2019 Copa Libertadores

[cantagalo]

[cantagalo]

Unlike the Libertadores, the next round of Sudamericana ties will be played in the next few weeks before the Copa America starts.

This means I'll be able to see Fluminense v Atlético Nacional who are going through a difficult time and are nothing like the team they were two years ago and coach Paulo Autuori returns after a brief unsuccessful spell at Flu last year. Also there's Botafogo v Sol de América but I shall have to rely on Jason to tell me something about the Paraguayans.

[danielmak]

I was a bit behind with LIbertadores matches and then swamped with work. I think we're going to see the problems with the year-long competition play out. Liga could throw some chaos into the mix but only for that first match. I'm guessing that we're headed for another Boca-River matchup and it's hard to see any serious challenges outside Boca, River, Gremio, and Palmeiras. July is a long time away so things will change but the big clubs can handle the changes.

It's good that we've got some Sudamericana the next couple weeks, although I'm not a fan of teams dropping into the competition from the Libertadores.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I'm pleased that Liverpool have hedged their bets on winning the Champions League by sneaking into the Sudamericana as well.

[cantagalo]

I'm pleased that Liverpool have hedged their bets on winning the Champions League by sneaking into the Sudamericana as well.

See also a 'fake' River Plate and a Universidad Católica doppelganger.

[cantagalo]

I mentioned on the matchgoing thread that I'd seen the 17 year-old Joăo Pedro come off the bench in consecutive games for a total of about 30 minutes and score three goals. He will be moving to Watford next January for a fee of 'up to €10m'.

Last night in Fluminense's Copa Sudamericana match against Atlético Nacional, he made his first start. He scored his first after 2 minutes, his second after 8 and by the 33rd minute he had a 'perfect' hat trick to his name. He also found time to provide the cross for Luciano to head Flu's third goal as they raced into a 4-1 half-time lead.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzmgupSFgA4

Now I've only seen him play live for a total of just over 120 minutes and he's only 17 but he's looked a real star. I reckon Flu should rip up the contract with Watford and renegotiate the transfer fee.

[danielmak]

Also worth highlighting that Athletico-PR beat River (1-0) in the first leg of the re-copa. The second leg is played in Buenos Aires next week.

[cantagalo]

Yes, I should have mentioned that as well. Lovely goal by Marco Ruben after great build-up play by two more of Brazil's best young players - Bruno Guimarăes and Renan Lodi.

Athletico are at Flamengo on Sunday but unfortunately they'll be fielding a reserve team in preparation for that second leg.

[danielmak]

I was way behind last week so didn't finish watching Sudamericana games until this weekend. It was a crazy week last week, with a lot of blowouts. In addition to Flu's dismantling of Atl Nacional (as cantagalo reported--and could have been 6 or 7 goals with one missed penalty), the other shocker was Ind Del Valle destroying Universidad Catolica (CHI), who were very in the LIbertadores this year. That match finished 5-0. I can't see Atl Nacional or Catolica coming back from these defeats. Meanwhile the other Univ Catlica (ECU) also won 5-0, beating Melgar from Peru, who looked good early in the Libertadores but faded as the tournament progressed.

[cantagalo]

Athletico are at Flamengo on Sunday but unfortunately they'll be fielding a reserve team in preparation for that second leg.

Their reserves largely outplayed Flamengo although they conceded in the 44th and 49th minutes of the second half to lose it 3-2. Even after the late comeback, Flamengo fans were still calling for the head of manager Abel Braga and the club HQ has been extensively graffitied. This is despite the fact that this year they have:

1) Won the Campeonato Carioca
2) Reached the knock-out stages of the Libertadores and have an away leg lead against Emelec
3) An away leg lead against Corinthians in the last 16 of the Copa do Brasil

OK they are 'only' in 6th place in the league but just 6 games have been played.

[danielmak]

I forgot to say in my last post (and as a response/aside about Flu's match against Atl Nacional) that Flu have done very well in this competition the past few years. I'd expect they should get to the 1/4 final or 1/2 final again. It's interesting because in the league they've had a rough go in recent years and only make it to the Sudamericana because this competition goes deep into the standing for Brazilian and Argentine sides.

[cantagalo]

Flu had a big enough cushion from the first leg to hold on against Atlético Nacional and played reasonably well in a 1-0 defeat. Atlético became the first team in senior football to prevent Joăo Pedro scoring. Daniel's prediction of a possible semi-final place may be a bit optimistic as they face Peńarol in the last 16 and probably Corinthians in the quarter finals.

I saw Botafogo easily beat a poor Sol de América side 4-0 but they won't be too pleased to face Atlético Mineiro even though they needed penalties to scrape past La Calera.

Universidad Católica's defeat by Independente del Valle means there are no Chilean teams in the last 16 of either the Sudamericana or the Libertadores.

Update on my last post - Abel Braga has resigned from Flamengo, citing a lack of support and interference in playing matters from above. I think he probably jumped before he was pushed.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

FIFA have confirmed that there will, after all, be a 2019 Club World Cup (previous reports suggested they were going to mothball it until 2021), so a little something extra to play for.

[danielmak]

I was super busy the past two weeks so slowly worked my way through the Sudamericana games. Those Flu uniforms were nice looking (all white with thin stripes along the side using the colors that normally feature on Flu's uniforms). All of the big winners from Leg 1 got through. Catolica (CHI) v. del Valle was close enough, though, to create a bit of a scare for the Ecuadorans.

Well, I won't be surprised if Flu can do the job and get far into the competition. I guess the main issue will be if they are struggling in the league and need to let this competition go.

In other (old) news River beat Athetlico-PR very late. The final score was 3-0, which did not reflect the goal dominance that the scoreline suggests. River was the dominant side in the match but they scored the last two goals in minute 91 and 94.

Now we have a break until Copa America ends. Normally I'm elated about Copa America but the invitees have me less impressed, the congestion of tournaments has me less interested in all of the competitions, and I'll be in Spain for most of the tournament so the time difference will affect how much I watch.

[Sam]

The method of the draw was changed this year. Instead of ranking their group records and 1 automatically playing 16, 2 playing 15 etc, they split them into two pots, a top 8 and a bottom 8 and then had a free draw from there. I suppose it provided a nice junket in Paraguay for the Conmebol bigwigs.

This was last year's setup as well. This year's innovation is the one-off final (although as soon as the shit hit the fan outside the Monumental prior to the second leg of last year's final, it was apparent CONMEBOL would be selling the moved match as a one-off, aided of course by the fact the first leg had ended all square and away goals don't break a tie in the final).

[Sporting]

Now we have a break until Copa America ends. Normally I'm elated about Copa America but the invitees have me less impressed, the congestion of tournaments has me less interested in all of the competitions, and I'll be in Spain for most of the tournament so the time difference will affect how much I watch.

Unless you have one of those proxy server thingies you'll need Dazn to watch this:

https://watch.dazn.com/es-ES/sports/

Whereabouts in Spain are you going to be?

[danielmak]

Libertadores final in Chile and Sudamericana final has been moved from Peru to Paraguay.

Sporting: I will be in Madrid for a week and Barcelona for a week. I'm well located in both cities and both have Irish bars that show a lot of football. The problem for me will be a mix of work schedule and time difference in terms of seeing the games more than access to content. I have a VPN on my laptop and subscribe to ESPN+ in the US so could pull games up that way. But doubt there will be much time. I can't say that I'm very excited about this congestion of tournaments this summer. I've been feeling the need for a break from football so the expansion of CAN, the uselessness of the Gold Cup, and Copa America's inclusion of two AFC nations should provide an excuse for a needed break.

[ursus arctos]

What VPN do you use?

[cantagalo]

I have tickets for Paraguay v Qatar, Bolivia v Peru and the Rio quarter final. I can't say I'm particularly looking forward to any of them.

I think it's going to be a pretty awful tournament partly for the reasons Daniel mentioned but made even worse by the circus surrounding the Neymar rape allegations. It's probably for the best that he has withdrawn due to the injury he picked up in the friendly against Qatar.

The coverage of the investigation has been disturbing and wasn't helped by Neymar releasing a video of himself claiming his innocence including screenshots of their WhatsApp conversations which included semi-naked pictures of the alleged victim. She is currently being interviewed by the Săo Paulo police and it seems that Globo have access to transcripts of her questioning which they have summarised and published. It's certainly not moral but how can it possibly be legal?

[danielmak]

What VPN do you use?

Sorry for this very late reply, UA. Been swamped with work the past few days. I pay for Torguard so I can have a dedicated USA IP for IPTV but then I let that IPTV sub elapse since almost all of my viewing needs are met through DirecTV, ESPN+, and BeIN via Sling. Torguard includes a variety of options from around the globe. I can't remember the price on this one but it was good. Maybe $50 for the year. But I also have used Windscribe as a free app. Windscribe has limits but if you signup for a free account, those limits increase. And if you sign up they will re-set the limits after each month.

The trick for VPN is whether or not the site you are watching/visiting needs a dedicated line or can work with a general dropdown from the VPN client. For example, my friend purchased a dedicated UK line from Torguard so he can watch BBC iplayer. The iPlayer will not work with a general dropdown. I have no idea why. That's beyond my tech knowledge level. Similarly, DAZN will only work with a dedicated line if you want to sub to a non-US version of the app, but oddly some of them will work with a dedicated line outside the country to which the sub happened. For example, my same friend subs to DAZN Italy but using an Italian dedicated line gets him access to DAZN Spain (something like that--can't remember the full details).

[ursus arctos]

No worries.

I very much appreciate the detailed response, especially given that my experience with VPNs has been spotty, and reliable reviews that focus on workarounds of geo-blocking (as opposed to privacy/security) can be hard to find.

[danielmak]

No worries.

I very much appreciate the detailed response, especially given that my experience with VPNs has been spotty, and reliable reviews that focus on workarounds of geo-blocking (as opposed to privacy/security) can be hard to find.

I looked back through my email and I paid $57USD for 1 year for a dedicated US line. Again, it's not of much use to me now so I could have paid less for Torguard to just have their general service. Originally I used it to circumvent download limits for file sharing sites. I guess if I subbed to MLB, NHL, or some other package, I could use the NY line to get local teams and then turn the vpn off to see other teams. Anyway, if you need a code that they used for the discount (normally $120), send me a PM. I can also say more via PM about my friend's moves to deal with the geo-blocking. Again, I don't know why the regular dropdowns don't trick sites like BBC or DAZN.

[cantagalo]

Right then. Copa América. Shall we continue on here or should I start a new thread?

[ad hoc]

new thread new thread new thread

[ursus arctos]

What he said