In a Heart Stopping Fashion, Santos Advances in Copa Libertadores

One of the oldest sayings in football is the influence the weight of particular jersey may have in the finals core of a match. If in 08 we’re still talking about it, that may hold some truth. In Copa Libertadores, the weight of a jersey makes the difference. Last week, Flamengo showed that it may take more than a few thousand meters above sea level to get the rubro-negro defeated. On Wednesday, it was Santos’ turn to remind us the power of that white jersey.

Santos was playing at home against Cucutá from Colombia. The locals needed a simple victory to advance to the round of 16 of the most difficult continental tournament of the world. The problem is that with 20 minutes into the match, the visitors opened the score. Tension at Vila Belmiro. The first-half ended with Santos losing and with Chivas, the other team fighting for the spot on the next stage, winning 2-0.

The second-half started and the home team seemed nervous. The ball refused to get in the goal. With 20 minutes, however, Kléber Pereira tied. 25 minutes left. The game advanced. 2 players, one from each side, were ejected. Fábio Costa saved Santos. Coach Leão was ejected. The match seemed doomed to a tie. It smelled like another script for failure at home. That is when the white jersey spoke out loud. With two minutes left, the ball hit the crossbar of Cucutá and found Argentinean Trípodi to ensure the come back in the match and the ticket to the next stage. Santos 2-1!

Other Clubs

The best Brazilian club in the torunament, Cruzeiro was defeated by the altitude of Bolivia. At  4 thousand meters above sea level, Real Potosi won 5-1. Impressive the distortion. But I do not back any propositions of stopping matches up there.

Already qualified, Fluminense beat LDU 1-0 at home. Flu is doing well this season.

Category: Clubs, Tournaments

Tags: Clubs, Copa Libertadores 08, Cucuta, Santos, Tournaments, tradition

Subscribe   The Offside RSS Feeds

Print

Share