: Oriente Petrolero from Bolivia have the honor to open the Montevideo club’s season.

August 11, 20:15 local (2:15 CET): Oriente Petrolero vs Nacional

August 15: Start of Uruguayan league, Villa Teresa vs Nacional

August 20, 21:00 local (2:00 CET): Nacional vs Oriente Petrolero

12th league matchweek: Clásico, Nacional vs Peñarol.

The full league schedule can be found here.

Read More

Copa Sudamericana – The Draw Of First And Second Round

Last night’s draw of the Copa Sudamericana in Paraguay has produced quite a few interesting games around South America. The procedure of the games is as follows: In the first round, the eight countries’ teams (not Brazil & Argentina) enter the competition and, split in North and South, face each other. The winners move on to the second round, where Argentinians and Brazilians take part as well. Scroll to the bottom to see the full list of matchups.

In the Northern zone, Emelec visits León de Huánuco. The Ecuadorians enjoyed a fine Copa Libertadores season which only ended after a quarterfinal loss to the strong Mexicans from Tigres UANL. For the upcoming Sudamericana, they will have to be regarded as one of the title favorites. The Peruvians from Huánuco meanwhile are clear outsiders in this matchup.

Another good first round game should take place between Zamora (VEN) and Liga de Quito (ECU). Both are some of the best teams in their respective countries.

Finally, Santa Fe (COL) will be visitor to Liga de Loja (ECU). The Colombians followed previously mentioned Emelec into the quarterfinals, only to be eliminated by Internacional. Next to Emelec and Zamora, they are the best team in the Northern zone, and you can expect them in the second barring some upset.

When looking South, we’re finding a lot of traditional teams, three of the prime matchups see a battle between Uruguay and Bolivia. Oriente Petrolero face Uruguayan champions Club Nacional in a game between two already qualified clubs for the 2016 Libertadores. Both want to go far in this competition, now we already have it in round 1.

Defensor Sporting (URU) could have a tough time with Bolívar. The Bolivian champions might indeed be early favorites to go through, but you can’t just count out a Uruguayan team that knows how to fight.

The third one sees Juventud (URU) host Real Potosí (BOL). 

Most of all, we should mention Paraguay. They have some of the most famous clubs in the competition this season. Libertad visit the Chileans from Santiago Wanderers, Nacional host Universidad de Conceptión from the same country, and finally Olimpia will play against Huachipato.

While the winners will all face each other in the second round, the other places will be filled by inter country matchups in Argentina and Brazil. The seeding in Brazil is not determined yet. Argentina sees games between Belgrano and Lanús, Arsenal and Copa Libertadores record champions Independiente as well as Tigre and Huracán.

Here are all the games that have been determined (winners of each line to face each other):

Olimpia vs Huachipato / Águilas Doradas vs Unión Comercio

Oriente Petrolero vs Nacional (URU) / Liga de Loja vs Santa Fe

Zamora vs Liga de Quito / Nacional (PAR) vs Universidad de Concepción

Carabobo vs Deportes Tolima / Junior vs Melgar

Universidad Católica vs Danubio / Santiago Wanderers vs Libertad

Defensor Sporting vs Bolívar / Universitario vs Deportivo Anzoátegui

León de Huánuco vs Emelec / Juventud vs Real Potosí

Universidad Católica vs Deportivo La Guaira / Aurora vs Sportivo Luqueño

Belgrano vs Lanús

Arsenal vs Independiente

Tigre vs Huracán

Read More