So you are saying that you didn't play reserves to rest your player for the domestic league? http://soccernet-akamai.espn.go.com/news/story?id=433129&cc=5901 That's a joke! I didn't say you did it for all the games. But you did it in the QUARTER FINALS.
If you ask me.. the answer would be.. its couse America spend millions and millions in players and they hardly win anything for the millions they spend hahahaha... right cremas? =), so they gave priority to the easy thing.. thats just america, they want to show that the money they spend isnt for nothing hahahaha, o man really i dont know why its like asking a boca fan about river. Ban America for all i care, they always create controversies. Plus the directive of America and his current manager are kind of wackos.
Why are people giving Colo-Colo a chance? Since 2006 they have sold all their stars...who is left in Colo-Colo capable of turning matches around? I say Audax Italiano might go further than Colo-Colo...watch out for the underdog.
Without a good "10", I myself don't see Colo Colo winning it, either (or going far, e.g.: semis). I wouldn't be surprised, though, if they got past the 1st round. Apart from vo-k in their group, UAM don't look strong (or strong enough to make it to the 2nd) and a Marioni-dependent Atlas is not a dangerous team (provided they get past La Paz, but I don't see why they shouldn't). Metro
People keep bringing this up to show that Mexican don't care about Libertadores but they don't tell the whole picture. America played a weaker team against Santos because they had a semifinal game the next day against Chivas, and their is no way they were going to send a weak team to play a Clasico in the semifinals of the liguilla. El Clasico is the biggest game in Mexico with the highest TV ratings, their fans would have crucified the manager if they played a reserve team against Chivas and gotten humiliated. It's not that they didn't give Libertadores the respect it deserved but they weighed up their options on both games and chose to fight for the domestic title. Quarterfinals < Semifinals Santos < Chivas Cup Title < Domestic Title To their credit they were screwed by our Confederation and the schedule.
Libertadores >>> Domestic title. That's the whole point. If you asked any fan of any South American club what would they rather have, I bet the majority would select the Libertadores. Your federation is also to blame for not rescheduling the game at least 3 days after the matchup. America should have complained to the federation about this.
Libertadores >>> Domestic title, Is that the case in Argentina & Brazil? This is subject to opinion so I don't think either choice would be wrong. However I still think that you choose the competition that you are furtherest in, especially if your playing you arch rivals. I think If you ask most fans of the Big Europen Leagues (England, Spain, Italy) which is more important they will tell you Domestic League, but then again they don't have split season so their domestic league is more difficult to win. Their was a complaint but the confederation would not reschedule.
I bet it's the case in all South American countries. Anyone else can feel free to voice what they believe. I am sure America has a good amount of domestic titles and they have 0 Libertadores titles. None of the Mexican teams want to make history and be the first to win the Libertadores? Maybe we should leave you guys and let you compete in your CONCACAF champions league, which the winner of your domestic league goes. That must be more prestigious too, right? The federation wouldn't reschedule? Another reason why we should keep Mexican teams out. If the federation doesn't want to create a situation in which it provides Mexicans team the best chance at winning, then it doesn't seem worthwhile. Maybe then, enough people will become upset and force the Federation to change their politics.
I'm pretty sure that any South american team would choose the Copa over the League title and I'm pretty sure the majority of European fans would choose the Champions over the League Title
No need to get all testee I was just making the case. I will give you an example if Boca and River were competing for the domestic tile and they had to play each other in the penultimate week, with a quarterfinal game to be played two days later, which do you think they would send their best team to. I would bet it would be not be to the quarterfinal Libertadores game. Maybe I am wrong. Luckily the decision to keep Mexican teams out of CL is not up to you. The majority's might but I don't think the three leagues that I mentioned would prefer the CL over the Domestic title. At least thats the feeling I get from listening to different call-in radio shows.
I have nothing against Mexican teams. I feel that they help raise the quality of the tournament, when they bring their starting line-up, of course. I'd have no problem with them if they could resolve that problem with the federation. If it were my team, I'd go for the Libertadores. Sure, the other team would be happy if they beat you, but we played our reserves because we didn't prioritize that game over the Libertadores. Look at SPFC for example, they bring in Adriano, Carlos Alberto and Fabio Santos in for the Libertadores on a 6 month loan, and not for the domestic title. But I guess it's just a difference in opinions..
I have to disagree as well. My dad id Italian and so is most of my family and many friends and they would all definitely prefer the Champions over Serie A. Go ask Real Madrid how much it matters to them. Why do you think they fired Capello? Because they didn't think his style of footie would lead them to the Champions League title. I think out of the big three, only in England is there a chance that the majority would prefer the domestic league over the Champions. As for the scenario you portrayed, being a Boca fan, I would probably want a mix of starters/reserves in each game. But then again, I would prefer the making it to the semifinals. ALso, this may be off topic, but I think the shorter domestic leagues are harder to win because 1) one of them is played during the same semester as the Copa Libertadores and thus no team in Argentina is able to win the Libertadores and the league title and 2) The shorter tournament makes the smaller teams more likely to be competitive because the shorter the tournament the less likely their lack of depth will be exposed
But if you split your team between two back-to-back games, against opposition like Santos and Chivas, you are setting your self up to loose both games. A half complete teams is not beating Santos or Chivas. America was in a position were they had to choose one. Back to my scenario, would Boca beat River Plate with a half strength team and also beat say Cucuta last year, with a half strength team. I can't see it but you may have better answer.
I think in that scenario BOCA would field teams that were first team up the middle. Palermo, Roman, Caceres and Paletta are all locks and then from there you still have better than solid players to chose from. As has been pointed out, Banega is no doubt a loss but for the most part Battaglia has played very well and Ezequiel Benavedes may end up being better than both Gago and Ever. Not only is this a deep team, it's experienced and has played together as a squad for long time. B/W the Clausura and the Copa Lib in the scenario mentioned, BOCA goes to win both. We're BOCA after all. I think we are the favorites just by virtue of the Libertadores being Romy's torneo. He always finds a way to put his stamp on every match and always seems to become a better player. I also respect Sao Paolo and what they bring to the table. My dark-horse team is San Lorenzo, I really think they can make some noise. Especially if they focus their season on the Lib and not on the Clausura. As for river, they did get the Copa Revancha so their season is already a success
You better respect us. But damn it, it's SÃO PAULO! Well, I think they should focus a little harder, because São Lourenço lost 0-2 at Caracas just now.
My pick is São Paulo. The season is young and with some losses and gains in the lineup, we're still getting used to each other. Adriano is hungry and he will make South American defenses work hard. Other teams: Boca is good, although I saw them struggle vs. Rio da Prata and Rosario Central in the past two Sundays. The Mexican, Chilean, Colombian teams... I don't really know them well enough to know how much of a threat they pose. Cruzeiro should reach the quarterfinals at least as they got a solid team. Flamengo has the potential on paper. Santos? Not this year. They were great late in 2007 in the Brazilian premiership, but they had a lot of personnel changes and they are not doing well in the Campeonato Paulista.
The Boca team that played against River had 5 starters missing including Riquelme. And either way it was a close match. The week before that one Boca played River with most of the starters and it was a baile. As for Rosario Central the team was missing two key players including a NT player. Ibarra and Ledesma. Boca did play like shit but it was only the first game. LOL. Well, not that it really matters since it's just the group stages. Boca lost to both Toluca and Cienciano 3-0 when they played away last Libertadores and still won the whole thing.
Alright alright Sao Paulo it is I watched that game and was brutally let-down with how they played. They are a much better team on paper than what they showed on the pitch. They just made their job that much tougher.
You can't deny they've assembled a good side, it's just a matter of them clicking. Based on todays performance I'm considering recanting my comment
I honestly would be surprised if they make it out of the group. I expected the loss against Caracas today and I think they'll lose both games to Cruziero. Remember, Ramon is their coach and 'la copa no se hizo pa' la gallinas' How dare you leave out their great title run in the Copa del Verano
well its most likely not gonna be a colombian team, atletico nacional and cucuta are both off to a terrible start in the colombian league and both have lost to many key players. i had my hopes up for boyaca chico but they just got eliminated by audax italiano.