half of the draw, with the Boca-River duo challenged
by the upstarts in the other half.
Palmeiras appeared to have seen off Gremio when
tight defence and a superb Gustavo Scarpa free-kick
gave them a 1-0 win in the away leg. And the
advantage was quickly doubled when new signing Luiz
Adriano fired them ahead in Sao Paulo. But they
surprisingly switched off, allowing Copa America hero
Everton to fire in a volley and then charge through the
heart of the defence and set up Alisson for the vital
second away goal. Palmeiras coach Luiz Felipe Scolari
handled his substitutions badly and Gremio held on
with surprising ease in the second half.
In what promises to be a highly attractive clash,
they now meet Flamengo, who are playing some
swashbuckling stuff under recently appointed
Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus. They knocked out
Internacional, whose attempt to play out a goalless
draw in Rio got what it deserved when Bruno
Henrique scored two late goals.
Back in Porto Alegre Inter’s
approach was frankly bizarre. First
they deprived themselves of any
attacking pace and wasted much of
the game, and then, a goal up, they
charged forward in reckless fashion
WORLD SERVICEwith over 10 minutes available and were easily picked
off on the break.
In a triumph for coach Gustavo Alfaro, Boca made
easy work of LDU, planning the game at the altitude of
Quito to perfection. With Alexis MacAllister shining in
midfield and Ramon Abila a willing centre-forward, a
3-0 win effectively defined matters and Boca played
out a dull 0-0 draw in the home leg.
River Plate, meanwhile, had to break sweat to get
past Cerro Porteno. River flowed sweetly at home,
but once again failed to score the goals threatened by
their approach play and they needed a pair of penalties
to win 2-0. They prepared themselves for an aerial
barrage in Paraguay, and when veteran striker Nelson
Haedo Valdez glanced Cerro into an early lead an
upset appeared a genuine possibility. However, Marcelo
Gallardo’s men came out after the break determined to
pay more attention to the second ball, and Uruguayan
attacking midfielder Nico De La Cruz made sure of
their semi-final spot with a stunning strike.
In a clear attempt to unsettle River, De La Cruz was
arrested by the local police the day before – ostensibly
because of an incident three years earlier in the
Under-20 Libertadores. Scoring the goal, then, was
sweet revenge. But in the build up to the semis it will
be Boca Juniors who are fixating on revenge.Finish...Gabriel of Flamengo beats
Internacional keeper Marcelo LombaAerial threat...River Plate’s
Robert Rojas gets above
team-mate and Juan Saiz
of Cerro PortenoRiver will replay last year’s
Final against arch-rivals Boca
Juniors – this time with a
place in the Final at stake