Regular Service Resumes With a Large Majority of Argentine and Brazilian Clubs.

By: Mauro | October 20th, 2008

With the international break behind us, and most of the local leagues back in full swing, the next round of the Copa Sudamericana begins again this week. In the next round of match ups, Brazilian and Argentine sides are the large majority with only one Mexican side making up the eight teams in the Quarter-Finals.

Despite not making the Sudamericana their priority, three of the eight teams that qualified for this competition from the Brasileirao have advanced to the Quarter-Finals.

Inter, who will face Boca Juniors in the Quarters, will be without both of their play making midfielders, Andrés D’Alessandro (red card in their last Sudamericana match) and Pablo Guiñazu, who injured his elbow in their last match. Inter qualified ahead of Católica after a boring 0-0 draw in Brazil and a more animated but not terribly exciting second leg that ended in a 1-1 draw, the away goal giving Inter the right to advance.

Rio de Janeiro side Botafogo, qualified in resounding fashion after beating América de Cali, 3-1, at home in the second leg to advance to the next round. The first leg ended 1-0 in favor of the Colombian side but that came off a goal at the end of the match. Botafogo won both matches staged in Rio and in their only match abroad in Cali, they lost by the smallest difference. They absolutely destroyed Atlético Mineiro way back in the First Round on Mineiro’s ground, winning that one 5-2.

Current Brasileirao leaders, Palmeiras are not focusing on this tournament in any way, yet have still been able to get results that allow them to advance. They drew with Sport Ancash in Perú, 0-0, in a very wet match and then barely edged the Peruvians at home in São Paulo, 1-0.

Coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo has voiced his displeasure with having to compete in this tournament and the Brasileirao at the same time. The Brasileirao is far more important to the Brazilians sides as it qualifies those teams at the top to the Libertadores and then the rest fall into the Sudamericana.

There are four Argentine sides left in this competition–one in each Quarter Final match up.

As we mentioned before, Boca Juniors will face Inter. Inter will be a little less organized than usual and that’s something that Boca could exploit but Boca has a few other matters to think about ahead of this match. Their keeper has asked to be removed from his starting position, the coach seems to be on the chopping block, their first team is not performing up to snuff and their youngsters seem to have a clearer idea of what the coach wants from the team. If you don’t agree with me, just watch the exhibition of great football in the first leg where they won 4-0, and the more lukewarm one, where they drew 1-1, in the second leg eliminating the Copa Libertadores champs, LDU Quito.

River Plate will need to take the biggest trip of the Quarter Finals where they’ll face Chivas of Guadalajara. River took out Defensor Sporting of Uruguay in two decent showings by their standards. Winning 2-1 in the first leg in Uruguay and then by the same score line in Argentina a week later, River showed to have not yet found an acceptable run of form in their local league and coach Diego Simeone knows that as he is still making changes to the squad in order to find the right mix.

On a side note right here, both these sides faced each other this past weekend, with Boca winning it 1-0, in the continent’s biggest rivalry, El SuperClásico. River have not won in the Clausura in their last eight (WTF!?!?!?!?!?!?!) matches and while they did advance to this stage, have yet to impress.

Estudiantes de La Plata are flying high after ousting the defending champions, Arsenal de Sarandi. In the first leg of that series, Estudiantes made their home field advantage count and won 2-1 while in the second leg was far more un-entertaining and it ended in a 0-0 draw. The side form La Plata are also riding a nice streak since Leonardo Astrada came on as coach. They’ll face Botafogo this week in Rio de Janeiro for the first leg.

Argentinos Juniors surprised me by beating one of the current top teams in the Mexican league, San Luis. They lost the first leg of that series in Mexico, 1-2 and then closed it out at home with authority, holding the Mexican side to zero goals and scoring two of their own. They’ll face Palmeiras, one of the better performing sides of the Brasileirao, this week with an eye to making an impression in the first leg in São Paulo so that they can close out the series in a positive way at home.

The only non-Argentine or Brazilian side left at this point in the competition is Chivas de Guadalajara. While the trip out to Guadalajara is more daunting than the team at the end of it, it’s still a big advantage. As I said earlier, River Plate will have to travel the furthest in this stage of the competition to play the Tapatios. Chivas will be counting on the services of Nery Castillo–ex-Manchester City and Shaktar Donetsk–for the club’s remaining matches in this competition. Chivas edged Brazilian side Atlético Paranaense to advance. They drew, 2-2, in Guadalajara and then won in Brazil, 3-2.

Be sure to watch this space as I will be bringing you updates of this week’s matches beginning with the match preview of Botafogo – Estudiantes on Tuesday, one of three Argentine vs. Brazilian club match ups in the Quarter-Finals of the Copa Sudamericana

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.