South American Football Thread

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The ultimate giant killers! Tiny Independiente del Valle are into the Libertadores final. Winning both games against Boca.

They are only the third team from Ecuador to reach the final, after Barcelona in 1990 and 1998 and LDU Quito in 2008.

 

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First round of the final.

 

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Atlético Nacional are the champions of South America!

 

Edgardo Bauza is the new Argetina manager. He has a great record in South American club football, winning both LDU Quito and San Lorenzo their first Libertadores titles. Unknown in Europe and plays a conservative brand of football.

 

Messi's retirement didn't last very long...

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Paraguay kept things very tight and interesting...

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Brazil won at Ecuador's mountain fortress. Gabriel Jesus with two.

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Flamengo into the Last 16 of the Sudamericana after going through on away goals against Figueirense. 5 x 5 on aggregate. First time since 2011 that they have made it this far in a CONMEBOL tournament.

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Santa Cruz may have failed to win a league game since July but they won the derby aginst Sport Recife, O Clássico das Multidões, to get into Last 16 for the first time ever I think.

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Did Messi even win a game? shortest retirement ever

 

Na, didn't miss a single Argentina game lol.

But he will miss the away game against Venezuela in Mérida due to a groin injury. Venezuela moving up into the foothills of the Andes to try and gain a small advantage over Argentina but even without Messi it will likely be lambs to the slaughter, 5000+ feet up or not.

 

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So the table after this month...

Uruguay - 16
Brazil - 15
Argentina - 15
Colombia - 13
Ecuador - 13
Paraguay - 12
Chile - 11
Bolivia - 7
Peru - 7
Venezuela - 2

 

Flamengo is going to win the league away from the Maracanã :icon_mrgreen:

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The top two Palmeiras and Flamengo go head to head this Thursday morning at the Palestra Itália.

 

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And with that the biggest insult to football in modern times is almost complete.

Portuguesa, a small but traditional team from São Paulo have been relegated to Série D after a massive downward spiral created by the corruption of the elite of Brazilian football, in support of their team, Fluminense. This is their seventh relegation since 2013, falling to the third division of the São Paulo state championship.

In the 2013 season Portuguesa came into the season looking just to stay up, a goal they reached with a game to spare. Their last game of the season, at home to Grêmio was a nothing game, with both teams having nothing to play for. Cruzeiro had already won the league, Grêmio where guaranteed a automatic Libertadores place and Portuguesa would stay up even if they lost. Fluminense were the team with something to play for as they could be the first defending champion to get relegated, which duly happened as the days results came in. They won away to Bahia but it wasn't enough.

Then the Rio elite went to work to save Fluminense. To save Flu they found Héverton Durães Coutinho Alves, a Lusa player who was suspended due to a red card in a Cup game. He came on with 5 minutes left and did nothing in the 0 x 0 draw. Sadly for Lusa they got told he was suspended in a cryptic fashion, with his suspension only being posted on the CBF website. Lusa weren't told, they wee just expected to going looking for obscure pages on the CBF website on the day of the game. With this appearance Lusa were docked 4 points, just enough to put them below Flu. The punishment didn't fit the crime.

As a result of the relegation little Portuguesa's debts have skyrocketed. The debts weren't great to begin with, going back to a lawsuit in 2002 with a former player. Money from TV deals has fallen each year, as has sponsorship deals. TV money went from R$198 million in 2013 to R$5.6 million last year. Attendances, already very modest have dropped, with more crowds of under 1000 than above. They only took £200,000 in ticket sales last year, lower this year. Unable to pay players they have had a make shift team, using an incredible 96 players and 14 managers since 2013. Next season it will be worse for them and they will almost certainly fall either further.

And now the city government has repossessed their home, Canindé and put it up for auction. So the club will be homeless.



Portuguesa have been killed to save Fluminense. The club of some past greats...

Clemer; Zé Roberto, Jair da Costa, Pinga, Djalma Santos, Zé Maria, Nininho, Ricardo Oliveira etc.

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I'm going to be in Argentina around the time Boca and River play in December.. anyone have any idea if it would be possible to get tickets? Or is that a hopeless endeavour?

 

You'll have to look at getting a ticket through a tour group. Tickets will only go on sale to Socios only, I.E. River Plate members, of which there are 90,000 plus.

But because its Buenos Aires there are loads of other games on at the same time.

 

Cheers man, will look into the tour group option if we're in the city for it, which I hope we are!

 

Flamengo win the derby against Fluminense. With Palmeiras only drawing at home it means there is only a single point between the top two.



Fights at the end.

 

Inter x Flamengo on BT Sport right now.

 

First leg of the Copa do Brazil final.

Chapecoense made it to the final of the Copa Sudamericana on goal difference after a 0x0 home draw with San Lorenzo. Their first ever continental final. Easily the greatest achievement ever for this little club.

 

Atlético Nacional draw at home to move into the Sudamericana final.

Another final for the team of the year, winning all in front of them. They won the Libertadores (South America's Champions League) at a canter. They topped the Clausura table in the Colombia and move on to the knock out rounds and they just won the Copa Colombia. Now they move on to the final of the Sudamericana (South America's Europa League) before flying out to Japan from the Club World Cup in a few days.

They've already played 70 plus this season. If they get to the final of the CWC and the Colombia league showdown they play 80+. In 2014 they were runner-ups in the Sudamericana to River Plate, in a season which they played over 100 games.

 

Palmeiras are the champions of Brazil and officially the most successful team in league history, one ahead of Santos.

 

https://twitter.com/Juezcentral/status/808065490023280640

Tevez with a nice goal.

 

Last round of league games in Brazil last night. Big story beyond Chapecoense was Internacional being relegated for the first time in their history.










And Boca Juniors go top of the table after a win at River Plate.