South America Review: Boca Juniors and River Plate in Superliga action

The South America Review looks at Argentina this week, where Boca Juniors and River Plate returned to Superliga action while the Copa Libertadores lingers.

The Copa Libertadores, the premier club competition in South America, remains on hiatus. After violence around El Monumental in Buenos Aires on Nov. 24 and 25 forced the postponement of the second leg of the Superclasico final, it seemed that a new date was set to complete the 2018 tournament. But negotiations to move the second leg to the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid for a have stalled.

River Plate have demurred about the proposal, arguing that moving the second leg of the final outside of Argentina is an unfair distortion of the home-and-home spirit of the competition. They are not wrong about the intention of two-leg finals at home sites, but at the same time River Plate are also in a weak bargaining position. If anything, given CONMEBOL’s recent history of punishing teams for violent actions by their fans, River Plate are lucky they haven’t been forced to forfeit.

That is what happened three years ago, when River Plate and Boca Juniors met in the round of 16 of the 2015 Copa Libertadores. In that year’s tournament, River Plate won the first leg at El Monumental and entered the return match at La Bombonera with a 1-0 advantage. But fans attacked the River team with pepper spray as they returned to the pitch from the halftime break, and Boca were forced to forfeit the draw and allow their rivals a walkover.

Given the events transpired in the vicinity of El Monumental and were perpetrated by River Plate supporters, CONMEBOL would be within its right to follow precedent and award the championship to Boca Juniors. Instead, they continue to work with the two clubs to hopefully find a successful resolution, given the FIFA Club World Cup is due to begin on Dec. 12.

That is the biggest news from South America this week. But Boca and River also returned to the pitch for Superliga Argentina, where our look around the continent begins this week.

Boca and River return to winning ways in Superliga action

While many of the leagues around South America are winding down their Clausura seasons or finishing off calendar-year tournaments, Argentina are still in the first half of a season that they have designed over recent years to align more closely with the European league calendars.

Boca Juniors took out their frustrations in a sloppy, defensive test at Independiente in Avellaneda. Holding things scoreless in the first half, Boca got the only goal of the match in the 58th minute. Five minutes after entering the game as a substitute, Edwin Cardona beat Independiente goalkeeper Martin Campana for the winner. Things got chippy from there, as Boca’s Lisandro Magallan received a second yellow card and saw red on top of it. Referee Dario Herrera handed out nine yellow cards in total, four to Independiente and five to visiting Boca.

After missing the chance to play the Copa Libertadores final at home, River Plate returned to El Monumental for a Superliga contest against Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata. Rafael Santos Borre had a brace in the first half, scoring in the seventh and 36th minutes. Matias Gomez pulled one back just after the intermission, but Matias Moya restored the two-goal gap in the 88th minute.

Boca Juniors currently sit fourth in the Superliga table, six points behind league leaders Racing Club. River Plate are 11 points adrift and currently ninth in the standings, though they have two matches in hand against Racing. While we wait to learn the final resolution of the Copa Libertadores, the two finalists are still keeping form in domestic play.

Other news from South America

Palmeiras had already wrapped up the Serie A title in Brazil before their 3-2 win over Vitoria on Sunday. The leaders closed out the 38-match season with one more win, and coupled with a loss by Flamengo it meant Palmeiras finished eight points ahead in the domestic table. Edu Dracena, Gustavo Scarpa and Bruno Henrique Corsini all potted goals in the victory. Corsini’s effort proved critical, as Vitoria clawed back with two goals in the 71st and 73rd minute to level the score.

Olimpia are the champions of Paraguayan football with one matchday to go in the season, after they went ahead by 11 points in the league table. Along with Cerro Porteno’s midweek draw at Deportivo Santani, the 3-2 win over Sol de America over the weekend ensured nobody could pass Olimpia in the final match of the season.

Universidad Católica sealed the Chilean title on the final matchday, closing out the campaign three points ahead of Universidad de Concepción. Both clubs won over the weekend, with Catolica finishing out the string with a 2-1 takedown of Deportes Temuco and Concepcion earning a 2-0 shutout over Colo-Colo.

And in the Peruvian semifinals, Melgar drew 3-3 on the road against Alianza Lima in the first leg to see who will play Sporting Cristal for the championship. Joel Sanchez and Christofer Gonzalez put Melgar ahead 2-0 at the break, but the visitors went down to 10 men when Joao Villamarin earned a red card in first-half stoppage time. Nilson Loyola scored a third for Melgar despite being a man down, before Alianza awakened with three late goals from Mauricio Affonso, Kevin Quevedo and Aldair Fuentes.