Copa Libertadores 2009 – Matchday 2: River Crash, Boca Leave It Late (Video)

River Plate humiliated (again), Boca snatching a late winner, the holders beaten, a clean sweep for Peru and our very own Defensor Sporting doing what they do best – defending like kings. Matchday 2 proved another riveting week of action in the 2009 Copa Libertadores; let’s take a look at how it all panned out shall we?

The Copa Libertadores schedule is a bit odd this year, which means breaking each round into specific matchdays is not quite as straightforward as it should be. Case in point – while this latest round of matches might be called Matchday 2, Gremio in Group G have only actually played one game so far. Chivas Guadalajara in Group F meanwhile have played three. So although we recognise the defining lines are slightly hazy, we’re sticking with Matchday 2 and that is how it shall be!

Right, with minor details out of the way let’s get onto the more important business – the football. And perhaps the biggest story of this matchday came in Group C where the once mighty River Plate went down 2-1 to Universidad de San Martin of Peru.

If you didn’t already know, things have not been going too well for the club lovingly nicknamed the ‘Millionaires’ of late.

In fact, most River fans would probably rather the last eight or nine months never happened. Or that it was all a dream – a horrible nightmare from which they are about to be woken up at any minute, and it will be June 2008 again, and River will just have been crowned champions, and Ortega will still be a hero, the centrepiece of the Monumental, and everything will be fine, just fine and dandy, and there will be nothing to worry about.

Unfortunately however, it was not all a dream. And River Plate did lose Ariel Ortega, their inspiration and hero, after he was temporarily loaned out to Independiente Mendoza because of a drink problem that was beginning to weigh down the whole club. And River Plate did go on a terrible streak of twelve games without winning, which led to them, champions just a few months previous, finishing an incredible bottom of the league. And River did have to sit back and watch their most hated rivals, Boca Juniors, collect the league title trophy that used to be theirs.

So all in all, no, not the best of times for the Millionaires of late.

Defeat in the Copa Libertadores to Universidad de San Martin, a team they beat 5-0 in the previous year’s competition and who the national press had dubbed as only good enough for the Argentine second division, goes down therefore as yet another scratch in the bark of what amounts to a quite torrid time for River in recent months.

The match

Universidad de San Martin, champions of the 2008 Clausura in Peru, started the game well, matching River for both endeavour and ideas. Though River clearly possessed players of a higher calibre, it did not directly translate to their effectiveness as a team. San Martin were far more organised defensively. In the 37th minute Universidad’s high workrate paid off when they were awarded a penalty. José Luis Díaz, an Argentine midfielder and Boca fan, buried the penalty at the second attempt, after it was forced to be re-taken because of infringement.

In the second half River Plate looked sharper, their approach play more inventive. This newfound creativity put Universidad’s backline under more pressure, but they remained strong and in fact managed to grab a second goal from a breakaway move. River’s defence was all over the place as Universidad broke in the 54th minute, and another Argentine, Gonzalo Luduena, met a cross from the left with a sweet shot on the half-volley that sneaked low past Barbosa into the net. 2-0 to Universidad and a shock was on the cards.

River did manage to pull a goal back through Falcao in the 68th minute, but ultimately it was not enough and the game ended 2-1. On the balance of play a draw would probably have been the fairer result. River came on strong in the second half and should have found the equaliser their stronger approach play deserved. But take nothing away from Universidad; they hung on bravely and managed to secure a crucial win, their first of the competition so far.

Group C’s other result saw Nacional of Uruguay hammer Nacional of Paraguay 3-0, meaning Nacional (of Uruguay) top the group with two wins from two. For the rest of Matchday 2’s results see after the video clip. First, highlights of Universidad v River:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03t9PABjDfE]

In Group H, Universitario made it a clean sweep for Peruvian teams against their Argentine counterparts, as they beat San Lorenzo 1-0 in Lima. Nolberto Solano grabbed the only goal, back in his homeland after a long and prosperous career. Elsewhere Boca Juniors left it late but came through against Venezuela’s Deportivo Tachira, thanks to Luciano Figueroa’s late strike, while Sao Paulo got their campaign up and running with a comfortable 3-1 win in Colombia against an embarrassingly poor America de Cali side. Palmeiras‘ 3-1 defeat at home to Colo Colo of Chile puts their campaign in jeopardy even at this early stage. Wander
lei Luxemburgo’s men have zero points from six and are now playing catch-up, bottom of Group A. Holders LDU Quito also lost, 2-0 to Sport Recife of Brazil.

The biggest result of the week came in Mexico, where Chivas Guadalajara destroyed Everton 6-2. And our outside pick, Defensor Sporting, remain unbeaten in this year’s competition after a 0-0 draw with Independiente Medellin in Colombia. Defensor by name, damn straight defensor by nature. The rest of the results:

Group A

Palmeiras 1-3 Colo Colo
Sport Recife 2-0 LDU Quito

Group B

Deportivo Cuenca 4-0 Guarani
Deportivo Tachira 0-1 Boca Juniors

Group C

Nacional (PAR) 0-3 Nacional (URU)
Universidad San Martin 2-1 River Plate

Group D

Independiente Medellin 0-0 Defensor Sporting
America de Cali 1-3 Sao Paulo

Group E

Deportivo Quito 1-1 Cruzeiro
Estudiantes 1-0 Universitario de Sucre
Universitario de Sucre 0-1 Cruzeiro

Group F

Caracas 3-1 Lanus
Chivas Guadalajara 6-2 Everton
Caracas 2-0 Chivas Guadalajara

Group G

Universidad de Chile 3-0 Aurora

Group H

Universitario 1-0 San Lorenzo
San Luis 0-1 Libertad
Libertad 2-0 San Lorenzo

What do you think of Matchday 2’s results? As always, we want to know who you are supporting in this year’s competition, so leave us a comment and let us know. If you do not have a team, pick Defensor Sporting like us!

Boca Juniors, Copa Libertadores, River Plate, Universidad San Martin