Assumption.- With four former champions playing from the first phase, this week the Copa Libertadores de América-2015 begins, which will last until August 5 and will feature several “heavyweights” from the continent. The Argentine Boca Juniors and River Plate, the Brazilian Corinthians, Internacional de Porto Alegre, Atlético Mineiro, Cruzeiro and Sao Paulo and the also Argentine San Lorenzo, the last champion, are some of the 38 teams that will compete in the 56th edition of the continental tournament.
The first phase will be played between this week and next, with twelve teams looking for six places for the second round or group stage. Among them are four former champions of the tournament, Corinthians, Once Caldas from Colombia, Estudiantes de La Plata and Nacional from Uruguay.
The group stage will be played between mid-February and the end of April and the round of 16 and quarterfinals will be played in May.
In June, the Libertadores will enter a break due to the Copa América dispute in Chile – between June 11 and July 4 – and the continental club tournament will return in mid-July for the semifinals and final. , whose second leg is scheduled for August 5.
– Corinthians-Once Caldas, standout duel from the first phase –
And right from the start, the Libertadores-2015 will have some outstanding duels that might leave some South American greats out of the tournament at the first opportunity.
Among the first round matches, the one between two former champions of the tournament, Corinthians (monarch in 2012) and Once Caldas (2004), stands out especially. The first leg between the two will take place on Wednesday in Sao Paulo and the rematch next week in Manizales.
And the winner of this key will fall into Group 2, the “Group of Death”, in which the reigning champion, San Lorenzo, Sao Paulo and Danubio of Uruguay await.
Another highlight first round clash is that between Nacional of Uruguay and Palestine of Chile.
The Uruguayan team, three-time champion of the tournament, in 1971, 1980 and 1988, will visit Palestino on Thursday in Santiago, who returns to the Libertadores following 35 years of absence, and will receive them in the rematch a week later in a match at the doors closed in the Great Central Park of Montevideo.
The winner of this tie will qualify for Group 5, where Boca Juniors – six-time Libertadores champions – Venezuelan Zamora and Wanderers from Uruguay await.
For its part, River Plate of Argentina, champion of the 2014 Copa Sudamericana that will go in search of its third Copa Libertadores, following those of 1986 and 1996, will play in an accessible Group 6 of the second round with San José de Oruro, Tigres de Mexico and Juan Aurich.
— First leg matches of the first phase of the Copa Libertadores de América-2015:
– Martes
In Lima: Alianza Lima (PER) – Huracán (ARG)
En Morelia: Morelia (MEX) – The Strongest (BOL)
– Wednesday:
In San Cristóbal: Deportivo Táchira (VEN) – Cerro Porteño (PAR)
In Sao Paulo: Corinthians (BRA) – Once Caldas (COL)
– Thursday
In Santiago: Palestinian (CHI) – National (URU)
In Sangolquí: Independiente Del Valle (ECU) – Estudiantes de La Plata (ARG)
(fuente:conmebol.com)
#ball #starts #moving #Libertadores
2024-04-24 02:24:34
