Revenge Will Have to Wait for Another Day.

By: Mauro | August 15th, 2008

Atlético Mineiro hosted Botafogo last night with a spot of revenge in their eyes. They were hoping to hold Botafogo to at very least a draw and in the best case, a win. What they got was probably not what they were hoping.

While Botafogo really took the match to Mineiro, despite the fact that midfield playmaker Lucio Flavio was being rested ahead of this match. The cariocas had the ball, the space and the willingness to make something happen.

The deadlock only lasted 16 minutes, and the team that went ahead was the local side. To the shock of their 5,000 fans who showed up at the Engenhão last night, Marques opened up scoring after a beautiful play between Dejan Petkovic and Thiaguinho. Marque was left all alone to knock in the ball. 1-0 to Mineiro.

BTW, I believe Petkovic is the only European player to be playing his club football in South America.

This goal hit Botafogo like a bucket of cold water. It seemed to get them more engaged in the match and because of that they seemed to take control of the match and stop Mineiro from advancing very far with the ball. But Botafogo had their own difficulties, they dominated play for the most part but failed to complete their plays with the same ease they created them.

In the waning moments of the first half, Carlos Alberto brought Botafogo level. This Carlos Alberto is the one on loan from Werder Bremen and the same one who played so wonderfully with Carlos Tevez in his year with Corinthians. But, I digress, 1-1.

Botafogo came out in the second half pressuring Mineiro in the midfield and squeezing the ball out of Mineiro’s possession. But the second half kind of dragged. A play or two here, a play or two there and then in the final seven minutes of the match, things picked up somehow.

I think Botafogo smelled Mineiro’s complacency as it seemed that the local side were ready to settle for the draw. One of Botafogo’s youngsters who came on in the second half, Eduardo, found the back of the net when he waited for Mineiro keeper Edson to come at him before taking his shot and it was spectacularly taken and equally celebrated. 2-1 to Botafogo.

But not all was said and done at that point. In the final play of the match, Carlos Alberto scored his second goal of the match with a great shot after making his way around a defender in the area. Pure class. 3-1 to Botafogo and the 5,000 spectators made their way to the exits.

The return match will be played in two weeks on the 27th of August.

I had this match going 1-0 to Botafogo. I’m getting the results right, I just need to get the scorelines a little more accurate. But I was right, I knew that Botafogo would be too much for Mineiro and in the end, there was no vengeance to be had by the locals. Only another loss at the hands of Botafogo and thankfully, Mineiro has 90 more minutes to turn the story around as unlikely as it seems. But stranger things happen in these tournaments.

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 one here.