Copa Libertadores 2012 (R)

Santos 8x0 Bolivar (9x2 Santos)
Fluminense 2x1 Internacional (Flu 2x1)
Universidad de Chile 6x0 Deportivo Quito (U de Chile 7x4)

What a strange night with Santos and Universidad de Chile each scoring lopsided wins. An impressive win for Santos with neymar again in magical form, he scored twice and was involved in much of the team's other goals. 2 goals each from Neymar, Ganso and Elano and 1 each from Alan Kardec and Borges. The team showed mercy after an hour when it was 8x0. There have been bigger victory margins in the Libertadores but this was the largest victory ever in the knockout stages of the competition. On to play Velez and hopefully there are still some goals left in Santos' boots!

Universidad de Chile also with a huge victory margin, reversing the 4x1 first leg score with a 6x0 victory. Just like Bolivar, Deportivo Quito were found out once they came down from their mountain. Junior Fernandes, the Brasilian-Chilean with 2 first half goals. Marcelo Diaz and Eugenio Mena each scored a goal and teenaged Angelo henriquez scored two 2nd half goals.

The night's closest match saw Fluminense defeat Internacional 2x1 in Rio. A pretty even match where Internacional went in front through Leandro Damiao after only 13 minutes. Fluminense responded 2 minutes later with centerback Leandro Euzebio heading in a free kick by Thiago Neves. Just before halftime Fred headed in an almost identical Thiago Neves free kick for Fluminense's 2nd. The difference in an otherwise closely matched game, Internacional's inability to defend set plays. We said early on in this thread that defense was Internacional's weakness.

Goals in the first 20 minutes did it for both Santos and U de Chile, but those huge winning margins not only are a sign of how well Santos and La U played but also how poor both Bolivar and Deportivo Quito were. As Santista wrote, once they came off their mountain their weaknesses were exposed.

Inter are an enjoyable team to watch but again I find myself in agreement with Santista, their defense let them down. Flu however have a lot of attacking options and I think we all are looking forward to the rematch of their group matchup with Boca Juniors. these in fact are all the quarterfinal matches:

Fluminense-Boca Juniors
Libertad-U de Chile
Corinthians-Vasco
Santos-Velez

4 excellent matchups on paper, I do not think we will see any 6-0 or 8-0 scores the rest of this tournament.

La U.

Wow.

Very much looking forward to the quarters.

A very good point, both Bolivar and Deportivo Quito were shown to be like the emperor without clothes once they were away from their high altitude homes. Last year's Libertadores and Sudamericana champions Santos and U de Chile showed they each have what it takes to win it all this year. Neymar's current form has been beyond sensational, and last night demonstrated he is more than just a goal scorer but also is capable of setting up others as well.

All 4 quarterfinal matchups look great, there is not a weak team left in the field but 4 clubs, Corinthians, Fluminense, Libertad and U de Chile, are each seeking their first Libertadores title.

Very impressive from both Santos and U de Chile. Corinthians and Fluminense's wins were basically ignored in the wake of those other lopsided scores. I think both Corinthians and Fluminense are happy to see the attention spread elsewhere but both will be back in the spotlight in the quarters. Fred by the way will miss the first leg versus Boca. A major absence for Flu but at least they have Rafael Moura to fill in for him. Not a bad substitute.

Man, is this turning into the Copa do Brazil

Well rob with Libertad playing U de Chle there is at least one semifinalists who we know for sure won't be from Brazil!

Fluminense will be missing 4 reluars when they play their first leg in Buenos Aires this week: Fred and the midfielders Deco, Edwin Valencia and Diguinho. Four major losses for the opening game versus Boca.

This week's first leg quarterfinal schedule:

Wednesday
Libertad-U de Chile
Vasco-Corinthians

Thursday
Boca-Fluminense
Velez-Santos

Thursday should be some day in Buenos Aires with Boca-Fluminense and Velez-Santos being played one right after the other.

I do not know about the other players misisng leg 1 for Fluminense but Deco will not play either leg versus Boca. You have to consider Boca the favourites now in that series.

What a futbol Thursday in Buenos Aires! Both Boca-Fluminense and Velez-Santos are games worthy of this stage (or even farther) in the competition. Fluminense's absences are notable but they do have a pretty deep team. Still I am with Pepe, Boca should be favorites now to advance. The same applies to high flying Santos who seem to have this ability to win big matches, helps having talents like Neymar and Ganso too!

Vasco-Corinthians is I think too close to pick, remember the first World Club Cup played in Brazil at the start of 2000? Those two clubs met in the final with Corinthians winning it.

Libertad, led by Argentina's 1986 hero Jorge Burruchaga's coaching, are a tough team to beat but it is diffiuclt to bet against U de Chile right now. I think the Chileans advance to the semis.

Wednesday's results:
Libertad 1-1 U de Chile
Vasco 0-0 Corinthians

Valuable away draws for both U de Chile and Corinthians as both games were a little less exciting than expected. Plenty of nerves and caution going around in those two first leg matches. In Paraguay, Libertad caused problems for La U with their aerial play but it was on the ground where they opened the scoring after only 7 minutes when Victor Caceres received a filtrated pass and scored. The Chileans tied it 10 minutes into the 2nd half as Gustavo Lorenzetti pounced on a rebound of his own shot off a defender and scored the tying goal. La U later lost Emilio Hernandez to a red card late in the match but hung on for the 1-1 tie which puts them in good position heading home next week in front of their raucous home crowd.

In rainy Rio, Vasco and Corinthians ended 0-0 in a tense, foul filled and pretty mediocre match. Diego Souza did put the ball in the net for Vasco but it was correctly denied because of offside. A tie in leg 2 with goals will send Vasco through but I still think Corinthians are in better position to win this next week but both clubs will need to play better if they expect to advance.

Looking forward to tonight's games and hoping they each will be more action filled than Wednesday's matches.

Anyone know of an Argentinean radio station that broadcast these games?

An important win for Boca last night, 1-0 against Flu.

I didn't see the game, but apparently Boca missed some good opportunities, and didn't quite take advantage of Carlinho being sent off.

I hope it'll be enough in Rio ... especially if their star players (Deco and Fred) come back. As for Boca, both Somoza and Silva are trying to get better and might be available next week. I do hope for at least Silva, and if so, my next hope will be to leave Mouche in with him. Cvita is ok, but Mouche is on fire.

Good win for Velez as well.

Celeste Blanca, try Radio La Red, Radio La Plata and ESPN Rivadavia for live radio broadcasts available on the net.

Last night's scores:

Boca 1-0 Fluminense
Velez 1-0 Santos

Wins for both Boca and Velez but both were in my eyes the superior teams on the night and may live to regret only winning by 1 goal. Nice pass from Cvitanich to Mouche for the Boca goal. That game was changed by the sending off of Fluminense's Carlinhos for a 2nd yellow. I kinda thought it was harsh as it was for a handball when he seemed to mistime a jump to clear a ball and it hit him in the arm. A foul yes, a 2nd yellow, I have my doubts. Anyway Boca were in control of this match but Schiavi on two occasions was stopped by two excellent saves from Diego Cavalieri the Fluminense goalie.

Velez won on a nice headed goal by Mauro Obolo as he flicked in a fine cross from Emiliano Papa (he had a wonderful game.) Velez did well to shut down Neymar and Ganso as they were extremely hard defensively but they did not create enough chances to in my opinion to gte that needed 2nd goal.

The good thing for both Boca and Velez, besides winning of course, was they did not give up any away goals, and that will help them next week in the return legs.

I think last night's loss to Velez was the first time Santos had been shut out since Barcelona hammered them last December in the World Club Cup Final. Velez did do a great job defensively, especially on Neymar, and give a lot of credit to their young right back Gino Peruzzi for his work in nullifying Neymar. Peruzzi was not afraid to stick his boot in and kick Neymar but he also did a fine job of man marking him, with help of course from his teammates. Peruzzi may be a player to watch for the future. And as enganche noted, the Velez left back Papa also played well and was particularly dangerous on the overlap.

Diego Cavalieri is the big reason Boca did not defeat Fluminense by more than 1 goal. Cavalieri made some superb stops on Boca shots. Again I find myself in agreement with enganche about the red card and how that changed the match, Flu all but renounced attack after that, although they may have been given a penalty by a more generous referee when an Edinho header struck Roncaglia's outstretched arm. My thinking is because Roncaglia had his back to Edinho, the referee determined there was no intent to handle.

So two 1-0 wins for the home team on Thursday and 0-0 and 1-1 ties on Wednesday, all four quarterfinals are still very much in the air and hopefully next week the clubs will be a little more attack minded in the return legs. All of this week's first legs were played pretty cautiously.

The quarterfinal return leg schedule

Wednesday
Fluminense x Boca
Corinthians x Vasco

Thursday
Santos x Velez
U de Chile x Libertad

I think the home teams can win their quarterfinal series, except for Fluminense versus Boca as Flu will still be missing their two most important figures Deco and Fred, each injured.