That kind of interplay makes me want the two-forward line-up for Brazil even more. EDIT: And making me re-think what I said in my long posts the seleção thread, that Vitor Roque doesn't have a chance. Maybe he does.
I'm watching on an Argentine broadcast on youtube and they said River had committed 13 fouls and 7 were against Vitor Roque. This was with less than 15 minutes of the second half.
Lucky River player was offsides ... but not sure how the GK is supposed to come out jumping with the player backing into him.
Good win, despite that deflected goal late. River almost got lucky with another deflection in the 95th minute. But a one-goal win means you can't relax at home next week.
River 1 x 2 Palmeiras - FT Team was defending well until the changes and the deflected goal. Veiga and Facundo are a big downgrade. Also thought Abel should have taken out Flaco instead of Vitor Roque .. Flaco was dead half way through the 2nd. Vitor Roque was still running.
Abel "maldito" for making the roster changes in the second half, @celito ? I managed to watch almost the entire game and Palmeiras essentially toyed with River Plate in the first half. Only when Abel made major lineup changes (and River did its own) did the locals start to pressure Palmeiras. It was impressive how Gustavo Gómez won the ball back almost every time. What stands out here is that River too invested a lot of money in building its roster for this season, but they couldn't do much against Palmeiras in the first half and for the first 20-25 minutes of the second half. With that late goal their dream of reaching the semifinal is alive, but I really don't see how Palmeiras will fail to score at home. SPFC's turn tonight.
SP have the early game in Quito. Flamengo also play tonight, the late match, home to Estudiantes. Obviously big favorites, but they need to make it count, because taking second place in the group means playing the second match away.
All São Paulo in the 2nd half but LDU scores a 2nd on their 1sat shot in the half. Still doable to revert the score, but São Paulo needs to reduce this to a 1 goal loss.
Starters were tired, but I would have made different changes. Flaco was more tired than Roque and it showed on some plays after Roque left. Flaco's first step was shot. Also, I didn't like Veiga coming in. He has been way off form for a while now. He is just in a different rotation. I think there is something physically wrong with him. He is mostly dead weight. I would have brought in Mauricio. I think these changes helped River increase control of the match. Defensively we did well though. I know at some point River were going to press. But 45 mins being pressed back is too much. It's asking to concede a goal. We had 24% possession in the 2nd half. Abel got 1st half spot on though. Nobody expected him to come out and attack off the bat. A nice surprise given how he has handled these types of away matches.
That didn't take long . 20 seconds in and Pedro with a very nice goal. Great body control to do that spin. Flamengo 1 x 0 Estudiantes
And it ends 2x1, with the sending off playing a big part in the final result. Flamengo really should have scored more in the first half. Intensity really waned in the second half and subs didn't help enough.
Similar to our match yesterday. Except for the red card. The Pedro miss at 2 x 0 was big. Although he might have been slightly offsides.
Estudiantes player handled the ball in the box in the red card play. Pretty blatant. Should have been a penalty . VAR missed it.
Flamengo will qualify without much of a sweat, Estudiantes usually plays even worse at home. I really want to see Racing play them so I hope it's like that.
Disappointing result for SPFC, and now SPFC has to achieve next week that which it hasn't done in 32 years: to reverse a defeat of 2 goals in the away match. The last time it happened? Oitavas-de-final, 1993 Libertadores. SPFC lost to Newell's Old Boys by 0-2 in Rosario but won 4-0 in São Paulo. The frustrating part is that SPFC played well and created several chances, but when Liga had those pivotal opportunities, it capitalized. The second goal was a blooper. @Ombak , as @celito wrote, that second card on Plata was nonsense. The Estudiantes player was the one who kicked Plata and yet he collapsed as if his foot had fallen off. All the more reason for me to root for Flamengo to eliminate Estudiantes in La Plata next week. Good for Flamengo for getting 2 goals so quickly.
It definitely helps your team nobody got sent off. Flamengo is probably going to qualify, but they lost Plata on a total BS red card. In good news for your team, Sebastián Driussi has been determined to be match unfit for next week following an injury during the Wednesday match. I don't know how important he is to them, but he is one of their atacantes. They therefore lose at least some firepower.
@Ombak I have seen several sports news outlets (from various countries and mainly from Brazil) stating that CONMEBOL has recognized Plata was red-carded in error and that the suspension has been withdrawn, thus strengthening Flamengo and upsetting Estudiantes. I also saw ONE headline stating CONMEBOL has stuck by the decision and that Plata won't be playing. This morning, I've seen nothing I didn't see during the weekend. Any updates you've seen? Is it indeed official that Plata will be authorized to play?