Copa Sudamericana 2009 (R)

This tournament started last night as Universidad de Chile beat Deportivo Cali 2-1 in the first leg of their preliminary round match. The same day it was determined in a playoff in Uruguay that Liverpool would be that country's final representative.

This is the preliminary phase of the competition:

Fase Preliminar
Clasificación O1
Atlético Mineiro (BRA) Goiás EC (BRA)

Clasificación O2
CD La Equidad (COL) Unión Española (CHI)

Clasificación O3
Coritiba FC (BRA) Vitória (BRA)

Clasificación O4
Deportivo Cali (COL) Universidad de Chile (CHI)

Clasificación O5
Flamengo (BRA) Fluminense (BRA)

Clasificación O6
Cienciano (PER) Liverpool (URU)

Clasificación O7
CA Lanús (ARG) River Plate (ARG)

Clasificación O8
Emelec (ECU) Zamora FC (VEN)

Clasificación O9
Atl. Paranaense (BRA) Botafogo (BRA)

Clasificación O12
Alianza Atlético (PER) Deportivo Anzoátegui (VEN)

Clasificación O15
Boca Juniors (ARG) Vélez Sarsfield (ARG)

Clasificación O11
CA Tigre (ARG) San Lorenzo (ARG)

Clasificación O14
Blooming (BOL) River Plate (URU)

Clasificación O16
Cerro Porteño (PAR) La Paz FC (BOL)

Clasificación O10
Libertad (PAR) Liga D. Universitaria Quito (ECU)

That Boca Jrs. loss yesterday kind of hurt....especially against Velez....

Boca lost to Velez, Lanus are playing River as I write this and are up 2-1 on aggregate a half hour into game 2. Would be some sort of justice if both Boca and River who were invited to the tournament and did not earn their berths through their season record would both be eliminated at the first hurdle. Supposedly this will be the final time where Boca and River will be automatically invited to the Sudamericana, now that the tournament is more established, they'll have to earn the right to compete in it like everyone else.

Welcome to the message board nightfall.

Yes sorry...i was just foretelling the River Plate loss too ....I apologize and I have corrected my top fault...I guess I was thinking about how both invitees might get eliminated in the last year that they will be invited. Sad isn't it? And yes this has officially been announced as the last year that they are invitees. That and 5 Mexican teams are going to Libertadores next year. Chivas and San Luis will go directly to Round of 16, with the Mexico 1 and 2 starting out in group phase and Mexico 3 going through the preliminary.

River Plate lost 3-1 against Lanus so the Round of 16 is like this...

(Brazil)Goias v.(Paraguay) Cerro Porteno

(Ecuador)Emelec v. (Brazil) Botafogo

(Chile)Universidad De Chile v.(Brazil) Internacional

(Brazil)Fluminense v. (Peru)Alianza Atletico

(Chile)Union Espanola V.(Argentina) Velez Sarsfield

(Argentina)Lanus v.(Ecuador) LDU Quito

(Brazil)Vitoria v.(Uruguay) River Plate

(Peru)CienCiano v.(Argentina) San Lorenzo


I will update this with results as the tourney goes on so stay tuned.

Hey River Plate are still in the tournament! Oh wait it is Uruguay's River Plate, you know the better of the two River Plates!

U de Chile against defending champions Internacional looks like a good matchup as does Lanus against LDU Quito and Union Espanola versus Velez.

Sad but true...Boca Juniors, River Plate, and Albiceleste seem to be going in a death spiral as of late.

Of Brasil's teams, Goias and Internacional are the best equipped to do well although Botafogo have said with no chance at winning the league title, that they will concentrate on doing well in the Sudamericana (or Sulamericana as we call it in Brasil!) Fluminense are bottom of the league and need to worry about avoiding relegation more than this tourney.

An Internacional against either Velez or San Lorenzo would to me the most attractive final. But be careful of LDU Quito, a talented team who know how to win tournaments.

Internacional plays that Porto Alegre type of quick, fast paced, beautiful football I love...would love to see them in the final.

Monday's first leg result:
River Plate 4 - 1 Vitoria

Tuesday's results:
Alianza Atletico 2 - 2 Fluminense
Velez Sarsfield 3 - 2 Union Espanola
Botafogo 2 - 0 Emelec
Internacional 1 - 1 Univ. de Chile

Wednesday's scores:
LDU de Quito 4 - 0 Lanus
San Lorenzo 3 - 0 Cienciano
Cerro Porteno 2 - 0 Goias

An incredible game at Velez, union Espanola played a fantastic match especially their Argentinian attacker david Ramirez who set up a picture perfect counter attack goal to put Union Espanola 2-1 up but in the final minute of regulation, a Velez shot came off the bar and rebounded off a defende rinto the net then in the final minute of injury time substitute Rolando Zarate scored the game winner. A great comeback by Velez but Union Espanola showed they are a tough team and with 2 away goals they definitely have a good chance at home next week to reverse the score. Should be a fascinating return game.

The biggest surprise to me though was Uruguay's River Plate scoring 4 against Vitoria of Brazil. LDU Quito scored 4 against Lanus in Quito with Claudio Bieler scoring a first half hattrick. San Lorenzo with 2 goals by Bernardo Romeo beat Cienciano 3-0. Interestingly no road teams won and only Fluminense and Universidad de Chile were able to obtain road draws. Sets them up pretty well for next week's return legs. River Plate, LDUQ and San Lorenzo are the teams in good shape heading to leg 2.

What an exciting game between Velez and Union Española. The Chilean club played a very good match and as rosarino pointe dout were dangerous on the counter and well organized defensively. But velez have no quit in them and they courageously fought back for the win. The return game won't be easy but Velez' own counter will be a good weapon in Chile. I think Velez can do what is needed to advance.

As was posted above me and sorry for the non-posts...here are the scores after the first legs...

(Brazil) Goiás 0-2 Cerro Porteño (Paraguay)

(Ecuador) Emelec 0-2 Botafogo (Brazil)

(Chile) Universidad De Chile 1-1 Sport Club Internacional (Brazil)

(Brazil) Fluminense 2-2 Alianza Atlético (Peru)

(Chile) Unión Española 2-3 Vélez Sársfield (Argentina)

(Argentina) Lanús 0-4 Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito (Ecuador)

(Brazil) Vitória 1-4 River Plate (Uruguay)

(Peru) Cienciano 0-3 San Lorenzo (Argentina)

Cienciano 0-2 San Lorenzo (0-5 global score)
Vitoria 1-1 River Plate (2-5 global)
Universidad de Chile 1-0 Internacional (2-1)
Emelec 2-1 Botafogo (2-3)

Good win for U de Chile at home against the champions Internacional. They shut Inter down for most of the game and always looked the more dnagerous. A name from the past as Kily Gonzalez wih one of San Lorenzo's goals in their win in Cuzco. Emelec won in Ecuador over Botafogo but they fell a few goals short as Botafogo scored an early away goal.

An impressive win by U de Chile even at home as they were playing not only the current holders of the trophy but one of the top teams ths season in Brazil. The Chilean club though always looked the better of the two teams over both legs in my opinion. They are a compact team with some good skill and plenty of heart, could be a team to watch out for in this year's Sudamericana.

Nice win for San Lorenzo too up in the high altitude of Cuzco, goals by a veteran-Kily Gonzalez and a youngster Rovira, a player we will hear more of.

After their dramatic 1st leg I am looking forward tonight to Union Espanola-Velez.

Thursday's results, with the aggregate scores in parentheses:

Lanus 1-1 Liga de Quito (1-5)
Goias 3-1 Cerro Porteno (3-3 w/ Cerro winning on away goals)
Union Espanola 2-2 Velez (4-5)
Fluminense 4-1 Alianza Atletico (6-3)

No surprises with Liga and Fluminense advancing although Fluminense beat Alianza Atletico in a violent game where it ended with 10 Flu players and 8 for Alianza. Goias scored 3 goals against Cerro porteno but the lone away goal Cerro scored was enough for them to advance on the away goals tiebreaker. Meanwhile Union Espanola began greatly and were 2-0 in front at the half over Velez when Leandro Caruso, subbing in for the injured Maxi Moralez scored 2 goals for Velez who won 5-4 overall. Another exciting match between the two clubs with veklez' guile pulling them through against a good team but one who tired and had trouble defending in the air.

These then are the quarterfinal matchups, to be played October 20-22 (first leg) and November 3-5 (second leg):

Cerro Porteno-Botafogo
Fluminense-Universidad de Chile
Velez-Liga de Quito
River Plate (Uruguay)-San Lorenzo