Inter Qualify for the Semis and Boca Stay at Home.

By: Mauro | November 7th, 2008

Sitting on the lead they created in the match at home, Inter played a tactically intelligent match and waited to see what Boca would bring. Boca was desperate to find a goal that would cut the difference in the aggregate but ended up falling a bit short.

Boca had trouble tonight, not unlike the first leg, particularly in the middle where midfielders Leandro Gracián and Nicolás Gaitán tried to create connections with the forwards, Pablo Mouche and Luciano FIgueroa. Mouche was fantastic tonight. I’m not sure how long Boca will be able to keep him in line behind Rodrigo Palacio especially after the departure of Mauro Boselli.

Inter played a more low key style of match, keeping the possession and not going forward with any urgency since they had the win at home two weeks ago.

But it was Boca, the neediest of the two, who tried to make things interesting creating the best possibilities of the half. But with the poor finishing of Luciano Figueroa and Alvaro González only began to make the spectre of Inter keeper Lauro larger and larger.

In the second half, Inter found the difference maker. Off a cross and a wonderful play on the right by Nilmar, Magrao stomped into the penalty area between two Boca defenders and slammed the ball past Boca keeper Garcia. The ball went in so quickly that even Magrao had trouble believing that it went it and he tried to head the ball in after the fact. 1-0 to Inter and that steep hill Boca had to climb just got a little steeper.

Shortly thereafter, Juan Roman Riquelme and Jesús Dátolo came on for Gracián and Gaitán to try to create that connection between midfielders and forwards. Thanks to their good work Boca was able to find the equalizer.

Off a play on the left between Figueroa and José Calvo who was brought down inside the penalty area. The ref called it and Riquelme stepped up and buried the ball low and to the left of the keeper. 1-1 and Boca begin the climb back up that hill that now didn’t seem all that steep.

Boca went on a desperate search for the three goals they needed to get them into the next round. But chance after chance was wasted by the forwards and keeper Lauro was unbelievably unbeatable and became the man of the match save after save. And on the other end Boca suffered from Inter’s counterattack with the breakneck speed of Nilmar.

In the 71st minute, Andrés D’Alessandro found Alex after a fantastic crossing pass that ended in a goal that dashed Boca’s dreams of playing the Semi-finals. D’Alessandro was easily the best player on the pitch and made the pass of the match with that one. 2-1 to Inter and that was all she wrote.

Rumor is, D’Alessandro is unbeaten while playing in the Bombonera regardless of the shirt he’s wearing. I’ll have to look that one up and see if I can confirm that.

I had this one going 3-1 to Boca. I gave them more credit because I’ve seen some incredible comebacks from Boca in La Bombonera but Inter was far better and more organized than I expected. They face Chivas in the Semi-finals that will be more even than I expected as well.

Feel free to check the CONMEBOL website for results and information about upcoming matches and for those of you in need of a bracket to get your heads around the competition, get an updated one here.