My predictions for every group: A) 1.River 2.Inter 3.Alianza 4.Palestino B) 1.Cruzeiro 2.Huracan 3.Emelec 4.Lara C) 1.Olimpia 2.Godoy Cruz 3.Concepcion 4.Cristal D) 1.Flamengo 2.Liga 3.Peñarol 4.San José E) 1.Mineiro 2.Cerro 3.Nacional 4.Zamora F) 1.Palmeiras 2.Junior 3.San Lorenzo 4.Melgar G) 1.Boca 2.Paranaense 3.Wilstermann 4.Tolima H) 1.Gremio 2.Libertad 3. Católica 4.Central The only places I have doubts are 2nd place of group C (because other than Olimpia they are all trash) and second place of group D (because of altitude factor and how random Peñarol usually is).
Peñarol have been trash the past 7 years. Nacional is usually the random one. They have had some very good, and very average teams in the past decade.
Melgar start their campaign with a 0-0 draw at home to San Lorenzo. Disappointing. I'm under the mentality that the Peruvian league may be bad, but it's not that bad to lose to Argentina's bottom team. Luckily, they didn't lose, but this was the game to get all 3 points. Melgar really lack attacking depth. They had no game changer on the bench. This is why I think Alexi Gomez would be a good signing for them. Hopefully Melgar get just 1 win in this tournament. The fact they've made it here is already a success as it is. As for the other games, I'm surprised that Flamengo won in Oruro. San Jose are doing well in Bolivia and play in higher altitude than La Paz. I genuinely thought they would take it. Not much to say about the other games as most were 0-0. I saw a bit of Tolima vs Athletico Paranaense in which the Colombians won 1-0, but it was dull and not a lot to say about it. Anyways. fingers crossed for Cristal and Alianza today. I think both have a chance at getting something. Cristal because they aren't taking on the strongest opposition in the world and Alianza because they are a lot stronger than last year and are at home. Both are rightfully underdogs but I do believe one will get something from their games.
Now that you mention that I remember like 2 years ago Arsenal (who were dead bottom out of 28 teams in Argentina) defeated Aurich 6-1 Anyway... all argentine teams drew their first match somehow. I think all of them are "good" results considering different circumstances. Boca and San Lorenzo earned points in the altitude, River had IMO a moderately tough opponent and Godoy Cruz and Central played the hardest opponent in their groups at home (good result considering GC and Central are garbage in the league).
Should not be gutted at all Siempre Crema. Alianza was very fortunate to even get the point and their fans should be happy. I will say that they were organized and defended very well for the most part but you can tell that River was the much better squad. And if it were not for Santos Borre's lack of cold blood on the Penalty Alianza would have zero points right now.
While nothing in your post is untrue, you seem to be forgetting that it was a last minute equalizer. However, I said the aim would be 4 points. A win at home to Palestino should do the job now. Alianza were never going to make it through this group but I did say they are going to make it tough for their opposition.
Libertad is killing it out there. Could they make a deep run and, dare I say it... put up a fight for the title? They’ve already taken down Atletico Nacional, Gremio, The Strongest, and Universidad Catolica. Not bad..
I liked what I saw from Melgar yesterday. They were beaten 3-0 because Palmeiras are better and were at home. However, they still really lack bite and that will be their undoing. Cristal on the other hand... I was at the game, and gosh they were awful.
Junior is winnable for Melgar. Colombian teams are brilliant but they seem to roll over in the Libertadores in recent times. Since Atletico Nacional won it, nothing has been going for them. They have shown in the Sudamericana that they are capable.
Do they only begin using VAR in knockout stages? A suuuuper clear penalty just wasn’t called for River (Palestino’s GK straight up tackled Suarez), and there was also another one missed earlier on (handball in the box, but the ref called a FK instead of a PK).
I knew Alianza would lose, but at the same time I'm surprised with how good Internacional are. They are genuine contenders, and this without Guerrero yet. On the other hand, the scheduling is awful. Alianza get 3 away games in a row, Cristal get 3 home games in a row. Seriously what were they thinking!?
Internacional has been rebuilding since it played the second division in 2017. It came back to the first division last year and finished in 3rd place in the Campeonato Brasileiro. That said, up until less than 2 weeks ago, Internacional's offense ranked 14th out of the 20 teams who will play the 2019 Campeonato Brasileiro. The team went through a long drought re: Libertadores competitiveness after 2010. Penarol took them out in 2011, Fluminense in 2012, although they did make a semifinal run in 2015. I do wonder how they'll do this year. It's not common that Internacional and Grêmio are in the Libertadores in the same year and that both are quite solid (although Grêmio played like garbage vs. Libertad this week, and at home I might add).
Lol bolivian teams of this edition are down right amateur. Imagine how many goals San José and Wilstermann will concede in the Maracaná and Bombonera.
I jumped on the completely wrong hype train. Alianza Lima have been dire. Melgar have finally been playing to their max in a Libertadores, and I put that down to Pautasso. He still has a bit to learn in his first big managerial job, but so far so good. So far, he's set a few milestones. Took a Peruvian past the preliminary rounds since the new format, not conceded any goals at home in 4 games, and broke Peru's bad record against Colombians. Funnily enough, the last time we beat a Colombian club team was Melgar vs Junior in 2015, where they won 4-0. I think it will be difficult to get through the groups, but a third place finish will suffice and be progress. Especially given that it's likely all 4 Peruvians in the Sudamericana will go out immediately. Hopefully they don't bottle this,
I warned ya my friend. To get 4 pojnts in that Group in my opinion was going to be very difficult. They can still do it though but it is an uphill battle. Tip my cap to Melgar but all the Colombian teams this tournament seem to be bad unless Tolima wakes up.
To be fair, they could have had 2 more points if they didn't concede so unluckily to River in the last minute. However, that doesn't excuse that Russo's Alianza has not impressed, not in the league nor Libertadores.Thankfully they still have 2 more home games, so there is still a chance they could get my predicted 4 points. On another note, who decides on the schedule? Cristal have 3 home games in a row, Alianza 3 away in a row? I want to blame it on the Estadio Nacional usage, but I see other teams like Junior also have this problem.
Yes. In a hypothetical world they could have had 3 points. But as I have pointed out already in another hypothetical world they could have 0 points if Santos Borre would have done a better penalty. Or if Juan Fernando would have still been on the the field to take the Penalty (he rarely misses). It is what it is.
On another note, I just saw Luis Fernando Suarez is Junior's manager. Same guy who did terribly with Universitario. No wonder they are so bad now.
Was tuned out of the Libertadores yesterday, so I'm just barely seeing that Paranaense smacked my sons 3-0. No surprise, to be honest: I kind of predicted a massacre when I saw Alfaro's line-up (Tevez and Benedetto up front, 2 offensive FWs as wingers... only 2 real midfielders --Nandez and Marcone-- playing, leaving huge gaps all over the place). It was suicide from the bosteros. On another note, I am absolutely shocked that San Lorenzo beat Palmeiras. Was it luck, or was Palmeiras just that poor?
"My sons" sounds a bit odd in English. Just say "I'm your daddy." Athletico Paranaense was well-deployed and played with intensity, courage, and hunger from start to finish. The 3-0 was a very just result. Palmeiras is the defending Brazilian champion and it won that title with merit. That said, however talented the lineup and however much money was spent in investing in talent to build Palmeiras' highly solid roster, the team was undermanned - Gustavo Scarpa and Ricardo Goulart were absent, and these two are Palmeiras' top scorers in 2019 thus far with 4 goals each. Goulart also happens to be the team's leader in assists (3); in this, he is tied with Dudu, Palmeiras' center-forward. And with Dudu, these two formed a "triangle" of great fluidity and movement. Goulart is injured; Scarpa had a death in the family and the team released him from the trip to your country. Until late February, before Goulart joined the starting XI, Palmeiras was off to its worst start in 30 years vis-a-vis total goals scored. Once Goulart started matches, Palmeiras scored 15 goals in 7 matches - against 9 goals in 10 matches in which Goulart was not a starter. Another interesting anecdote: since Luis Felipe Scolari returned to Palmeiras, of the 11 matches Palmeiras trailed, Palmeiras failed to win all of them: 6 draws and 5 losses. This stands in stark contrast to the Palmeiras of 20 years ago (also managed by Scolari). In 1999, Palmeiras was nicknamed "o time da virada," for in that year, it won several matches it was losing at first. This also applied to home & away cup elimination brackets - in the semifinals that year, your team won 1-0 vs. Palmeiras at home, but Palmeiras defeated River Plate 3-0 in São Paulo. All this said, Palmeiras did not play its best match, although it hit the crossbar with a bicycle kick. And given Palmeiras had won its first 2 matches in the Libertadores, this setback isn't a season killer.