South America’s Top Clubs – September 2015

It is the second month in which this ranking is being featured in my blog. New month, new luck? After Emelec led the South American top club ranking in August, the Colombians from Santa Fe took over first place for September after strong performances in the Copa Sudamericana. The rules remain the same: A win in the Sudamericana/Libertadores gets you 6 points, a draw 2. In the domestic leagues, both numbers are halved for the regular 3 and 1. ...

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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....

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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....

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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....

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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...

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By the Numbers – Final Copa Libertadores Statistics

0 – No teams from Chile, Peru or Venezuela made it into the knockout stages of the Copa Libertadores. They will hope to do better in 2016. 3 – For the third time in history, River Plate from Buenos Aires have won the tournament. This will let them play for Club World Cup and, yet again, for the Recopa. 5 – The number of sending-offs Brazilian FIFA referee Sandro Ricci produced in the same amount of matches. 6 – Top assist guy of the Copa Libertadores?...

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Campeones! – River Plate win Copa Libertadores

The mission was successful: For the first time since 1996, CA River Plate have won the Copa Libertadores again. In their own home stadium, El Monumental, Tigres UANL did not stand a chance and were beaten by a commanding 3-0 win. Goals from Lucas Alario (45’), Carlos Sánchez (74’, penalty) and Ramiro Funes Mori (79’) gave the Argentinians a 3-0 success on aggregate. River now hold all three big South American titles at the same time: Libertadores,...

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