The Copa Libertadores ended too early for Colombian football once again. The last survivor, Junior, left a languid image against Colo Colo, from Chile, who won both games: 1-0 in Santiago and 1-2 in Barranquilla.
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Junior’s captain and key player, Carlos Bacca, summed up what he did in this edition of the Cup when the match was over: “It was a pain, it was a pain because we had the hope of qualifying with our people. They scored two goals against us that we scored against ourselves, we gave them away,” he told ESPN.
“What can we say? We have to apologize to the people who come to support us, who despite everything continue to support us and we continue to do the same thing,” he added.
Gone are the days when Colombian teams fought for this tournament: since the last title, Atlético Nacional’s in 2016, only one has made it into the top eight of the tournament: Deportivo Pereira, last year (see chart).
Misery loves company, some will say: From 2017 to last year, Brazil had 26 teams among the 56 that made it to the quarter-finals. Argentina had 18 spots; Paraguay, 4; Ecuador, 3; Bolivia, 2; and Chile, Colombia and Uruguay, one each.
This year there are already three Brazilian teams (Fluminense, Atlético Mineiro and Botafogo). And there could be five this Thursday, if São Paulo and Flamengo resolve their series against Nacional of Uruguay and Bolívar of Bolivia, respectively. Otherwise, one Chilean, Colo Colo; one Uruguayan, Peñarol, and one Argentine, River Plate.
And let’s not even talk about the final: in that same period, in seven editions, nine Brazilians and five Argentines have won. The rest of the continent watched it on television. And the only edition that was not won by a Brazilian club was in 2018, when there was an Argentine superclásico in Madrid…
This time, the executioners were not the Brazilians
The fifth round of the group stage of the Conmebol Libertadores Cup is being played at El Campín stadium, Millonarios vs Palestino 1-1 ended the match.
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Junior, for its part, managed to beat two teams of a similar level, Liga de Quito and Universitario, and advance alongside Botafogo. But in the round of 16 series against Colo Colo, he looked poor and vulnerable.
“The only explanation I can give is that we lost the series. We had seven chances to score in two games and scored only once. They were effective and that was the difference,” tried to explain coach Arturo Reyes, who is now under fire and with an uncertain future.
That tournament in which Colombian teams appeared frequently in the semi-finals and sometimes in the final seems to be left behind. The forces are increasingly uneven and this is more of a Copa Libertadores, in which Brazilian power is enormous. The problem is that the level is no longer s
ufficient to compete with teams that, in theory, have more or less the same performance.
Jose Orlando Ascencio
Sports Deputy Editor
@josasc
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