The ease of last night's result itself is a rebuke to the failure to win in Venezuela. All eyes are now on next week's home game against River Plate, who will be many times more difficult than Trujillanos. Having said that, River is on a 6-game winless streak, with a defeat to Patronato (which I assume is a relatively modest team) this past weekend; of the past 12 matches, River has only won 2 (with 1 of these being against Trujillanos as a visitor). If Edgardo Bauza deploys the team the way he did yesterday, I'll have reasons to be (very cautiously) optimistic on the upcoming game in Morumbi. We did not lose to River in Argentina and if not for that odd own goal, we would have won.
ERRATA: ... of the past 12 matches, River has only won 3 (with 1 of these being against Trujillanos as a visitor). 02/08/2016: 5-1 vs Quilmes 02/26/2016: 0-4 at Trujillanos 03/01/2016: 1-0 vs Independiente
As much as I want to watch Corinthians @ Santa Fe , seeing palmeiras's libertafores dreams be killed in Argentina is just too tempting.
Our defense is soooooo bad. They make the most elementary mistakes. Even when they have to defend for a few minutes to hold the result.
I didn't watch Rosario Central vs. Palmeiras, but it's too bad Palmeiras didn't win. I was upset when a Nacional fan made monkey gestures at a Palmeiras during a match in Uruguay, and I began to want Palmeiras to advance. Celito says Palmeiras made naive mistakes. If so, it shows that in the Libertadores, against the most malandro of opponents, this can mean life or death. Palmeiras' group is quite embolado now. I hope Palmeiras advances - despite their "naive mistakes," they are a good team. I only hope SPFC does the same - River Plate got the same 6-0 we did and we have to defeat them AND The Strongest - in the Bolivian altitude.
Palmeiras reminds me of Fla when they reach the Libertadores. On paper, they have a solid team that could compete, but they end up making the group stage more complicated than it should be.
Palmeiras ... regardless of the result today. We will need a win and also make up some goal difference.
São Paulo defeats River Plate 2-1. A pivotal win against a tough opponent. How poetic that a player who last played in Argentina with Boca Juniors scored the two goals.
Sinto muito, Celito. Era pro teu time ter ganhado do Nacional em casa. Keep your head up - there's still Copa do Brasil and Campeonato Brasileiro. I myself may lament a first-round elimination next week if SPFC doesn't at least draw at The Strongest.
Atletico is probably the best team to watch in South America right now. Probably top ten world wide. Watching junior urso , Rafael Carioca , cazares, and Robinho on the pitch at the same time with pratto to aim at is high class stuff to watch. It's a more balanced team this year also.