TW3 #14

For the second time in quick succession, Athletic were blown away in a cup final, this time by Barcelona in the Copa del Rey at the Vicente Calderon. This was Athletic 63rd game of the season, and it showed. Not that Barcelona haven't also had a lot of games, but their possession-based game doesn't place quite the same physical demands on players as Marcelo Bielsa's high-tempo pressing game. At the end of the first year of the Bielsa project, the players, quite frankly, look knackered. With Messi at his unplayable best and Iniesta pulling the strings, Barcelona took control early with Pedro beating Gorka Iraizoz at his near post. Twenty minutes later, Messi had doubled the lead and Pedro bagged a second - game over. Even the introduction of Euroballs favourite Toquero could get Athletic back into it.
So Pep Guardiola leaves with 14 trophies - from 19 contested - in his four years as Barcelona manager. Not bad, really. He leaves for a sabbatical and Tito Vilanova has the task of taking the side forward. Tough gig.

Torino and Pescara are promoted to Serie A, Torino as champions. They drew with AlbinoLeffe while Pescara were beating Nocerina. With the better head-to-head record, Torino finish top. It's Sassuolo against Sampdoria and Hellas Verona v Varese in the play-offs. Deportivo La Coruna are promoted to the Primera Division in Spain, as champions, after coming from behind to beat Huesca. They're four clear of Celta Vigo with a game to go. Celta need a point in the last game to seal second, Valladolid's draw with Alcorcon giving them a bit of breathing space.

We're previously waxed lyrical about our love of the penalty shoot-out, and this week has seen the venerable institution make headlines again. First, Sepp Blatter wished to find a better way of resolving drawn games and then players on two continents show why that's a misguided notion. Two quarter-finals in the Copa Libertadores went to spot-kicks. Santos matched Vélez Sarsfield's 1-0 thanks to Alan Kardec before prevailing 4-2 on penalties while Universidad de Chile and Libertad drew 1-1 for the second time in the tie. La U won the shoot-out 5-2 to progress. It looked like Boca Juniors and Fluminense would go the same way as Flu led the second leg 1-0 heading into the dying moments, but Santiago Silva grabbed a stoppage time equaliser to send Boca through 2-1. In the final tie, Paulinho's goal was enough for a 1-0 aggregate win. Boca play La U in the semi-finals while the other tie is an all-Brazilian affair with Santos at home in the first leg to Corinthians.

The League 1 play-off final also went to penalties after a drab 0-0. Sheffield United's well-documented issues with forwards necessitated a change of approach and their flooding of the midfield blunted Huddersfield and the two sides cancelled each other out. Town missed their first three penalties, but in Alex Smithies they have a goalkeeper who is something of a 12-yard specialist. He saved two of United's first three before the players finally found their shooting boots. At 2-2 after five each, it went to sudden death, eventually coming down to the goalkeepers against one another with the 11th penalties. Smithies tucked his away, but Steve Simonsen sent his into the stands and Town are promoted. In League 2, Crewe were comfortable winners against Cheltenham.

Back in domestic action, three assists from Juan Roman Riquelme helped Boca to a 3-0 win over Godoy Cruz and, combined with Tigre's draw with Atlético Rafaela, opens up a three-point lead at the top with three games to go. Reigning Brazilian champions Corinthians lost their second game of the season and remain without a point. Atlético Mineiro were their conquerors, one of three sides with 2-0 records - Vasco da Gama and Botafogo the others. Colo Colo won their Chilean Apertura quarter-final against Deportes Iquique 5-4. A 3-3 draw on Thursday was followed by a 2-1 win on Saturday, Colo hanging on with ten men for the last ten minutes. Universidad Catolica are out, well beaten by Union Espanola, and O'Higgins progress after two wins over Union La Calera. Universidad de Chile are 2-0 up in their tie against Cobreloa ahead of the return in the small hours of Tuesday morning. Universidad Cesar Vallejo are Peruvian champions. They got the point they needed in a 0-0 draw with Universidad San Martin which rendered Real Atlético's 1-0 over Union Comercio academic. Defensor Sporting are Uruguayan champions with a round of fixtures remaining. A 3-0 win over El Tanque Sisley leaves them four points clear of Liverpool - 3-1 winners against Cerrito - with a game remaining. All done in the Colombian regular season and the top eight are now split into two groups of four, the winners of which will contest the final. Deportes Tolima finished top, seven clear of the field, and they're in group A and red-hot favourites.

In the international friendlies, an Eren Derdiyok hat-trick helped Switzerland beat Germany 5-3. Without their Bayern players, Germany were not anywhere near their best and this isn't representative of their chances in the Euros. The Dutch were beaten at home by Bulgaria, Joris Mathijsen taken off injured early on as well. The form of both Robin van Persie and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has seen Bert van Marwijk try to play them together, going away from the 4-2-3-1 that served them so well previously.

And that'll do us for now. The Euros are just eleven days away now.

Marking your card #10

What we'll be watching this weekend.

First up, the Copa del Rey final. It's Athletic v Barcelona at the Vicente Calderon in Madrid and it's already causing problems with one senior Madrid politician calling for it to be played behind closed doors in case either of these clubs partisan and nationalistic support dare boo the Spanish anthem. Yeah, whatever. When these sides met at San Mamés, they played out a wonderful 2-2 draw described by some as a hymn to football. More of that please. It's Guardiola's last game - for now at least - in charge of the Blaugrana against the man whose advice he sought before taking the job. Athletic haven't been on a good run and a defeat here will leave them not just exhausted, but also potless which would be an incredible shame. Barca have 'only' won three of the five competitions they've completed so far, but would of course love little more than to send off their favourite son with one more piece of silverware for the mantle.
There are still two rounds remaining in the Segunda División and Deportivo La Coruna can seal a return to the Primera with a draw at home to Huesca. The other automatic spot is between Celta Vigo and Valladolid - locked together on 81 points. Celta are away to relegate Nastic while Valladolid play Alcorcon who are in the mix for the play-offs. They, Hércules, Córdoba and Almería are the three clubs fighting for the other two places for that final promotion spot.

It's the final round of Serie B fixtures in Italy. The top two - Torino and Pescara - are already up with Torino needing a win over rock bottom AlbinoLeffe to make sure of taking the title. The play-off places for the remaining promotion spot are already sealed - Sassuolo, Hellas Verona, Varese and Sampdoria - but not the order or who will play whom for that final Serie A spot next season. Of the four, it's Verona in the best form.

The other two games in Europe concern promotion in England. On Sunday, Cheltenham play Crewe for a place in the third division while there's an all-Yorkshire affair the day before as Huddersfield Town play Sheffield United for a second division place. It's all gone a bit wrong for United after two of their strikers displayed differing levels of mindless idiocy to deprive the club of their services - one for three matches, the other for five years (minus good behaviour). Town, meanwhile, struggled to find their feet after replacing their manager, but began to come into form in the final weeks of the season. It should be fun.

Further afield, the Chilean Championship play-offs begin with leaders Universidad de Chile against Cobreloa. Two points cover the top five in Argentina, but none of them play each other this weekend. It's the final round in Colombia with loads of teams trying to make the top eight play-offs . Pretty much every game has something ridin on it on a great weekend for lovers of the word 'permutations'. It's the last round in Peru with Universidad César Vallejo top by three from Sporting Cristal who must beat Juan Aurich and hope for Universidad de San Martín to overturn UCV.

The Toulon tournament and U19 European Championships rumble on as well with loads of games over the weekend. We'll pick Czech Republic against Netherlands in the latter and Netherlands v Turkey in the former.

There are international friendlies galore as well as the Euros - just a couple of weeks away - loom on the horizon. Germany v Switzerland looks a particularly nice one.

The season may be over, but the football never stops. Have a good one.

TW3 #13

Big prizes dished out this week, a parade or two rained on in the process.

First, to Munich where the unthinkable happened - Bastian Schweinsteiger missed a penalty. Even odder was that Arjen Robben, rather than the normally ultra-reliable Schweinsteiger, took a spot-kick in extra-time. Playing up to Dutch stereotypes, Robben missed which allowed Chelsea the opportunity to take the game to a penalty shoot-out. That Petr Cech guessed correctly at all five can't have been coincidence, but after Juan Mata had missed Chelsea's first effort, it looked like being Bayern's day, but Cech pushed Ivica Olic's tame effort away and Schweinsteiger hit the post after seeming to change his mind midway through his run-up. Didier Drogba, who had taken the game to extra-time with a thumping header two minutes from the end, beat Manuel Neuer with the decisive penalty to give Chelsea a first European Cup.
It had an air of inevitability about it. The game itself, for all the personal trauma for Robben, Olic and Schweinsteiger, resembled Steaua Bucharest against Barcelona in the 1986 final with Chelsea content to sit deep and play on the counter. Bayern, like Barcelona in the semi-finals, just couldn't find a way through and attempting to sit on 1-0 - Daniel van Buyten replacing Thomas Muller - backfired badly.

Ricardo Vaz Te ensured West Ham's stay outside the English Premier League was a short one, bagging a winner two minutes from time at Wembley against Blackpool. York City's Matty Blair proved the winner in the Conference play-off final at the same venue 24 hours later to make his team the 92nd entrant into the professional leagues. We'll have more on that soon.

Second-half goals from Edison Cavani and Marek Hamsik denied Juventus a league and cup double in Italy, rather spoiling Alessandro del Piero's last game in the black and white. It also spoiled Juve's unbeaten season. They'd only once ended 90 minutes behind, in the semi-final second leg against Milan, but that only served to send the game to extra-time where Mirko Vucinic sent them through on aggregate. This was the first time the final whistle blew with them trailing. Sporting CP were beaten by a fifth-minute Marinho goal for Académica in the Portuguese Cup final and Hearts took the honours in Scotland after a thumping 5-1 win over city rivals Hibernian, Rudi Skacel with two.

PSG did what they had to do to try to wrest the Ligue 1 title away from Montpellier's clutches by winning 2-1 away at Lorient. Trailing to Kevin Monnet-Pacquet's opener, Javier Pastore and Thiago Motta ensured the points went back to Paris. It proved futile though as a John Utaka double for MHSC sealed a comeback win after Olivier Kapo had given Auxerre the lead. A side built for €2m had beaten the side that spunked almost 20 times that amount on Pastore alone. Dijon were thumped 5-0 by Rennes and go down, their cause not helped by red cards for Younousse Sankharé and Chaher Zarour. Caen, 3-1 losers to Valenciennes, are the other side to be relegated.

Vitesse will play Europa League football next season after beating RKC in the play-off. VVV Venlo retained their place in the Eredivisie, a 2-2 draw on Sunday enough to complete a 4-3 aggregate win over Helmond Sport and Willem II are back, promoted after a 2-1 win over Den Bosch following a goalless first leg.

The last round of games in the Chilean Apertura saw Universidad de Chile finish top, a 4-0 win over Huachipato enough to seal the position after a bit of a wobble. They'll play eighth-placed Cobreloa in the first round of the play-offs. O'Higgins and Deportes Iquique finish second and third, five points adrift. Deportes Tolima will finish top of the Colombian Apertura as they are five clear of the field after the penultimate round of fixtures. Robin Ramirez snatched a late draw with Deportes Pasto this weekend. Behind Tolima, there's a real log-jam for the rest of the top eight places with five points covering second to tenth and 11th-place Atlético Nacional still have a chance to crack the eight.

It was quite a week, all told. Next week sees the focus shift to matters promotion as several second divisions reach a conclusion.

Copa Libertadores - round of 16

We've highlighted previously the importance of home advantage in the Copa Libertadores. With the potential for vast distances between clubs and the extreme altitude in many parts mean that a failure to grasp those factors that lie in your favour often spell doom.

La Paz and Quito are two cities that lend themselves to this. Bolívar, of the former, and Deportivo Quito both had home games in the first leg of the round of 16 against fancied runners. Bolívar won 2-1 against Santos, Jhasmani Campos with the winner after Maranhão had equalised an early Rafael own goal. Would that away goal prove crucial? Depor, meanwhile, thumped the quite excellent Universidad de Chile to the tune of 4-1, Gustavo Alustiza bagging two of them. Surely the away goal here was even less relevant?

It became irrelevant, but not in that way. Depor and Bolívar were both brought down to earth at sea level, and in emphatic style. Santos were back on terms with Bolívar within six minutes, Elano with the goal, and more followed at regular intervals. A Neymar penalty was quickly followed by strikes from Ganso and Alan Kardec and it was five by half-time as Juan Valverde turned one into his own net. After the break, Elano and Ganso both got seconds and Borges wrapped up an astonishing 8-0 win sending Santos through 9-2 on aggregate. In Santiago, Universidad weren't as quick oout of the blocks, but by half-time had drawn the tie level, La U ahead by that away goal. In the space of fifteen first-half minutes, Juan Fernandez had nipped in for two and Marcelo Diaz made it 3-0. After the break, Eugenio Mena gave La U a bit of breathing space before a late brace from Ángelo Henríquez completed a 6-0 rout and a 7-4 aggregate win.

Emelec had failed to make the mnost of their home leg against Corinthians with a 0-0 draw. In the return, the Brazilians were comfortable 3-0 winners. Unión Española also flopped at home, losing 3-2 to Boca Juniors after being beaten 2-1 in La Bombonera. It was the same story for Atlético Nacional who lost 1-0 at home to Vélez Sarsfield before a draw in Buenos Aries saw Vélez through. In the all-Brazilian tie, Inter and Flu drew 0-0 in the first leg before Flu won at home 2-1 after going a goal down early on. Leandro Damião put Inter in front, but Leandro Euzébio equalised moments later. Fred's goal late in the first half proved enough for Flu. Libertad had the longest trip, all the way up to Mexico and Cruz Azul, but they returned from there with a 1-1 draw. Back in Ascunción, they completed a 2-0 win to progress.

In the final tie, both Lanús and Vasco da Gama won at home. Both won 2-1, Tefilo Gutierrez's late goal in the second leg sending the tie to extra time and, ultimately, penalties. There, Lanús striker Silvio Roméro was the only one to miss, crashing his 12-yarder off the bar, and Vasco progress.

So to the quarter-finals then which get underway next Tuesday. It's a Brazil-dominated affair, half the sides coming from the continent's largest country. There are two Argentine sides while the only sides from outside those two countries meet each other. Here's how they line up:

Fluminense x Boca Juniors
Corinthians x Vasco da Gama
Universidad de Chile x Libertad
Santos x Vélez Sarsfield

Copa Libertadores heads to the knockout rounds

While Europe was in the grip of the Champions League semi-finals this week, South America's premier club competition finally reached the end of it's tortuous group stage.

Four of the eight groups were settled quite early on  with two teams dominating throughout. Fluminense and Boca Juniors dominated Group 4 with Flu only losing in gameweek five, to Boca. The Argentine champions had a slow start with a draw against Zamora in Venezuela and a loss to Flu, but then won their final four games to secure second place behind the Brazilians. Back-to-back wins over Arsenal de Sarandi in the middle two weeks made all the difference both to Arsenal and to Boca. Zamora's only point came from that first game.

Libertad and Vasco da Gama dominated Group 5 in similar fashion ahead of Nacional and Alianza Lima and Group 6 was even more divided with Nacional Ascunsión and Deportivo Táchira only mustering one win between them. Corinthians and Cruz Azul progressed unruffled. And in Group 8 Universidad de Chile picked up their Copa Sudamericana-winning form to top the group from Atlético Nacional. Godoy Cruz and Peñarol won a game each.

The big drama came in Group 1 where Flamengo were dumped out in dramatic fashion. Lanús had secured top spot before the final round of matches, but the other three were all in with a shout. Fla had to win - they did, 3-0 against Lanús - to have a hope. Emelec and Olimpia were tied at 2-2 when the final whistle went at the Engenhão, but in stoppage time in Ascunsión, José Quinonez grabbed a winner for Emelec that sent them through instead. Ronaldinho's team were out.

Bolívar had to win on the final day of Group 3 to join Unión Española in the knockout stages and they did, 3-0 over Universidad Catolica. That rendered Junior's win over Unión academic. Vélez Sarsfield dominated Group 7 with a battle on between Deportivo Quito and Defensor Sporting to join them. Fortunately for Depor, they were playing group whipping boys Guadalajara on the final day and duly whipped them 5-0 which meant Defensor's win over Vélez counted for nothing.

Santos walked Group 1 and were joined by Internacional after a nervy final round. Needing a win to be certain of qualifying, Inter lose 1-0 in Peru to Juan Aurich. Fortunately for them, Santos did them a favour by beating Bolivians The Strongest in São Paulo by two goals to nil. Inter snuck through by a point.

And so to knockout football where no Uruguayan side appears for what feels like the first time in ages.

Corinthians take on Emelec where the altitude of Quito could be vital. Both sides will be looking for big home wins, Emelec to take advantage of the altitude and Corinthians to negate it's effect.
Fluminense and Internacional meet in an all-Brazilian tie whiole Brazilian champions Santos have to take on Bolívar and La Paz's rarefied atmosphere. Universidad de Chile, probably the most exciting team in world football at the moment, drew Deportivo Quito while Libertad have the long trip to Mexico to take on Cruz Azul. Boca Juniors play Unión Española, Lanús take on the might of Vasco da Gama and Atlético Nacional, Colombia's only representative in the last 16 with an attack led by group stage top-scorer Dorlan Pabón, will play Vélez Sarsfield.

The knockout round starts on March 30 and, as ever, it should be cracking.