Argentina 3 - 1 Brazil

By: Bruno Romani | September 19th, 2007

Copa Sulamericana is generally a tournament ignored by Brazilian clubs, but tonight this cup, created just to keep continental action alive, made me wonder about the quality of the Campeonato Brasileiro. In the four matches involving Brazilians and Argentineans, only one had a Brazilian winner.

Boca Juniors and São Paulo collided in Buenos Aires. It is one of the biggest matches of the continent. Since 2003, at least one of the two have been in a Libertadores final. And both clubs went with full force to the pitch. Boca played better, having more ball possession, and explored the colossal amount of wrong passes by the tricolor. Palermo scored twice, two headers, and suggested that São Paulo’s defense is good. Only in Brazilian territory. Rogério Ceni saved the tricolor in a number of occasions, and almost visited Boca’s net with a free-kick. With just 2 minutes left, São Paulo found a goal through Borges. Boca 2 -1 São Paulo. Argentina 1 – 0 Brazil.

Next Wednesday the second-leg will be played in São Paulo.

Vasco visited Lanús in Argentina and suffered. The locals gave no chance and scored a 2-0. It could’ve been worse. Sílvio Luís denied a penalty to Sand in the first-half. Argentina 2-0.

Arsenal visited Goiás and left the pitch with a precious victory. Arsenal scored first, with just 15 minutes into the match. Paulo Baier, someone unknown in Argentina but famous in Brazil for his free-kicks, tied with a free-kick. In the second-half, the locals came back with another free-kick by Paulo Baier. It took three minutes for Arsenal to come back. In the 32nd mark, Casteglione tied. In the 34th, Garnier visited the net. Goiás is very close to elimination. Argentina 3-0.

The only Brazilian club to win was Botafogo in the match against River Plate. It was the first match of Botafogo at the Engenhão since it won the concession to control the overpriced stadium. The victory came with a lone goal by the right-back Joilson whose long distance shot was worth the ticket. Can Botafogo hold on to this score in Argentina?

End of the night: Argentina 3-1 Brazil. The Campeonato Brasileiro shows how good it is…