Copa Libertadores 2015

[Libertadores FC]

No clue what happened to San Lorenzo. And no, they're out. Sao Paulo went through.

Here are the knockouts.

Santa Fe - Estudiantes
Atletico Mineiro - Internacional
Emelec - Atletico Nacional
Universitario - Tigres
Wanderers - Racing
Guarani - Corinthians
Sao Paulo - Cruzeiro
Boca - River

Santa Fe vs Estudiantes, Boca vs River, Sao Paulo vs Cruzeiro, and Atletico Mineiro vs Internacional are all unpredictable. I can see Atletico Nacional beating Emelec. It will be a close tie as Emelec are a good side, but I rate Atletico Nacional more. Tigres should be able to beat Universitario pretty easily. Easy tie for Racing, and as for Corinthians, I wouldn't underestimate Guarani. They aren't the greatest side, but the Paraguayans are always competitive.

I'll do my full predictions later, but good ties.

 

[Libertadores FC]

Universitario Sucre lost 2-1 to Tigres yesterday at home. They should be through. Can't see the Bolivians getting anything in Mexico.

 

[mistermagic]

Watching Boca/River on YouTube. I know it's not the Copa Libertadores but I don't wanna create an Argentine football thread and never post in it. It's 0-0 at half-time and River have looked the better side. Very few chances, River hit the bar.

 

[Libertadores FC]

Saw a bit of the Estudiantes - Santa Fe game before switching over to watch Universitario. Estudiantes looked pretty good but to be fair Santa Fe was defending terribly. It was absolutely shambolic defending. On the attack Santa Fe looked alright but they needed to do better. With the away goal I think Santa Fe will go through by winning 2-0 in Bogota.

As for the other match, I didn't watch a minute of it but I'm not as surprised as I should be that Tigres drew. For some reason recently the Bolivians have given the Mexican teams trouble.

 

[Libertadores FC]

Didn't watch a minute of the football last night.

Guarani 2-0 Corinthians isn't a result I expected and Corinthians who seemed unbeatable in the knockouts look in trouble. Guarani scoring 1 in Brazil will seriously give them trouble.

As for the other matches, Sao Paulo did well to avoid the away goal but I'm not so sure about the second leg. Atletico Mineiro find themselves in trouble after drawing 2-2 at home.

 

[Libertadores FC]

SUPERCLASICO YESTERDAY!!!

Despite my excitement, it wasn't as great a match I expected it to be. Still entertaining though. The standard was low, which surprised me seeing as these 2 teams are one of the best in South America. River were terrible and the only reason they won the match is because Boca didn't take advantage of Riverplates poor performance.

As for the other match, not the happiest to see Nacional lose because I like them, but not surprised either as Emelec are an underrated team.

 

[Libertadores FC]

Estudiantes - Santa Fe wraps up tomorrow. I think Santa Fe got a very important away goal, so they'll win in Colombia and go through.

Wednesday is when all the Brazilians play. Corinthians have a mountain to climb but I think they have enough firepower to win the tie. I think Internacional and Sao Paulo will win the other ties.

Thursday is a tough one. I think Nacional will win on penalties, and Racing will beat Montevideo Wanderers. However I am referring to River - Boca. Literally anything can happen there. I think Boca will win it.

 

[Libertadores FC]

Santa Fe vs Estudiantes on at the moment. Hopefully Santa Fe wins!

 

[Libertadores FC]

Knew Santa Fe would win. Quarters for them!

 

[Libertadores FC]

All the Brazilians play today. As I said I have a real feeling Corinthians will get back into the tie. They have the firepower to do it and I'm expecting a comfortable victory for them. They also need to avoid Guarani scoring. 1 goal from them and its certainly over but I don't think Corinthians will allow it myself.

Internacional and Sao Paulo to win the other ties.

 

[Libertadores FC]

Upset of the tournament for me. Guarani has won the second leg 1-0 in Brazil and go through to the quarters against the team that looked amazing throughout the group stages. Don't know where it went wrong. Frustration from Corinthians led to 2 red cards.

Internacional are through after beating Atletico Mineiro 3-1. Cruzeiro beat Sao Paulo on penalties.

 

[Saddlerrad]

Boca/River suspended at half time after Boca fans sprayed pepper spray in the faces of the river plate players as they made their way back to field for the second half.


Wouldn't be surprised to see them thrown out the competition.

 

[Libertadores FC]

It was a dire game, but its not a surprise to see them behave like that.

 

[Libertadores FC]

A bit sad to see Atletico Nacional lose, but I don't really mind Emelec. They're a good team and I think they'll be able to take down Tigres. Hopefully they do.

All the second round's have been decided except for Cruzeiro's matchup.

Santa Fe - Internacional
Emelec - Tigres
Guarani - Racing
Cruzeiro - ?

Some good matchups. I'm most looking forward to Emelec - Tigres to be honest. Guarani meets Racing for the third and fourth time this Libertadores, Santa Fe - Internacional should be good also.

Not sure what CONMEBOL will do about last night but regardless of who goes through to face Cruzeiro, it should be a cracking tie.

 

[Megaclyde]

Boca/River suspended at half time after Boca fans sprayed pepper spray in the faces of the river plate players as they made their way back to field for the second half.


Wouldn't be surprised to see them thrown out the competition.

It annoys me that this shit happens, but they still think of English as hooligans,
I've had the same conversation with loads of taxi drivers here where it begins with the,
'Where you from?',
'England',
'Ah the hooligans!'
And then I go on to explain how it isn't like that anymore, even in Peru there's been instances of fans killing each other (La U v Alianza) but apparently we're the hooligans here.

 

[Libertadores FC]

Riverplate advance and face Cruzeiro. I feel bad for Boca's players, but the fans fully deserve the punishment of seeing their team go out. Unacceptable behavior from them last night.

As for the match, cracking tie.

 

[Libertadores FC]

River have officially qualified today according to Copa Libertadores' Twitter page, and they have expelled Boca from the Copa Libertadores.

They have also handed a 4 match stadium ban for Boca in CONMEBOL tournaments. A bit soft of a punishment if you ask me...

 

[lordofthepies]

Can't say it's not deserved. Disgusting and quite upsetting.

 

[Libertadores FC]

I have to admit, the knockouts so far have been piss poor. yesterday's match wasn't great, Santa Fe vs Estudiantes was awful and River - Boca while it wasn't great was decent. Could have been better. I love Libertadores and it is my favourite cup in football but last years Libertadores was much better. Sudamericana last year was also better. Thankfully we're not seeing the same teams win though.

Anyways enough of that. Was watching Emelec vs Tigres yesterday. Glad Emelec won and didn't concede the away goal. I have to say I was very. very impressed with GuaGua yesterday. His tackling was spot on and was a rock in defence for Emelec. The build-up play for the goal was pretty good and Miller did his job. 1-0 might just be enough for Emelec because I'm pretty sure they can score in Mexico. It wasn't a great match I'll say but it was decent I suppose.

 

[Libertadores FC]

Libertadores knockouts continue being terrible. I'm certain it will improve soon though with 2 big games today with River - Cruzeiro and Guarani - Racing. Guarani Racing had 7 goals in the groups between the 2, so it should be a good match.

Anyways, Santa Fe won in the 90th minute. Barely clinched a win. Unlike Emelec, I'm not entirely sure if they'll be able to get a result in Brazil. Hopefully so. 1-0 win for them. Not conceding the away goal is important but I feel Internacional have the level to overtake them.

 

[Libertadores FC]

I watched up until the goal of the Cruzeiro match yesterday so I can talk about most of it. It was better than all the other quarter finals but was still missing something. Let me just say this has possibly been the worst quarter finals in Libertadores history.

At first I thought River would win, but after they bottled all those chances, I thought Cruzeiro would take the win. Sure enough I was correct and it will be difficult for River to come back from this. Can't see it happening.

 

[voltage]

I am curious about the semis but I think River and Internacional have good chances of doing the final.

 

[voltage]

Guaraní has a very good defence but River Plate made their job and could infiltrate in it. But only the next game at Paraguay can really tell.

And today's match Internacional vs. Tigres at Beira Rio can be an auspicious occasion for Inter to open edge to the next match.

 

[voltage]

River Plate vs Tigres will be the finals.

Tigres was a nice surprise and got to reverse the situation. That means River automatically gets the place for the Club World Cup even if they loose the finals.

Well, in this last round (counting away and home games) both teams showed that they can do a good final match, River did a great home game but at Paraguay, Guaraní was more closed as habitual. And despite Tigres lost the away game they did well and surprised in the home game and nothing avoids the possibility of them repeting it against River.

 

[Libertadores FC]

I can see River winning the game. Tigres have been the best team but I have a feeling CONMEBOL will do everything to stop them from winning.

Libertadores this year was horrible in my opinion. Of a lower standard than usual and boring. I still love this cup, but I didn't think this year's has been that good.

 

[voltage]

Yeah, it's very probable they pull some strings to avoid a mexican team to get it. And I have to agree this year this competition was below average in terms of comparison with the past ones.

The first match of the finals was a boring 0x0 with the teams very defensive (which could be expected anyway). Hopefully they come with "blood in the eyes" for the decisive game and make it an interesting dispute.

 

[Libertadores FC]

As Voltage said above, I hope both teams come out hungry to win it. It should be a thrilling match. Still remember 2 years ago how dramatic the Atletico Mineiro - Olimpia game was.

 

[Libertadores FC]

River are looking in control, but every time Tigres gets an attack, it looks like they will score. Could go either way this.

 

[Libertadores FC]

River are missing so much in attack.

 

[Libertadores FC]

1-0 River! Excellent play from Leonel Vangioni.