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South American Dispatch: Who Let The Underdogs Out In This Year’s Copa Sudamericana?

Goal.com’s Tim Sturtridge reports from Buenos Aires as teams from Uruguay and Paraguay overcome Argentine and Brazilian opposition in the Copa Sudamericana while there is more misery at El Monumental...

Nov 5, 2009 2:01:38 PM

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Cerro Porteño - Jorge Britez

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River Plate of Uruguay turned over a first leg deficit to book their place in the semi-finals of the Copa Sudamericana at the expense of San Lorenzo.

Diego Simeone’s San Lorenzo were clear favourites before the match after recording a 1-0 victory in Montevideo in the first leg.

A single headed strike from Pablo Pintos a fortnight ago gave San Lorenzo a useful lead at the halfway point of the quarter-final clash.

They were soon on the back foot however in the return leg in front of their home crowd at a packed El Nuevo Gasometro stadium.

River Plate piled forward from the kick-off and Pablo Migliore had to be on his toes to produce a string of fine saves. The closest River came to breaking the deadlock in the first half was when Jorge Cordoba unleashed a rocket that was beaten away by the goalkeeper.

San Lorenzo appeared reluctant to go forward and looked apprehensive at the back and this was duly punished in the first minute of the second half. An uncharacteristic mistake from Kily Gonzalez allowed Richard Porta to dribble through on goal and stab the ball past Migliore to level the tie.

After conceding, the home side showed a little more ambition in trying to book a place in the semi-finals of the competition they won earlier in the decade.

River, appearing in only their second Copa Sudamericana, held firm and eventually all that was left to separate the teams was a penalty shoot-out.

River’s keeper Luciano Dos Santos emerged as the hero as he saved efforts from Jonathan Bottinelli, Gaston Aguirre and Pablo Pintos.

With their place in the semi-finals booked, the Uruguayans will now await the outcome of Velez Sarsfield and Liga de Quito to see who they will be facing next.

Away Win For Cerro Porteno Dumps Out Botafogo

Reigning champions of Paraguay Cerro Porteno made light work of their Copa Sudamericana quarter-final with Botafogo, running out 5-2 winners on aggregate.

Holding a 2-1 advantage from their home leg El Ciclon, they knew they had the perfect opportunity to advance to the semi-finals of the competition for the first time in their history.

They managed to contain their Brazilian hosts for most of the game and grew in confidence with the score locked at 0-0 at half-time on the night.

Much to the despair of the Botafogo crowd, the visitors took a second half lead with a well worked set-piece. Substitute Nunez lost his marker from a left sided corner to put his side two goals clear in the tie.

A well taken goal from Andre Lima after good work from Jobson levelled things up on the night but the home side’s route back into the tie was further disrupted by the dismissal of Alessandro for violent conduct.

As the ten-man Botafogo sought to get back on level terms in the quarter-final they left gaps at the back which were capitalised on by first Irrazabal and then Caceres.

Botafogo must now turn their attention back to their relegation scrap at the foot of the Brasileiro while the Paraguayans will look to cement their place in the history books by continuing their Copa Sudamericana journey.

The victors could well be back in Brazil for their semi-final as they await the outcome of the match between Fluminense and Universidad de Chile.

Cry Me A River As Problems Mount At El Monumental

Nothing is easy for River Plate of Buenos Aires these days and their recently appointed manager has his fair share of selection headaches going into this weekend’s visit to Newell's Old Boys.

Facing the joint league leaders on their own patch at any time would be hard enough but with a spate of suspensions and injuries, Leonardo Astrada’s job will be made doubly difficult.

The coach is sweating over the availability of his captain Marcelo Gallardo and Gustavo Cabral after both players missed training this week with a virus.

Astrada is also uncertain of whether he can rely upon Ariel Ortega after the troubled playmaker requested to be left out of the squad for last weekend’s home defeat to Lanus.

One player River will definitely be without is the influential Matias Almeyda who serves a suspension after picking up five bookings in the league.

Astrada has asked the experienced Almeyda to travel with the squad to Rosario at the weekend anyway despite being ineligible to play. The former Serie A winner with Lazio has a strong relation with Ortega and in his manager’s view Almeyda’s presence on the team bus is essential for the harmony of the squad.

Almeyda was quizzed this week in the local media about the current crop of problems facing his friend and colleague Ortega.

“Last week his mind dropped and he did not feel he had the mental fitness to concentrate on the game,” Almeyda told Radio La Red. “But Ariel is fine and has been training. He looked good today and yesterday.”

Almeyda urged the media not to make too much of Ortega’s problems as he said they were exasperated by the intense coverage of the issue.

Tim Sturtridge, Goal.com

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