Copa Sudamericana: The other half of the glory?

By Sam Kelly (sam@theenganche.com)

The Copa Sudamericana doesn't merit much of a fuss under normal circumstances, but it's been begrudgingly prodded into the limelight this week by the delay to the start of Argentina's Torneo Apertura – rather than coming after league hostilities should have commenced last weekend, this week's Copa preliminaries were the first competitive action of the season for the sides taking part. 

For one side, the Copa is undeniably something special. Tigre were only promoted to Argentina's top flight two years ago, and after coming agonisingly close to claiming league titles on not one but two occasions in the four short championships they've played in the intervening period, finally played their first ever continental match on Tuesday night... against domestic rivals San Lorenzo. How exotic. Still, they won't be complaining after a 2-1 win which should see them well poised to make the competition proper.

The Sudamericana is a funny competition. Whilst the Copa Libertadores has been around for half a century now, South America's football confederation CONMEBOL have never quite managed to settle on a format for a 'second tier' cup competition for the region. In part, it seems to me, this has to do with the fact that there aren't many countries in CONMEBOL – in Europe the UEFA Cup (now called UEFA Europe League) gives a chance of glory to sides from less heralded (that is, less TV-rich) nations, whereas in South America those countries frequently provide winners of the main event – see LDU Quito's win in the Libertadores last year, for instance. 

If they want to give the Copa Sudamericana some credibility, though, then CONMEBOL could have come up with a better idea than inviting Argentina's two most popular clubs, River Plate and Boca Juniors, to take part every season whether they'd actually qualified or not. From 2010 onwards, that deferential attitude will change, and that at least should make it a slightly more serious trophy to be competing for.

Wednesday night's match saw one undisputed headline, though: Ariel Ortega is back at River Plate (again). The playmaker debuted for the Núñez club for the fourth time in his career at home to Lanús, but it was a fabulous shot on the turn from Cristian Fabbiani that looked to have sealed a first win of the new season for River. Eduardo Salvio, though, struck twice in the last ten minutes to give Lanús a 2-1 win to take back to El Sur.

The third match involving Argentine representatives, on Thursday, saw the two champions of the domestic league last season, Boca Juniors (Apertura winners by the narrowest of narrow margins over Tigre after a three-team playoff also involving San Lorenzo) and Vélez Sársfield, the prosaic and controversial winners of the Clausura. Pablo Mouche took just three minutes to step out of Rodrigo Palacio's shadow and ten minutes from time, just when the home team were heading towards an easy win to put them on the driver's seat for the second leg (which will take place in about a month -seriously-), Víctor Zapata made it 1-1 with what could turn out to become a crucial away goal for El Fortín.

Boca's participation, if they do go far, could be interesting to watch. They don't tend to concentrate too much on the Sudamericana, but it might be slightly different this time round. Sacrificing their league campaign to concentrate on the Copa Libertadores was a plan which for once backfired when they were dumped out of the Copa in the second round by Defensor Sporting of Uruguay, so they'll want more than ever to finish this year on a high. At the same time, they won't want to be distracted from the Apertura. After all...they may need to win it in order to qualify for the 2010 Copa Libertadores. Simple, right?

Ultimately, though, Boca claiming the Sudamericana would feel like something of an anti-climax. For a club as successful in the Copa Libertadores as Boca have been this century, winning the lesser trophy surely wouldn't be truly satisfying. Of Argentina's representatives, Lanús and Tigre – both relative continental novices – would be more pleasing winners for the neutral. Arsenal de Sarandí are loathed in Argentina for reasons we'll no doubt cover on The Enganche at a later date, but they showed two years ago that less famous clubs can go all the way in the Sudamericana. Maybe this year, a smaller but more popular side can manage it. At least that way, it'd mean something.

21st August 2009