(The team marked with a star has the advantage of playing the second match
of this knockout stage at home)
ROSARIO CENTRAL (Argentina) - (*) AMERICA CALI (Colombia)
Rosario Central advanced to the QF after beating Chile's Cobreloa (3-2 away,
1-1 at home), with the third goal in their victory a memorable solo piece by
their best player, playmaker EZEQUIEL "Eki" GONZALES. America Cali advanced
upon beating Uruguay's horrible Nacional (2-0 at home, 3-1 away) without
showing any sign of brilliance, but some nice touches by left-wing DAVID
FERREIRA (??).
That is by far the least interesting QF match - both teams are average at
best. Rosario even features big dummy striker PIZZI, former Spain NT
player... America is the quintessential Colombian team, a few skilled
midfielders doing lateral passes ad nauseam, nothing resembling a half
decent striker, yet enough to beat Nacional, which I have no words to
describe how horrible did they look...
My odds : Rosario 60-40
RIVER PLATE (Argentina) - (*) CRUZ AZUL (Mexico)
River Plate advanced with 0-2 away and 5-0 at home against Ecuador's
Emelec; Cruz Azul advanced 1-2 away and 3-1 at home against Paraguay's
Cerro Porteno.
River Plate has lost some important players to Europe recently, but not
their lead player, playmaker and supreme diver ARIEL ORTEGA. Their offense
line has a classic center forward in Martin Cardetti and a quicksilver
JAVIER SAVIOLA, object of desire of most European richest teams. In their
defense, Colombian international MARIO YEPES teams up with overweight
Paraguayan international CELSO AYALA; on the average, they are passable.
Cruz Azul defeated a tough Cerro Porteno side with mastery. Their star
player is Mexican NT PALENCIA, but Paraguayan NT striker JOSE CARDOSO
was nothing short of stellar in the second match against Cerro. However,
traditions are never buried easily. Cruz Azul's keeper OSCAR PEREZ, also a
Mexico NT player, is ridiculous to say the least. Perhaps, that is why their
defense looked all so organized and tactically disciplined against Cerro -
they know there is no safety net beneath them!
My odds : River 60-40
PALMEIRAS (Brazil) - (*) CRUZEIRO (Brazil)
Palmeiras advanced with a penalty shoot-out victor against their neighbors
Sao Caetano (0-1 away, 1-0 at home). Cruzeiro advanced with 2-1 away and
4-1 at home against Ecuador's El Nacional
Palmeiras' mood could not be worse. Their small team coach CELSO ROTH
does not seem to have respect from anybody. In a nerve-wrecking face-off
against Sao Caetano, Palmeiras only got their game together when he fielded
three players he was not using, under pressure from supporters: MUNOZ,
TUTA and JUNINHO BAIANO. It should definitively be mentioned that
Colombian striker MUNOZ's decisive goal was off the charts awesome.
To add to the bad mood, they have been planning their whole season based
on their participation in the World Cup of Clubs in Spain, recently cancelled
by FIFA.
In the absence of any tactical guidance, their game will be again based on
the usual spark of brilliance by talented players like ALEX, LOPES, FELIPE
and MUNOZ, and an unlikely positive appearance by Serie A reject strikers
TUTA and FABIO JUNIOR...
Cruzeiro is on the other side of the moon. Their disposal of El Nacional did
not even require any serious effort. Moreover, their team looked like having
healthy fun while doing that. Two players are the center of the attention:
(1) Argentinean NT left wing JUAN PABLO SORIN, a crazy horse that runs his
sector like there is no tomorrow and (2) young pace prodigy GEOVANNI, a
strong contender for top scorer of the Libertadores and IMHO Brazil's best
young prospect since Ronaldo. The fact that both SORIN and GEOVANNI are
lefties probably makes Cruzeiro one of the top 5 best left sectors in the world.
In the last few years Cruzeiro and Palmeiras have faced off in several
important matches, creating a tradition of exciting clashes. That has to be
must-see TV for anyone with the slight interest for soccer!
My odds: Cruzeiro 65-35
VASCO (Brazil) - (*) BOCA JUNIORS (Argentina)
Vasco advanced with 3-1 (away) and 1-0 victories against Chile's Deportes
Concepcion; Boca advanced with 3-1 (away) and 1-1 against Colombia's
Atletico Junior of Barranquilla.
That has to be one of the most exciting Quarter-Final clashes in the last
few years in any continental competition.
Both teams have some bragging rights within their national borders. Boca has
worldwide bragging rights, Vasco has soccer's biggest star in activity,
ROMARIO.
Os so they would wish... ROMARIO is ruled out for the first match against
Boca, with also WC94 champion striker VIOLA as his substitute. The club from
Rio de Janeiro has one of the most exiciting and certainly one of the
fastest attacking lines in the world, with the fastest forward in the world,
EULLER plus JUNINHO PAULISTA and PEDRINHO as attacking midfielders. The
fact that neither ROMARIO nor VIOLA can run has no effect on their overall
results - both simply know where to be and when to let the others do the
running.
Vasco's weak spots have been goalkeeper HELTON, ever ridiculous in the
high balls, and the lack of coordination between world class attack and
attacking mids with just average defensive midfielders such as PAULO
MIRANDA and the ethernally mediocre NASA.
Boca Juniors looked like an army in their first match away against Atletico
Junior. I cannot recall a team with such balls. Huge cojones. It is pretty
obvious to write long lines about playmaker RIQUELME and how his vision of
the game is translated into objective goal opportunities, about the pace of
once underrated MARCELO DELGADO, or about all the sweat by CHICHO
SERNA but that misses the point. Boca is Boca because of their cojones.
Vasco will definitively miss ROMARIO's presence. Even when he does not
touch the ball, he is simply to scary to be left by himself. On their favor, a
great record against Argentinean teams in the last Mercosul cup, plus EULLER
usual great performances in Libertadores games (Can anybody give me a clue
why there were never even a tiny rumour linking EULLER to any top European
team?)
My odds : Boca 55-45
Bordon
bordon_is_gone@hotmail.com
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