Santos win 2011 Copa Libertadores

Neymar - the best in South America (Getty Images)

Santos have won the 2011 Copa (it’s a disgrace) Libertadores. They beat Peí±arol 2-1 in the final second leg tonight. Unfortunately a mass brawl involving both sets of players, club officials and other unknown people ensued at the of the match. The Santos players accused the Peí±arol players of being sore losers but the Brazilian press later reported that the brawl started when somebody dressed stewards uniform hit a Peí±arol player for absolutely no reason. No matter who started it, everybody involved should be ashamed. What a disgrace! Why does this happen so often in Libertadores matches?  It happened after the final last year and in the match between Fluminense and Argentinos Juniors earlier this year. Continue reading

Libertadores final: difficult night for Neymar but advantage Santos

Neymar struggled against some tough marking (Getty Images)

After the drama of volcanic eruptions in Chile and the subsequent ash cloud that has covered most of southern South America, the Copa Libertadores final first leg finally got the go-ahead to be played on Wednesday night as scheduled.

In front of 60,000 screaming Peí±arol fans (including Diego Forlán), who put on quite a spectacle, Santos will be the happier of the two teams after they came away from the match with a 0-0 draw. Not a bad result at all for Neymar and co. especially because away goals count for nothing in the final, unlike previous rounds. Continue reading

It’s back! Vasco win Brazilian Cup

Vasco players - led by striker Eder Luí­s - celebrate a goal against Coritiba (Fotocom.net)

After a two week leave of absence, brazilfooty.com is back! My sincere apologies for the bad timing of the break (if only it was in the middle of the State Championships instead of crunch Libertadores, Brazilian Cup and league matches!) but real life got in the way as it sometimes does. Quite a lot has happened so without further ado let me get started. Continue reading

Santos into Libertadores semi-final

Neymar celebrates his goal for Santos against Once Caldas (Getty Images)

Santos drew with Once Caldas in a chilly São Paulo to reach the last four of the Copa Libertadores. Neymar, once again, was the star of the show; he scored the goal in the 1-1 draw (which classified Santos 2-1 on aggregate) and was a constant outlet for Santos down the left hand side of the field. Continue reading

Brazilian Copa (it’s a disgrace) Libertadores disaster

Internacional vs. Peí±arol

Not even Guií±azu could save Inter (Lucas Uebel/VIPCOMM)

Four Brazilian clubs were dumped out of the Copa Libertadores in spectacular fashion last night. Going into the evening’s games, only Grêmio had a difficult first leg score to overturn. Internacional lost 2-1 (3-2 agg) at home to Peí±arol,  Cruzeiro lost 2-0 (3-2 on agg) at home to Once Caldas and Fluminense were humiliated 3-0 (4-3 agg) against Libertad in Paraguay. Grêmio lost their away match against Universidad Católica from Chile 1-0 and 3-1 on aggregate. Continue reading

Libertadores: Santos scrape through to quarter finals

America (MEX) v Santos (BRA) - Santander Libertadores Cup 2011

Teflon-hands Rafael had a good game (Getty Images)

Santos put in all-hands-to-the-pump performance and clung on to their first leg lead in tense and dramatic fashion to beat América from Mexico 1-0 on aggregate. They now progress to quarter finals of the competition where they will probably face Cruzeiro and their deadly marksman and intimidatingly named…… Wallyson. Continue reading

Libertadores: All five Brazilian clubs through to next round

Shameful scenes in Argentina (Getty Images)

All five Brazilian clubs have classified for the second round of this year’s Copa Libertadores. Santos and Fluminense both squeezed through after wins on the last match day.

In the night’s most emotional game Fluminense beat Argentinos Juniors 4-2 away from home and snuck through on goals scored (eliminating Nacional from Uruguay in the process). Continue reading