After the first leg of matches it seems the visitors got what they were looking for.
In a battle much like David vs Goliath. Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito (quite a mouthful! We’ll just stick to Liga) was able to tie 1-1 with Mexico’s America in the Azteca in front of over 100,000 spectators.
It’s a Cinderella story for Liga who with an annual budget of only 7 million is among the top 4 teams in America’s most prestigious tournament and on the verge of qualifying to the final if it holds America to a 0-0 tie or wins the game in Quito next Tuesday.
By contrast America has a Budget of 40 million, possibly the richest in the Americas! A lot was expected of this team, yet they did poorly in the local league and somehow have survived in Copa. If any word can describe America it is "Inconsistent". Their back-line being their Achilles heel while their offense has kept them in this far.
It’s not hard to think Liga will beat America in the Andes mountains some 500 meters higher then Mexico City. But, the inconsistent America might just surprise everyone. Next Tuesday we’ll find out.
On the other hand the other semifinalists are more equals. Brazil’s Fluminense has a budget of 24 million big ones compared to Boca Junior’s 20 million.
After watching this match I can see how sometimes football is one of the most cruel sports in the world because in a game in which Flu was totally dominated by Boca one would imagine the outcome to be different yet a counter attacking Fluminense was able to sneak by with an important 2-2 result that means Boca must win by 2-0 in the next game since away goals count as double. It isn’t unheard of as Boca had tied with Atlas in the last series and came back to beat Atlas by 3-0 in Guadalajara. Fluminense however is a powerful team with important individual players such as Thiago Silva and Thiago Neves which can make a difference at home where they might be unstoppable.
It will take another monster game by Boca’s superstars Juan Roman Riquelme and Martin Palermo to advance to the final. Next Wednesday we’ll see if they can do it.
I still think it will be Liga vs Boca in the final.