P	W	D	L	F	A	PTS
River Plate	6	4	0	2	13	6	12
El Nacional	6	3	0	3	8	9	9
Guarani		6	2	1	3	9	11	7
The Strongest	6	2	1	3	10	14	7

RED = Qualified For Round of Last 16


3 MAY 2001

GUARANÍ 0
RIVER PLATE 1 : Zapata 21

River Plate did not play well, but still managed to get a victory and the
all-so important qualification for the round of 16. The Argentineans have a
good team, but they'll have to play better than this if they want to go far.

THE STRONGEST 2 : Delfino 68, 72
EL NACIONAL 1 : Herrera 25

El Nacional qualified to the next stage thanks to River Plate's victory over
Guaraní. In this match, they showed that their team is far from great,
losing to the poor side of The Strongest.


18 APRIL 2001

RIVER PLATE 2 : Ayala 4, Cardetti 44
EL NACIONAL 0

River Plate did not play well, but got a key victory over El Nacional. Ayala
opened the scoring early in the match. Ortega crossed the ball from a free
kick and the Paraguayan defender rose all alone to head the ball in. The
home side dominated the proceedings in the first half, and they doubled
their lead in the 44th minute. Ortega and Cuevas created a counter attack,
and the ball ended up with Cardetti, who sent an unstoppable rocket past the
goalkeeper. In the second half, the home team just played out time, and
there were few interesting chances.


17 APRIL 2001

GUARANÍ 4 : Verón 5, Ferreira 7, Isasi 28, Espinosa 83
THE STRONGEST 1 : Coelho 67

The Strongest was knocked out of the Libertadores Cup with this heavy
defeat. Meanwhile, Guaraní is very much alive, but needs a victory over
River Plate to qualify. The home side wasted no time in this match, scoring
twice in the first ten minutes, through Verón and Ferreira. In the 28th
minute, Isasi made it 3x0, with some help of the Bolivian keeper. With the
match decided, few chances were created. Midway through the second half,
Coelho scored a goal for The Strongest, while Espinosa restored Guaraní's
three-goal lead seven minutes from time.


10 APRIL 2001

EL NACIONAL 2 : Ordóñez 6, Quintero 39
THE STRONGEST 1 : Delfino 27

El Nacional now has a surprising lead in group 5, but this group is still
wide open, since the leaders will play their final two matches away from
home. The Equatorian side dominated the match. They soon opened the
scoring, with Ordóñez heading home after a corner kick. But The Strongest
managed to sneak a tie against the run of play in a fast counter attack,
capitalized by Delfino. El Nacional kept the pressure on, and they were
rewarded in the 39th minute, when Quintero again headed home after a
corner kick.


5 APRIL 2001

THE STRONGEST 4 : Rojas 3, Vaca 6, 40, Líder Paz 64
RIVER PLATE 1 : Cavenaghi 9

This was one of the most intense starts for a match that I've ever seen,
with three goals inside the initial nine minutes. It's all-open in group 5,
with just two points separating the leader from the bottom team.


13 MARCH 2001

EL NACIONAL 3 : Fernández 33, Ordóñez 57, Herrera 74
GUARANÍ 1 : Ferreira 91

El Nacional got revenge against Guarani, which defeated them 3x1 in the
first round of matches. The decisive moment of this match came in the 16th
minute, when Ramírez of Guaraní was sent off, making things easy for the
home side. Fernández opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, Ordóñez made it
2x0 in the 57th and Herrera put the nail in Guaraní's coffin in the 74th. In
injury time, Ferreira scored a consolation goal for the visitors.

Red Card : Ramírez (Guaraní)
Attendance : 9,000


6 MARCH 2001

RIVER PLATE 4 : Cardetti 3, Saviola 60, 85, Cavenaghi 90
GUARANÍ 0

River Plate opened the scoring in the 3rd minute, when a bad clearance by
the Guaraní defence ended up with Cardetti, who instantly shot on goal form
the edge of the box. The ball deflected on a defender before going in. Each
team had a couple of chances to score in the first half, when the match
didn't really ignite. In the 59th minute, River coach Américo Gallego replaced
Cardetti for Saviola, and that substitution made a big difference. 10 seconds
after entering the field, Saviola scored his first goal of the night. Coudet took
a corner from the right side, Ayala missed his header and Saviola, trying to
avoid the ball going out of bounds, somehow managed to volley it in. That
goal effectively decided the match. With five minutes to go, Saviola scored
again, deflecting the ball to the goal, completing a good play by Cavenaghi.
And Cavenaghi scored the fourth goal for the home side in injury time.


1 MARCH 2001

THE STRONGEST 1 : Paz 1
GUARANÍ 1 : González 64

The Strongest started the match in the best possible way, scoring with less
than a minute of play, with Líder Paz capitalising on a cross from the left
side. Guaraní slowly settled in the match, and got a tying goal in the 64th
minute, with a long-range shot by González. The home side pressed forward in
the final minutes, but Guaraní was able to hold on to the tie.


28 FEBRUARY 2001

EL NACIONAL 1 : Lara 10
RIVER PLATE 0

El Nacional took an early lead through Lara, who received a pass from
Ordóñez, entered the box and sent a perfect curling shot in the top-left
corner of Costanzo's goal. River looked to attack, but they lacked
organisation. Early in the second half, the Argentinean side created the a
couple of good scoring chances, but then the altitude took its toll on the
visiting players and El Nacional had no problems to hold on to the result.


22 FEBRUARY 2001

RIVER PLATE 5 : Cuevas 5, 38, Cardetti 81, 87, 89
THE STRONGEST 1 : Alvarez 78

River Plate had no problems to rout pathetically named side The Strongest.
It took just five minutes for the home side to open the scoring, thanks to a
precise low shot by Cuevas. River maintained its dominance and scored the
second in the 38th minute. Cuevas sent the ball to Coudet, who crossed to
Ortega, but he wasn't able to score. The rebound fell to Cuevas, who made no
mistake. In the second half, River Plate slowed the pace. Their task was
made even easier in the 73rd minute, when Juan Carlos Paz was sent off for
his second bookable offence. But The Strongest unexpectedly pulled one back
five minutes later, thanks to a blunder by goalkeeper Constanzo after a
harmless-looking free kick by Alvarez. But then River decided to play for
real. Cardetti made it 3x1 for the home side after a nice play involving
Barrado and Cuevas. With three minutes to go, Cardetti struck again, with a
well placed long-range shot. And in the 89th minute, Cardetti completed his
late hat trick with an easy goal.

Red Card : Paz (The Strongest)


13 FEBRUARY 2001

GUARANÍ 3 : Julio González 10, 17, 84
EL NACIONAL 1 : Calle 80

Guaraní started at full speed and it didn't take long for them to open the
scoring. Parra took a corner kick and Julio González rose higher than the
defenders. González struck again seven minutes later, with a violent shot.
Leading by two goals, Guaraní relaxed, allowing space for El Nacional. And
the visiting team wasted a glorious chance of coming back into the match in
the 27th minute, when Ordóñez had a penalty kick saved by Oscar Ferro. The
Equatorian side kept the pressure on, but they only managed to score a goal
in the 80th minute, with Calle, who headed the ball in from a corner kick.
But any hopes of a comeback by El Nacional were dashed three minutes later,
when Julio González completed his hat trick, with a beautiful goal.


Tomaz R. Alves
tomaz@trivela.com
http://trivela.com