Brazilv
Argentina...
playersof
Corinthiansand
BocaJuniors
competeforthe
ballduringthe
group stage
72 WORLDSOCCER
incethe change
offormatin 20 17,
whenthe competition
begantobestretched
outovertheyear,
South America’s
CopaLibertadoreshasbeenalmost
entirelydominatedbyBraziland
Argentina– andthispatternwas
clearinthe 2 02 2 groupphase.
TheCopaLibertadoresgroupphaseconcludeswithBrazilian
andArgentiniansidesdominatingtheSouthAmericanscene
Twelve of theteamswho go
intothelast 16 aredrawnfromthe
bigtwo.BothBrazilandArgentina
havesixrepresentativeseach.Of the
favourites,onlytwohadtobreaksweat.
CorinthiansofBrazilandArgentina’s
BocaJuniors,whometinthe finala
decadeago,wereinthe samegroup,
couldonlymanagefivegoalseach and
wereforcedtochewtheirfingernails
BrazilandArgentina
continuetoleadtheway
untilthe finalwhistleofthe sixth game.
Elsewhere,though,the bigguns
cameupagainst littleopposition.
Palmeiras,championsinboththelast
twoyears,madeastonishinglylightwork
ofanadmittedlyeasygroup, winning
allsixmatchesandscoring 25 goalsin
theprocess– oftenwith understrength
sides.FellowBrazilians Flamengowon
fiveanddrewone,whiledomestic
S
SouthAmerica
TIMVICKERY
