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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