Walked through downtown BsAs last night after the match wearing a Boca shirt. Was predictably a lot more aggressive heckling than normal in that spot. However not life threatening or anything like that.

Liga MX final gonna deliver more than that Copa Libertadores final.

got tons of friends on both sides of it, so may be taking a weekend trip out to DF and watch the second leg at Azteca. obviously hoping for Cruz Azul to end their drought because 1. **** America and 2. its been 21 years and you gotta feel pity for them at this point.

And 21 years means 42 champions b/c of Mexico's stupid short tournament format.

Sounds a bit like the NFL with the top 5 QBs removed

Who is Liga MX finaling tonight???

Had no idea it was on tbh

I saw leg 1 of the Colombian League Final on TV here and the atmosphere looked sick so I'm gonna go to the 2nd leg in Medellín. Didn't realize Liga Águila is such a huge deal. Independiente Medellín lost the 1st leg 4-1 so they'll be going all out for goals. Cheapest tickets were like $50, but it will definitely be worth it I think.

LOLLLLL Chivas

Liga Colombiana Gran Final mini-TR:

-Organization was horrible. Arrived an hour early and still only got in a few minutes after kickoff. I swear the stadium was basically already full an hour before and there were probably 40k people still trying to get in and the line was barely moving. Then all of a sudden, 10 minutes before kickoff they open a new gate and people start moving in quickly
-They must have sold 140% of the stadium's capacity and there were people standing everywhere, in the aisles, etc. There was no way I was getting to my actual seat. Just stood in the aisle the whole match.
-Ref was awful. The Junior goalkeeper (remember they were up 4-1 from leg 1) was time-wasting from the opening minute. Unbelievable he didn't get a yellow this match. Would have made it much better. He also didn't pull out a card until about 35 minutes in, and let 2-3 no-brainer yellows to break up counters go.
-All that being said, what an epic atmosphere and the match was great as well. Would definitely do it all over again. Score was 3-1 late and Independiente almost pulled it off (I think they had a legit penalty shout in the 89th too), but fell just short.
-Nothing quite like Latin American football

Lolriver

Thoughts?

U.de Chile have an easy path to the the group stage but we are ****ed if we reach it.
Tough draw for U.Católica.
Easy draw for U. Concepción but they will probably lose their best players and even then they are too inexperienced at this level.
Palestino is just happy to be here, they are a club from the small arab colony in Santiago and they bring 600ish people to their home games.

My hipster choice for this tournament is Huracán of course.

Libertadores draw already?

Cant wait to bet the **** out of this tournament again.

Looks an easy draw for my Palmeiras who should be legit contenders and a rough draw for my Alianza who let's face it have no shot. Pleased to see them straight into the group stages though and surprised they are a pot 3 team. Group cant be any harder than last years with Palmeiras and Boca so theres that

If Group F gets U de Chile wouldn't that be about as tough a group as there's been in some time? You've got the Brazilian champ, Colombian clausura champ, 2nd best team in Chile, and San Lorenzo, who won the title not too long ago.

Edit: OK just saw last year's group

You go from Palmeiras, Junior, Boca, Lima

To Palmeiras, Junior, San Lorenzo, U de Chile

San Lorenzo in place of Boca is obviously much easier, but Lima gets crushed by everyone and has no choice and UdeC is much more dangerous.

We were pretty decent last year but we had an awful slump in the middle where we got destroyed in every libertadores game and where we had a very mediocre run in the league which in the end cost us the title.
We lost David Pizarro which is a big loss imo specially at the South American level.

Heading to Paulista match Botafogo v Ferroviaria tonight. Looking forward to some goalless Paulista action. Actually staying in the same hotel as Botafogo...for a home game. Says a lot about football at this level

Damn valenzuela U de Chile is out of the Libertadores??? Seems like a pathetic showing at home

Not so fast!

That's funny, I'm in Arequipa right now. Home to Melgar the team that just knocked out U de C. Won't get to see them in Libertadores, but maybe I'll check them out this weekend in the Peruvian League.

Got a nice home win last night too and looking good to get to the group stage. Huge deal for a club like that and great to see.

What are you doing in Peru? I lived there for a year. Love the country.

I was flying out during the match, saw a handful of jerseys in the afternoon in Arequipa, but nothing ridiculous. They just played a home match on Sunday so I guess they don't make much effort scheduling around CL.

I decided to move to Mexico City 9 months ago and I have 3 months free so I've been traveling through Colombia and Peru before returning to CDMX tomorrow.

Yes, I thought I'd really love Colombia, and it's pretty cool, but I liked Peru better.

Ah I'm extremely jealous. Love the Latin countries and living in Mexico City is probably going to be an amazing experience. In SA I only know Peru and Brazil and absolutely love both. Could legit see us retiring in Brazil in 20 years or so

So I ended up getting Sling TV International Sports for beIN (that's the only really relevant channel for us as the other "sports channels" are like Cricket and bicycling or some ****) for $60 for the year with a free Roku Express. Quality seems good and we get all of the Libertadores and Sudamericana, competitions I enjoy. Also La Liga and other stuff too

So I watched a little bit of Defensor v. Atletico MG yesterday in the Libertadores. Now I'm watching Liverpool (no not my Liverpool) v. Bahia in the Sudamericana and they appear to playing in the same tiny, half-empty stadium. It looks like something you'd find a high school travel tournament at Disney's Wild World of Sports complex.

So 1) Do these teams share a stadium? Is this the big stadium they play big matches at even though it's tiny and they can't fill it?

and 2) For a tiny country like Uruguay why isn't being the Libertadores (and to a lesser extent the Sudamericana) against a Brazilian club a bigger draw? I'm sure the club jacks ticket prices but for a stadium that appears as tiny as this I feel like I'd expect better attendance.

Yeah , pretty pathetic. OTOH Palestino has good chances of qualifying for the group stage and I have soft spot for them.

What's the backstory there? Connections with actual Palestine the country?

Palestino is the team of the Palestine community in Chile.
They have a small but loyal fan base. They operate on a small budget for a team in primera división.

Their best player is Luis Jimenez who even played in Inter but never really made it at that level, he then went to get rich to the Middle East and now is playing with 34yo and is clearly a difference maker here.
He had his big chance in the national team in the 2011 Copa America but just wasn’t good enough at that level.
In fact Universidad de Chile want him but he wants higher wages.