Only a few more days until the first phase begins. In Olimpia and Universitario we have two traditionally dominant sides (Olimpia in domestic and international competitions and Universitario in domestic competitions). Both crashed and burned during the early phases last year, with Universitario blowing a 3 (?) goal advantage. And Olimpia were one of the multiple former Libertadores champs beaten by Botafogo in 2017. It seems that Olimpia might be due for their recurring once per decade championshp, but I've probably said that early in these the threads for the past few seasons.
Of course, we can't talk about CONMEBOL competitions without calling into question CONMBEOL (il)logic. In this instance, they have scheduled 3 games on Monday night and 3 on Friday. I get that this move avoids dragging out the first phase, but leagues are not happening yet other than the State Championships in Brazil. I would think that CONMEBOL could spread out the games to draw more attention to each game, so maybe 2 on Monday and 1 on Tuesday and then 1 on Friday and 2 on Saturday or something like that. Anyway, I'm happy that Fox in the US should be showing two of the games live and the third on one-day delay. On the plus side, last year they seemed to jumble up Libertadores and Sudamericana fairly early in terms of schedule and this year we've got a few rounds of Libertadores before the Sudamericana starts.
I wouldn't dare pick a favorite at this point, but I would think that the quick turnaround given the new format means that some of the favorites last season, such as Palmeiras and River, would likely be picked again as early favorites.
Of course, we can't talk about CONMEBOL competitions without calling into question CONMBEOL (il)logic. In this instance, they have scheduled 3 games on Monday night and 3 on Friday. I get that this move avoids dragging out the first phase, but leagues are not happening yet other than the State Championships in Brazil. I would think that CONMEBOL could spread out the games to draw more attention to each game, so maybe 2 on Monday and 1 on Tuesday and then 1 on Friday and 2 on Saturday or something like that. Anyway, I'm happy that Fox in the US should be showing two of the games live and the third on one-day delay. On the plus side, last year they seemed to jumble up Libertadores and Sudamericana fairly early in terms of schedule and this year we've got a few rounds of Libertadores before the Sudamericana starts.
I wouldn't dare pick a favorite at this point, but I would think that the quick turnaround given the new format means that some of the favorites last season, such as Palmeiras and River, would likely be picked again as early favorites.
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