Copa Libertadores 2017

6 de Brasil, 4 de Argentina, 2 de Ecuador, 2 de Bolivia, 1 de Uruguay y 1 de Paraguay.

 

Someone is stuck in the 1820s.

 

While we may never know the reason for disputing the television/streaming rights (my $ is on Fox Deportes wanting to pay less because Mexican clubs weren't participating), someone caved in and the Copa Libertadores are back and so is the Cops Sudamericana! There is speculation that the matches will stream on FoxSoccer2Go, which I hope is true because my cable provider doesn't have Fox Deportes in HD yet (it really sucks); actually if anything, it should be on FoxSports2Go (free stream)... it's the least they can do but if Fox Deportes was the one that caved in, I'm sure they'll try to milk it as much as they can. F that, I'm sure they'll milk it either way those bastards!

 

Saltaron, al menos, 7 casos de doping positivo en River...

 

Is it really possible that there is 35 days between leg 1 and leg 2 in second round? Really, who is the person responsible for this lunatic schedules in both Copa L and Copa S? Who is that clown?

 

And just when the guys over at Concacaf are getting their act together with the new and improved CCL and their soon to be League of Nations, these Conmebol guys have to go and do this. smh...They should ask them for advice. I know what they were trying to do (mimic UEFA) and they meant well, but there'll be definitely some changes for next year and I'm sure they agree.... hopefully.

 

It was a good thing to mimic UEFA's competitions. Moving both tournaments to year-long format and both being played simultaneously is a great thing. In past both were played in some sort of a rush. "Rule" where winning both competitions in same year is now impossible is also a great thing.

But this what they did with formats and, even worse, schedules, is travesty.

You play leg 1 then you wait month(s) to play return leg, you forget who you play with. There is transfer-window now, you can have some players at disposal for leg 1, but lose them for return leg and rest of the tournament. It's just ridiculous.

I really hope they will do something with both things I (and I see many others) mind.

 

Can any of our Ecuadorian friends explain the massive amounts of empty seat in the Barcelona-Palmeiras game? With all the talk about Barcelona being the biggest team and brand in Ecuador, not to mention having had an article written about their popularity in the new york times recently, whats up with the crowd (or lack there of)? Really shocking

 

Holy crap how did Wilstermann resist those 90 minutes in Brazil??? This gotta be the biggest shock ever from a Bolivian club.

 

Lo siento Robinho (not really ) pero Felicidades a Club Jorge Wilstermann por llegar a los Cuartos de Final de la Conmebol Libertadores Bridgestone por la primera vez desde 1961. Lograron este logro contra Clube Atlético Mineiro. íAhora les toca contra Club Atlético River Plate y la ida iniciará en Cochabamba en Septiembre!

íWilstermann es Bolivia!

íVamos Bolivia! ️
As far as shock... maybe so because it was a club not expected from the Bolivian league when the "powerhouses" this time around (Bolívar and Strongest) ended up eliminated in the Round of 16.

This is great for our league because (hopefully), more and more clubs outside the "powerhouses" will begin to get recognized in international competition. As for other leagues who already have many clubs like that who are recognizable and gained acknowledment across other nations, it's understandable when a fan from one club roots against it's "league rival" to get eliminated but for nations like us (Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, etc.), I hope that's not the case in International Competition... but that's just me. I know there are many who can't stand another club doing much better on the international level but all I gotta say is that let's wait until this becomes a standard thing and then we can hope another club doesn't make it. That being said... being a "Bolivarista", I wish them all the best but don't make a habit out if it.

 

Simple: Atletico MG has been very poor on the Brasileirão. They were already going down with Roger Machado, who was fired and replaced with a really horrible coach, the guy who was Olympic Champion in Brazil in 2016 thanks to anyone but himself.

Atletico are in 15th (of 20) in the Brasileiro table. 4 points from relegation. 16 points behind Grêmio and 24 points behind the leader, Corinthians.


Half the league gone and Corinthians is more points AHEAD of Atletico MG (24) than Atletico MG has done so far (23)

 

Nacional of Montevidéu loses 0-1 at home, 2-0 in Rio, and starts a fight - and so do its fans.

 

Heh, heh, heh. I think we are not done yet.

The thought has crossed my mind that this may actually be quite a good team. I may have to change my avatar pic soon.

 

Oh, if it wasn't obvious, Wilstermann has just accomplished the batacazo of the year. Beat River Plate 3-0. Now on to Bs As. Of course, still can't cry victory. Nonetheless, this is a memorable Bolivian team.

 

LOL... I am restraining myself from saying some bad things my fellow river fans would hate, but we are all thinking it.

Congrats on the win, but you will be OWNED in BsAs. Your team is shit. You play in altitude, you have now won two games by a miracle, but my god POCHI CHAVEZ, was your best player...

We will beat you 4-0

AGUANTE RIVER

 

LOL, Cochabamba is no more altitude than Bogota, Arequipa, Cuzco, or Quito.
LOL 2, This is the first 90 minutes that Pochi has played since April.
LOL 3, Pochi was nearly thrown off the team in July.

If we're owned in Bs As. so be it. But we still have to play the game. Just have to wonder at fan that is so hurt at a loss that he has to denigrate the other team. If it were Santa Fe would you have felt so hurt? What about Cobresal? They both play at similar altitude. I sure hope it wasn't because it was a Bolivian team and you are so hurt because you are a racist. That would be sad to say the least.

Confident fans of great teams should just say congratulations and we'll see in the next game.

 

From my point of view, the big difference was efectividad. The Bolivians placed their shots well and River didn't. The other big difference was that the Bolivians got shots much closer to goal than your team. I'm going out of my way to say Bolivians because this is very much a Bolivian team. Three Bolivians scored for crying out loud. It's not a team held together by foreigners.

What Wilstermann have done this year that has been interesting is getting a number of good and experienced players at or near their prime instead of trying to get a couple of over the hill ex-legends. In come experienced Bolivians Melean and Cardozo. In come experienced but maybe undervalued Pochi and Alex Silva. Maybe put in a few more players that could play higher than expectations. What you then have is a balanced team full of good pros. Everybody has to prove it every day because there is someone else that can take that spot. Nothing else.

 

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOOOOOOOO!

Bravo, Jorge, mi amor!

 

Then please tell your countrymen to stop coming to argentina and living on welfare and voting for the peronists and kirchnerists. Until then, no I won't congratulate a Bolivian, Chilean, Paraguayan, or Peruvian team.

 

I'm actually in agreement with you insofar the opposition of welfare policies towards foreigners living in any given country. Having said that, the shantytown comment was low. There are shantytowns inhabited by extremely poor and humble people in your country and in essentially every South American country, and to throw that in regarding something ultimately so unimportant as a soccer game is childish, petty, and crass.

Maybe you'll remember that if/when any idiotic, ignorant, or mean-spirited Brits mock you for the results of the 1982 war.

This is about the Libertadores, not about poverty or society or whatever. Have some class.

 

Botafogo and Grêmio with a very tense and truncated match. I got to see the first half and there were not too many chances de gol. It's a shame one team will be sidelined next week as they've represented Brazil well this year and especially as Botafogo has ousted several former champions this year. If Botafogo gets past Grêmio, I could see it reaching the final.

Santos with a valuable point in Ecuador, but this Barcelona side has very fast players. Palmeiras and Botafogo have seen to that already - Santos better be careful in Brazil if it wants to advance.

 

You know Argentina is the country in south america with largest british population? No one of the middle class upwards cares, look at the names of many cities in Argentina... Banfield, Hurlingham, Temperley, Henderson, Murphy, Doyle... Look at the names of the football clubs- Newell's Old Boy's, River Plate, Boca Juniors, there is even a club called Douglas Haig, named after the british commander in world war I... Before Peron, Argentina and GB were great friends, but really. I have British blood I can recomend the book The Forgotten Colony all about Brits and Irish in Argentina.

My neighbor is 95 years old, he was born in Britain and came here at the age of 3 because his father came to work on the railroads. We have many british schools here. We play rugby, unlike every other south american country except uruguay.

I can send you the story of 2 british-argentines who flew in the RAF in WWII against the Nazi and took part in the storming of the beaches of normandy in 1944, and 38 years later flew for argentina against the british.

We also have the largest welsh population outside of wales in the world. We have scots, irish, english, and welsh... Juan Foyth, just transferred from estudiantes to tottenham, has scottish grandparents.

As for my countrymen living in shantytowns... well, most of them are actually foreigners. The biggest shantytown in BsAs, the Villa 31, is 65% foreigner- bolivians, peruvians, chileans, and paraguayans- all of whom vote peronist to get free handouts. Brazil is lucky you don't have these parasites. These people also have nothing in common with us. Its no surprise to me that Argentina's demise in football has come when most players are children of immigrants from paraguay, bolivia, peru, chile when before they were all descendants of Italians, Spaniards, Germans, British, and Eastern Europeans