San Lorenzo was moved. He is almost eliminated in the Argentine championship, with only three victories in twelve appearances, financially overwhelmed – an endemic evil -, without the possibility of strengthening himself much. But there is the shirt. dHe debuted in the Libertadores and became San Lorenzo again. He had to start against none other than Palmeiras, one of the current cuckoos in South America. There are currently no budgetary equivalences between one and the other, but the San Lorenzo of history appeared, the one of drive and greatness, the painting without fear. And he ran over Palmeiras.
Even without winning, Boedo's team was the most impressive performance along with that of Junior, who beat Botafogo 3 to 1 in Rio de Janeiro on one of those nights that remember years. It had never happened in 65 Cup editions that a Brazilian team conceded 3 goals at home in the first 41 minutes. And part of that merit goes to Carlos Bacca, the Barranquilla goalscorer, who after eleven seasons in Europe (Seville, Milan, Villarreal, etc.) returned to pay and continues to score frequently. Bacca scored twice. The first, very important, a penalty. If he missed it he made Botafogo bigger. He is almost at 38 and he looks very fast, like in the third goal, in which he led and defined a counterattack by running 30 meters. He's going for 324 goals, Bacca.
Huge triumph for Junior, who will turn one hundred years old on August 7 and wants to celebrate in a big way. Will he be able to make it to November 30 in Buenos Aires…? Who knows. He has put together a qualified and extensive team to make the attempt. Junior, like San Lorenzo, demonstrated with vast superiority that they can compete against the Brazilians. They are not supermen. You have to have a good team and, above all, dare, believe in it. Junior played as if to lift the other Colombian teams out of the morass, who are coming from several gray years in the international field.
Another one who was encouraged was The Strongest. The Bolivian great debuted at the Hernando Siles, defeating Renato Gaúcho's Gremio 2-0. It was played at high altitude, yes, and Gremio brought substitutes to La Paz, too, but the Tigre from La Paz beat them without breaking a sweat and it could have been by one more goal. Last year Strongest had defeated Fluminense, the subsequent champion. And before they had knocked down Paranaense, Santos, São Paulo, Internacional, Goiás, Palmeiras and Juventude. Eleven hits in total. He doesn't do bad against the Brazilians.
Everyone makes fun of Alianza Lima because it went eleven years and 30 games without winning three points in the Libertadores (in April of last year it managed to break the streak against Libertad, from Paraguay). But he had it to knock out Fluminense and it escaped him. He dominated it, he had very clear opportunities, especially at the feet of the Herculean Panamanian Cecilio Waterman. The goals slipped away and the current champion tied. Another demonstration that you can compete against Brazilian clubs, even if they have a much thicker wallet. It is not about wanting the Brazilians to lose, especially if they are the best, but about wanting the Cup to gain interest and for the trophy to be within everyone's reach.
Millionaires also showed that they can compete
Millonarios was against the top favorite of the tournament -Flamengo-. They achieved a certain predominance in the game while they were eleven against eleven. The black and white team took advantage with a penalty from Pedro (there is no way to argue with it, it was) and the Bogotá team was left with ten due to the expulsion of Larry Vásquez, who caused the penalty. Millos played 35 minutes diminished, however, he reached equality with a nice goal from Daniel Ruiz in combination with Emerson Rivaldo Rodríguez, two youngsters from the house. Millonarios proved to himself that he could not only compete but beat the Rio giant.
Talleres lost to São Paulo in Córdoba by 2 to 1. It was more, there are no extenuating circumstances. The only Brazilian smile was caused by Atlético Mineiro against the weak Caracas FC (4-1). Little: three falls, three draws, one victory. And lucky draws. This does not rule them out at all, it is only the first date of the group stage, two of them may even reach the final again. They are still the ones with the best odds. However, it is proven: they are not invincible. With intensity, with tactics, but above all with attitude, you can beat them. “Brazilians play another sport,” we hear every day. Nothing to do with it, they play the same game. The issue is in the number: with 8 teams it is always possible for them to reach the highest level and win the crown.
With 30 percent of the competition already played, the balance of the first eighteen group duels leaves a very first analysis: The Colombians rose -a lot-, the Peruvians improved -a win and a draw-, well the Chileans, who for the first time in 65 years have 4 teams in groups. The Paraguayans were terrible (Nacional de Montevideo beat Libertad 2-0, but it could have been by six goals, Cerro Porteño fell to Colo Colo), the Ecuadorians were unexpectedly weak, having already lost two representatives in the initial phases -Aucas and El Nacional- and in this beginning Barcelona and Independiente del Valle tied, Liga succumbed to Universitario.
Conmebol scheduled 32 matches in 72 hours between Libertadores and Sudamericana. Obviously you have to take into account the FIFA dates for the national teams, the Copa América, the Qualifiers, the local tournaments, however, given that they are played throughout the year, perhaps it could be decompressed a little. There are so many games that it is impossible to follow both tournaments, one cannot even find out the results. Of course, all the teams are happy to qualify for one of the cups. There are 91 clubs on the continent that obtain international recognition, are shown, put their figures on display and receive juicy financial rewards.
The increase in prizes year after year means that all countries see the Cup as a shining vein of gold. And they know that passing the first rounds, the groups and reaching the round of 16 or quarterfinals entails a rain of millions. Stimulates sporting appetite in national championships. But perhaps the time has come to establish performance coefficients to make it even more attractive. And justice. The coefficients could match the quotas to some extent. Outside of Argentina and Brazil, whoever obtains the best score wins one more place. Everyone would strive to achieve it. And then maintain it. And if a medium is third by coefficient (Ecuador should have been in recent years) and also wins the Sudamericana or the Libertadores itself, then it could reach six teams instead of four. If a football like Colombia, with seven large clubs, achieved five or six places, it would also become a candidate. In addition to the prizes, the coefficients are the carrot for everyone to try to increase their performance.
Also the possibility of qualifying for the Club World Cup is another incentive. Anyway, the Cup is beautiful, it must be cared for and enriched. It is a pride of our football.
Last tango…
Jorge Barraza
For the time
@JorgeBarrazaOK
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