And Copa Sulamericana began…

By: Bruno Romani | August 16th, 2007

Despite the high money Copa Sulamericana pays for its champions, Brazilians clubs never cared enough for that competition. The lack of tradition leads many fans and the media to believe that the competition is just a second-division of Copa Libertadores. This is also fault of Conmebol which changes its cups after a couple of years. In the recent years, South-American clubs played Copa Mercosul and the Supercopa of Libertadores as the second continental cup. With all this, Brazilians clubs always had a lazy approach to the tournament. A Brazilian club has never made to the finals of Copa Sulamericana and fans start to fill stadiums in this competition only when their clubs reach the semifinals ( Sao Paulo 03, Inter 04 and 05, Atletico-PR 06).

Atletico 2 x 4 Vasco

As boring as it may sound, the Copa Sulamericana started for Brazil with two excellent matches last night. Vasco visited Atletico-PR in Curitiba and crushed the locals with a 4-2. Atletico opened the score through Dinei in the 23th mark, but two ex-Corinthians players helped Vasco to comeback still in the first-half. Rubens Junior and Abuda made 2-1 with 32 and 38 minutes. Andrade and Conca increased the lead of the visitors in the second-half. Before the match was over, Alan Bahia scored one more for the locals. Vasco is very close to the next stage, and Atletico shows one more time its poor season.

Goals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKZ0a4eLAIE

Figueirense 2 x 2 Sao Paulo

Figueirense received Sao Paulo’s B team in a cold night in Florianopolis. Despite all the ingredients for a boring match, the first half was thrilling, with mistakes and many chances of goals to both sides. The referee gave penalties that did not exist for both sides. With 19 minutes, Chicao scored for the locals. Five minutes later, Rogerio Ceni took the penalty for Sao Paulo. It was his 75th goal.

With 29 minutes, Hernanes, the kid who inherited the number 8 from Josue, took a free-kick a scored the second for Sao Paulo. What a start for him! Eleven minutes later, Figueirense tied again the match. Sao Paulo, without its usual defenders, allowed two goals in a match after 3 months. The second-half followed with Figueirense attacking and trying to find a crack in Sao Paulo’s defense, which chose without much success use the counter-attacks. The draw was fair for both sides. And the Copa Sulamericana had a great start for Brazilian clubs.

highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60DI9NKMmz8