Copa Lib.- Semi finals.

17 Jun-00:45 Once Caldas v Sao Paulo 2.15 3.25 2.80
18 Jun-00:00 River Plate v Boca Juniors 2.20 3.25 2.75

Once v SP.

Once STILL unbeaten @ home and drew with SP in the first leg in their quest to reach their first ever Copa final.

The Story so far.

Caldas:

Group 2
Team P W D L F A Pts
Once Caldas (Colombia) 6 4 1 1 11 6 13
Union Maracaibo (Venezuela) 6 2 2 2 10 9 8
Velez Sarsfield (Argentina) 6 2 1 3 7 9 7
Fenix (Uruguay) 6 1 2 3 6 10 5

Once Caldas 3-0 Fenix
UA Maracaibo 1-2 Once Caldas
Velez Sarsfield 2-0 Once Caldas
Once Caldas 2-0 Velez Sarsfield
Once Caldas 2-1 UA Maracaibo
Fenix 2-2 Once Caldas

06-05 Barcelona 0-0 Once Caldas
13-05 Once Caldas 1-1 Barcelona

19-05 Santos 1-1 Once Caldas
27-05 Once Caldas 1-0 Santos

09-06 Sao Paulo 0-0 Once Caldas

Sao:

Group 4
Team P W D L F A Pts
Sao Paulo (Brazil) 6 5 0 1 11 7 15
LDU (Ecuador) 6 4 0 2 13 3 12
Alianza Lima (Peru) 6 3 0 3 6 8 9
Cobreloa (Chile) 6 0 0 6 3 15 0

24-03 Cobreloa 1-2 Sao Paulo
04-03 Quito LDU 3-0 Sao Paulo
07-04 Sao Paulo 3-1 Alianza Lima
10-03 Sao Paulo 1-0 LDU
04-03 LDU 3-0 Sao Paulo
26-02 Sao Paulo 3-1 Cobreloa
11-02 Alianza Lima 1-2 Sao Paulo


12-05 Sao Paulo 2-1 Rosario Central
06-05 Rosario Central 1-0 Sao Paulo

26-05 Dep. Tachira 1-4 Sao Paulo
19-05 Sao Paulo 3-0 Dep. Tachira

09-06 Sao Paulo 0-0 Once Caldas

Once @ home:w4 d2 l0
SP away: w2 d0 l4

I think SP are better, man for man, than Once but the home/away records are food for thought.

From the first leg: (All quotes from the AP newswire.)

Sao Paulo, the former two-time champion seeking its first South American club title in 11 years, dominated the match from the start, but failed to capitalize on its scoring chances in front of more than 70,000 fans at Morumbi stadium.

Striker Luis Fabiano, the competition's leading scorer with eight goals, was marked closely by two defenders and was never a real threat.

Sao Paulo, which has enjoyed the tournament's best campaign among the semifinalists, outshot Once Caldas 14-2.

"The entire country is rooting for us, and we have a chance to make history," said midfielder John Viafara. By contrast, the draw felt like a loss to Sao Paulo, which won the Libertadores in 1992 and '93.

"We tried playing through the flanks, through the middle, with three strikers, with two strikers. Nothing worked," lamented [SP]coach Cuca. "The ball just wouldn't go in."

Once have only lost 8 goals in 11 matches and with the significant advantage of playing in the conditions of Colombia, I'm going to go for a home win @2.15. Fabiano is also reportedly close to a deal with Porto so, if his mind is elsewhere, that'll be a devastating blow for SP.

I'm biased for the River-Boca match, so it's over to you guys to post about that one.

Very good post, Raven..

I have been thinking about LAYing Once C. but now I'm not so sure...

I believe it will be a very tight game and it could go either really so perhaps best left alone..:b

Still like Once, but the 2.15 from b365 can easily be bettered elsewhere.

Best price is 2.50 but, from the books I've got a/c's with, best is 2.35 @ Chandler.

A quick note on River-Boca: Tevez will start, according to the official Boca site (was a sub in the 1st leg) and Boca fans will be banned, just as River fans were in the 1st leg.

Cacini is out for Boca. Gallardo and Garce out for River; all due to red cards. Some injury concerns for both but not confirmed at the mo.

I'll stop now 'cos I could write about 10,000 words on this game ....... Will be up late listening to the commentary with a few beers. (And Cheering on Boca. ) I hear there's other games this week, somewhere, but River-Boca is the game of the week imo.

kick off soon

Laying Sao Paulo @ 2.78.

FT Once Caldas (Col) 2 - 1 Sao Paulo

Good going Raven,You know you could get a amazing 2.80 @ Betfair for the home win

Just played it safe and Layed Sao Paulo.7 straight wins at home before last night and playing at 2200 meters is a massive advantage i would say,8 straight wins now !

A truely amazing achievement for them reaching the final though !

Yeah a good call it was...I also noticed this great price on hometeam and was tempted by it for a short while but left it alone in the end...(I wasn't aware that it was beeing played in the high altitudes).

KO in 30 mins.


Last 6 games: (All Comps.)
River:WDWWLW
Boca: DLDWWD

For whatever it's worth, River have never reached a Copa Lib final after a 1-0 first leg defeat.

Quite fancy a score draw tonight but have made a small (and I mean VERY small) lay of River @2.34 BF.

River Plate 2 - 1 Boca Juniors :|

River scored the winner right at the end of the 90 mins but boca won on pens. to reach the final.

[Matt]

anyone watch the game on channel 4?

Tevez was sent off for doing a chicken dance after scoring and is now banned for the final

[GraemeR]

Is the final two legs or at a neutral ground?

[Matt]

2 legs.

expect Boca to win tonight, home game and I can see Once cracking under the pressure.

[Matt]

0-0 FT

Once are still boring the arse off south america