Copa Libertadores 2020

This silence may be due to the fact that with the tournament now having preliminary/playoff round to determine the final 32 participants in the group stage, attention is going to be lower. If the pre-group stage confrontations will have teams such as Deportivo Capiatá, Oriente Petrolero, Carabobo, Deportivo La Guaira, Delfín, Macará, etc., it is likely many fans won’t be interested.

I do not mean to belittle these teams. However, a quarterfinal or semifinal confrontation between teams that have won the tournament and are realistic contenders is going to gather a lot more attention on BigSoccer and in terms of viewership.

Speaking of viewership, during the 2000s and at least until some point in the last decade, for BigSoccer members living in the United States, Fox Deportes showed the matches. I remember very clearly how I would easily find TV schedules and put them up here, both live broadcast and tape replays. However, after some time, Fox Deportes lost broadcasting rights, so U.S.-based fans had to rely on online streams or more recently, beIN Sports.

While it is true that in more recent time, finding better streams, including even YouTube broadcasts, has become easier, it’s likely many fans simply wish to sit on their couches, kick back with a beer, and turn on their 50” flat screens. Not everyone is willing to pay for beIN Sports, and not everyone even has cable TV nowadays. I may be a minority, but my household no longer has cable TV: family commitments and circumstances have made it such that I rarely ever have time to watch TV any longer. For the World Cup, Copa América, and for Summer Olympic events (soccer and otherwise), I simply use the Internet for whatever is available.

In Latin America, Facebook Watch provides free broadcasts of games, but I don’t know how reliable it is as I’ve never used it. My friends and relatives back in Brazil are fortunate as Rede Globo shows at least some matches and if Brazilian teams are involved, they are shown. But there, too, SporTV and Fox Sports are pay channels.

Last but not least, if one reviews the history of BigSoccer posting, one will find that many posters who were once active have been gone for years. The Brazil Forum did not for example have the largest number of posters, but it did have several posters who contributed quality posts. Some of them are gone now, and others show up (literally) only when the World Cup happens (or when Brazil wins titles of significance such as the Olympic gold medal or the Copa América). Given that I’m now a family man with much less personal time, when I do post here, it’s often when I have a moment at work or late at night when I alone am awake. I wouldn’t be surprised if other posters, too, have family situations which limit their personal time.

 

My predictions before group stage starts:

Group A: Flamengo will top the group easily. 2nd place is carnage, I predict IDV makes it.

Group B: Palmeiras should top, Guaraní should be 2nd. Bolivar can qualify if they get 9 points at home but I doubt they will. Tigre won't advance but I predict they will get at least 1 win.

Group C: all 4 can qualify, really tough. I think Paranaense and Peñarol (finally!) advance.

Group D: another tough group. I'll go with River 1st, SP 2nd. Liga and Binacional, I just don't see them picking up any points away.

Group E: I'll bet an upset here... Gremio 1st, Católica 2nd. Inter to Sudamericana.

Group F: the easiest group to predict: Racin 1st, Nacional 2nd. Both with high total points probably. Alianza and Estudiantes are just too weak.

Group G: Olimpia 1st, Santos 2nd. Defensa and Delfín will be annoying opponents for them however.

Group H: Boca 1st, DIM 2nd. Libertad could sneak in, maybe.

 

Bloated with talent? For peruvian league standards maybe, the second weakest league in the continent.

 

Except for Ballon and Gómez, who both played like 3 games in argentina, I have no idea who they are.

Racing has better players in every position. Nacional has a lot of players that played at a higher level than any alianza player during their career like Bargessio, papelito, Yacob, Chory Castro. Anyway, I think Alianza will get something out of that first match because they are almost all injured.

 

Ok, I reckon I had too much faith in católica

 

Tonight, the defending champions, Flamengo, won 1-2 at Junior in Colombia. Before the game actually ended, a Colombian boy ran into the field to hug Gabigol.

What happened next? See for yourselves.... this is what futebol should be all about.