Copa Sudamericana

The Copa Sudamericana is the second international tournament in South American club football after the much more prestigious Copa Libertadores. It is similar in importance to the Europa League in Europe.

The winners of the Copa Sudamericana get the opportunity to face the Copa Libertadores winners in the Recopa Sudamericana (Southamerican Super Cup) and as of 2010 the winner will qualify to play in the next Copa Libertadores.

History

The Copa Sudamericana was launched in 2002 as a replacement for the discontinued Copa Mercosur and Copa Merconorte competitions, which in turn had replaced the Copa CONMEBOL, which had in turn replaced the invitation only Supercopa Sudamericana.

The first winners were Argentine side San Lorenzo, who were the holders of the  precursor tournament Copa Mercosur.

In 2003 Cienciano became the first Peruvian
side to win a major international trophy, beating
River Plate in the Copa Sudamericana final.
In 2003 Cienciano became the first Peruvian side ever to win a major international tournament, beating Argentine giants River Plate in the final.

Boca Juniors won the tournament in 2004 and 2005 and hold a number of records for the competition. They are the only team to have won it twice, the only team to successfully defend their title and the only team to have appeared in two finals.They beat Bolivian side Bolívar in the 2004 final and Mexican side Pumas in 2005.

In 2006 Pachuca became the first Mexican side to win a CONMEBOL event, beating Chilean side Colo-Colo in the final.

In 2007 Argentine minnows Arsenal de Sarandí won the tournament, the first major honour in the club's history. They beat Club América of Mexico in the final.

After six years a Brazilian side eventually won the tournament in 2008. Internacional beat Argentine side Estudiantes in the final, however Estudiantes recovered to win the more prestigious Copa Libertadores in 2009.

Liga de Quito became the first Ecuadorian side to win the competition, beating Brazilian side Fluminense in the final in a repeat of the epic 2008 Copa Libertadores final.

List of champions

2002 - San Lorenzo (Argentina)
2003 - Cienciano (Peru)
2004 - Boca Juniors (Argentina)
2005 - Boca Juniors (Argentina)
2006 - Pachuca (Mexico)
2007 - Arsenal de Sarandí (Argentina)
2008 - Internacional (Brazil)
2009 - LDU Quito (Ecuador)
2010 - Independiente (Argentina)
2011 - Ongoing

Number of championship teams by nation

Argentina5
Peru1
Mexico 1
Brazil 1
Ecuador 1

Further reading

Copa Sudamericana at Wikipedia
Copa Sudamericana stats at RSSSF
List of winners at Wikipedia

See also

Copa Sudamericana highlights

Great goals: Guillermo Marino, NEWELL'S vs Quilmes, Apertura 2004 - Un Obra de arte.



In 2004 Américo Gallego led Newell's Old Boys to their first championship in 12 years, making him only the 2nd manager to win the league championship with 3 different teams alongside legendary manager José Yudica. One of the highlights of this campaign was this classic counter attack goal against Quilmes. The move started when Guillermo Marino intercepted posession on the edge of the Newell's penalty area, 12 seconds and 5 passes later he finished the move with a strike from the edge of the Quilmes area. It was described by the commentator as "un obra de arte" (a work of art).

Part of the Golazo series.

Partidazo: Argentina 0-5 Colombia, 5 September 1993 - Argentina's shame

The Colombia team celebrate their remarkable victory.

On 5 September 1993 Colombia travelled to Argentina to play a World Cup qualifier at Estadio Monumental. What happened in the game sent shockwaves through the world of football.

Argentina 0-5 Colombia



The Colombian side led by shaggy haired captain Carlos Valderrama handed the Albicelestes their biggest home defeat of all time, even though the home team was packed with legendary players such as Gabriel Batistuta, Diego Simeone and Fernando Redondo. The Colombians triumphed with two goals each  from Faustino Asprilla and Freddy Rincón and a late goal from Adolfo Valencia which was even applauded by the Argentine crowd, who had also started to shout Olé at each Colombian pass and to boo their own players.

Aftermath

The Argentine press were extremely critical, sports magazine El Gráfico marked the loss with a completely black cover and the word disgraceful. Argentine coach Alfio Basile came under enormous pressure to bring Diego Maradona back into the team. After shedding a lot of excess weight Maradona was recalled for the playoff against Australia, in which he scored the decisive goal. He was later sent home from the World Cup in disgrace after failing a random drugs test for ephedrine doping, following this Argentina were beaten 3-2 by Romania in the 2nd round in one of the classic World Cup encounters.

Basile later said "I never want to think about that [Colombia] match again. It was a crime against nature, a day when I wanted to dig a hole in the ground and bury myself in it."

The result elevated Colombia to the unrealistic position as one of the favourites for the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Colombia crashed out in the first round after defender Andrés Escobar scored an own goal against the hosts, he was shot to death in Medellín days later.

Further reading

For more great games involving South American teams, check out the rest of the Partidazo series.

Highlights: Primera División Argentina - Apertura 2010 - La Plata derby

Estudiantes players Fernández, Verón y Peñalba celebrate.

The Clásico Platense was delayed at the end of August due to Estudiantes commitments in Copa Sudamericana. It was played on September 29th and resulted in a 2-0 win for Estudiantes which sent them 2 points clear at the top of the league and left local rivals Gimnasia in the relegation places 7 points from safety.

Partidazos: Copa Libertadores final 2008

LDU Quito celebrate with the Copa Libertadores Trophy.

The Copa Libertadores final of 2008 was expected to be a cake walk for the Brazilian team Fluminense against the Ecuadorian underdogs LDU Quito. In fact it turned out to be one of the closest finals ever with LDU winning on penalties in the Maracaná after a 5-5 draw on aggregate.

LDU won their home leg 4-2 and then travelled to the Maracaná where they took a 6th minute lead to make the score 5-2 on aggregate, Fluminense fought back with a hat-trick from their influential midfielder Thiago Neves.  The 2nd leg finished 3-1 but since away goals didn't count in the final, the game was decided in a dramatic penalty shootout with Grobbelaar style antics from LDU's veteran goalkeeper José Cevallos, and their charismatic Argentine manager Edgardo Bauza seemingly dispassionate, alone on the bench until the moment of victory.

The final broke all kinds of records; the first Ecuadorian team to win Copa Libertadores, the most goals over ever in the final (10) the most goals in 1 leg (6), first player to score a hat-trick in the final (Thiago Neves) and the first player to score 4 goals over two legs (Thiago Neves).

For more great games involving South American teams, check out the rest of the Partidazo series.

Highlights: Primera División Argentina - Apertura 2010 - Fecha 8

Gastón Machín as he scores Huracán's equaliser.


Not a great round of fixtures to start my blog highlights, but never mind at least I can format the text on here, unlike Facebook.

Velez Sarsfield 3-0 Olimpo - Velez thrash Olimpo to stay top of the table and leave Olimpo in the automatic relegation zone.

Independiente 1-0 Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata -  A nice finish from Leonel Galeano to earn Independiente their first win of the season, although it has to be asked how he was given so much time to sort his feet out.

Estudiantes 1-0 Boca Juniors - A cracking goal from Marcos Rojo after 2 minutes was enough to win the game and keep Estudiantes within touching distance of the top.

Huracán 1-1 Godoy Cruz - In the first 15 minutes of the game Huracán's Robbie Savage, a guy called Gastón Machín should have been sent off several times, a professional foul, an elbow in the face and then a pathetic Luis Figo style falling over clutching his face to get another player sent off when not even touched. Guess who popped up to score Huracán's undeserved equaliser?

River Plate 1-1 Quilmes - Quilmes managed a last minute equaliser to save a point, Quilmes are still bottom of the table with 5 draws from 8 games, and both teams are in the relegation places.

Welcome to my blog

My friends and associates have been pressurising me to join Facebook and to start a blog for some time. I capitulated and joined Facebook earlier this year and today I started this blog. i hope you like it.
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