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Copa Libertadores: Boca @ Fluminense

June 4th, 2008 | By: Christian | 52 Comments »

Boca Juniors will attempt to make it to their second consecutive final and their 6th since 2000, when they face Brazilian side Fluminense at the famed Maracanã stadium. You can watch the game live on FSE at 8:30PM ET. The first leg in Argentina ended in a 2-2 draw last week; the winner will face LDU from Ecuador in the final.

Two things I’ve taken from this year’s edition of the Copa: first, there are no certainties, and more importantly, away goals should NOT be considered an advantage. Teams like Boca, Flamengo, America, River, and Atlas, just to name a few, have either been victims of or benefactors to them, and in the end, teams must play both legs to the death. Unlike the boring Champions League, whereby teams are lauded for their defensive tactics, here in South America, it’s push on for 90 minutes, regardless of what the score is.

So for Fluminense, they should not think for a second that this semifinal is done and dusted. If they fail to show respect to Boca, who have dominated the competition this decade, then they will be in for a rude awakening. Los Xeneizes meanwhile should not rest on their history to pull them through; Flu are a very strong side, and if their performance last week was average, seeing them at full strength in front of their home fans could be lethal. Streaks are meant to be broken; will Boca’s end tonight?

Leave your comments below.

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 52 comments.

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By skywalker | June 4th, 2008 at 9:34 pm

LAtin soccer at its best. crazy, full of chances at either end, mistakes everywhere. it’s got its own craziness

By Alexa | June 4th, 2008 at 9:34 pm

they’ve scored 3 goals against this team!

Posted from United States

By maradona | June 4th, 2008 at 9:37 pm

Boca cant scored period. If they have scored only 3 goals agaist this pathetic team for over 170 minutes then they cant score in another 10 minutes. Besides if it goes to PK, Flu’s GK will win it for Flu.

By OilerFan | June 4th, 2008 at 9:38 pm

i can barely watch…the result is so unfair. Come on Boca…i know its near impossible, but still anything can happen.

btw, hi Alexa, its been ages since i posted here, but nice to still see some familiar names posting here since the last WC

Posted from Canada

By Alexa | June 4th, 2008 at 9:39 pm

goodness, maradona. But there are 10 minutes - anything can happen. Of course, the chance that flu scores on a counter strike is most likely.

I do have to say that Palermo and Palacio don’t have the most cutting edge in the world.

Posted from United States

By marindrianto | June 4th, 2008 at 9:39 pm

Sorry guys… what’s the score now?

Posted from Indonesia

By maradona | June 4th, 2008 at 9:39 pm

God what took so long to substitute Morel? He has been woeful. Thrice he kicked the ball straight at his marker while crossing.

Palermo misses one more sitter. I told you.

By Alexa | June 4th, 2008 at 9:40 pm

Oilerfan!

Posted from United States

By maradona | June 4th, 2008 at 9:43 pm

UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE - another close shave.

By Alexa | June 4th, 2008 at 9:44 pm

Datalo has been too wired all night.

I have to also say that the Flu attempts at goal have been mostly complete and utter shanks.

Posted from United States

By skywalker | June 4th, 2008 at 9:49 pm

last chance for BOCA…

By skywalker | June 4th, 2008 at 9:51 pm

its over

By maradona | June 4th, 2008 at 9:51 pm

Luck favors Flu yet again. The last two games will leave a bitter taste in my mouth for a long time. I could see this coming. I hope Liga crushes Flu.

Posted from United States

By Alexa | June 4th, 2008 at 9:52 pm

Sometimes i really f’ing hate brazilian teams. they really didn;t deserve this. But then againl, that’s nothing new these days. The goalie did deserve it - he was great.

Posted from United States

By akk | June 4th, 2008 at 9:53 pm

good luck Alexa, Hope your team beats fluminense

Posted from United States

By maradona | June 4th, 2008 at 9:53 pm

I knew it was going to be 3-1. Except Caceres the other defenders are really jokers and Caceres was bad today. Maybe it is high time Boca gets rid of Palermo.

Posted from United States

By OilerFan | June 4th, 2008 at 9:57 pm

Hey Alexa! how are ya? i guess its pretty much over. Damn, they just scored again! i give up…will the teams i support, ever win?! all anyone will remember is that Boca got thrashed 3-1, but thats no reflection at all on who played the better football. oh well…Argentina better win against Mexico now.

Posted from Canada

By maradona | June 4th, 2008 at 9:57 pm

This is exactly what is in store for Argentina against Brazil. Basically Argentina will remain also rans until their defense learns to defend against counter attacks. So far it has shown impressive resistance towards learning modern defense.

Posted from United States

By Alexa | June 4th, 2008 at 9:59 pm

Now everyone is behind Liga! Did you see how Riquelme just walked off into the locker room?

I hope we do beat those guys. None of them made an impression in the slightest. It’s a real travesty that Boca didn’t make it past those weasels. But that’s how it goes sometimes. Palacio and Palermo should have had more cutting edge. It’s too bad that Riquelme was ill (although he played really heroically for someone who has been puking and with temprature the day before).

I HATE seeing this sort of thing. I’m going to have to stay up and watch a little Messi to calm my arger…

Posted from United States

By skywalker | June 4th, 2008 at 10:02 pm

I actually want Flu to win the Copa.. so Boca through Tevez can have their revenge..

to point out what Maradona said.. it’s not so much our D is bad but in modern day soccer when teams have strikers/MF who can really fly up the pitch on the counter attack, you just cannot defend 3-3 / 2-3 / 1-1 anymore. Guys are just too skilled for Defences and can blow by on the counter attack. The problem is that we just don’t have many ppl behind the ball to begin with to cut the attack out from the start. Palacio/Loco/Roman don’t play D so they are write offs and their wing backs move up too fast and you just cannot defend with 8 guys in modern soccer. that is the problem with the enganche + 2 up front these days.

By Alexa | June 4th, 2008 at 10:06 pm

Oiler fan - great to see you back! Stick around for these games. Arg and Brazil come up on the 17th, I think.

The Mexico / Arg is up.

The Brazil/Arg game will be a real test. In Brazil, we’ll see how well they are prepared.

Posted from United States

By Alexa | June 4th, 2008 at 10:08 pm

By the way, it’s as if they are treating Mexico as the home team (the organizers are).

Posted from United States

By Albo | June 4th, 2008 at 10:09 pm

I love my Boca, they are the best team I’ve seen this year, so far.
I can see frustration is making some people talk stupid.
For them, this amazing stats:

Since 2,000, Boca took part of Copa Libertadores in 26 rounds of elimination.
23 times Boca advanced and 3 times were eliminated.
Against Brazilian teams, out of 9 matches Boca won 8.
Until tonight, Boca were unbeaten by Brazilian teams in the last 8 years.

Vamo Boca…!!!!

Posted from United States

By maradona | June 4th, 2008 at 10:20 pm

We need a team that runs. Messi and Aguero can both defend and run a lot. Riquelme’s defense is very bad so we need two defensive midfielders. Masch - well he is the best in the world. Gago is very important because he plays with the best counter attacking team in the world and brings in valuable experience. Maxi can defend and is also a goal threat. Garay could be used instead of Milito too.

——— Carizzo ———
Zanetti Micho Milito Heinze
—– Gago — Masch ——-
—————– Maxi —-
——– Riquelme ———
—– Messi — Aguero —–

Posted from United States

By Mauro | June 5th, 2008 at 2:01 pm

It was tough/unbelievable to see Boca get eliminated the way they did. They were the better team on the pitch and Flu surprised me with their effectiveness in front of the goal. The second goal was a gift. But the other two were great finishes. Boca did everything they could but ran out of time and poor finishing coupled with a fantastic Fernando Henrique was not a good combination for the team from the Ribera. The footy gods were cruel to Boca.

Posted from United States

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