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Copa Libertadores: Liga de Quito smashes Fluminense

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The best team in South America just might come from……Ecuador.

Yes, you read that right. Liga Deportivo de Quito, a club most American soccer fans have never heard of, smoked Brazilian side Fluminense, 4-2, in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores final on Thursday night. The second leg is set for next Wednesday at the Maracana.

Surprise teams are nothing new in Copa Libertadores, but if Liga de Quito does win the Copa I can just imagine the clamor from MLS fans to get MLS into the tournament.

So who have you heard of on Liga? Well there’s Ecuadorian national team star Agustin Delgado. And well, that’s probably it. If you know your business then you might have heard of young Ecuadorian forward Joffre Guerron, who is on his way to Spanish side Getafe after the Copa Libertadores is over.

Have you been following the Copa Libertadores? Has Liga de Quito’s run surprised you? Share your thoughts on the Copa final in the comments section below.

Comments

  1. I got news for you!

    Liga Deportiva Univesitaria of Quito-Ecuador won the Copa Libertadores de America las night, by beating once again, this time in the Maracana Stadium of Rio to Fluminense of Rio, by the score of 3-1 (by penalties after extra time).

    If Americans and Canadians do not Know about Liga Deportiva Universitaria of Quito Ecuador (who have been playng soccer well before the NASL came to be), is because we don’t hear many news broadcast from south of the Rio Grande.

    I was surprised to see news of the rescue of Ingrid Betancourt. (this has nothing to do with Soccer or sports though).

    Thank you for the opportunity.

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  2. I live in Ecuador, and I stumbled upon this forum. I am happily surprised to see that so many people in the States and elsewhere are up to date with what’s happening in the Libertadores. I’m a Liga fan, and I’ve gone to almost every home game in Liga’s current Libertadores campaign. The final was incredible.

    It would be interesting to have an all-american tourney with teams from all confederations. I think this will happen, just hope that it does soon.

    Tomorrow’s the big day, let’s hope Liga wins and brings the first Libertadores title for Ecuador!

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  3. I lived in Quito the past 2 years and recently returned to new york on june 14th. i was really disappointed that i couldn’t stay for the copa libertadores final, although we never expected liga to get this far. Liga is definitely the biggest team in Quito and arguably the biggest club team in Ecuador (some may say Barcelona SC). liga has definitely saved their best football for this tournament and their defense has been excellent all tournament. i was actually at the liga vs. fluminense round robin game in april. i really wish that fox soccer channel or one of the espns would pick up the final here in the u.s.

    liga definitely has an advantage playing at 9,300 feet. there are a few other club teams that play at that high, bolivia and peru being in that category, but their teams are not that good. i believe it was flamengo that complained this year about playing at really high altitudes when they tied Real Potosi in Bolivia, even though they are a far superior team. liga is a difficult team to beat at home, other teams will actually train a few of their players at high altitudes to prepare for the game (this actually happened when colombia had a few players prepare at high altitudes to play in quito last week in their 0-0 draw).

    i am really excited to see liga in the final. it is their first time ever in the finals and possibly the first team from ecuador there. if liga can win, it will overshadow how poor la selecion of ecuador has played so far in world cup qualifying, although they recently tied argentina in buenos aires, they are currently in 8th plaace in the group. Dale Liga!!

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  4. Finalists in the CONMEBOL’s Copa Libertadores de America (much older than the Champions League). Liga beat Fluminense of Rio, Brazil by the score of 4-2 tonight at a sold out Casa Blanca in Quito. You can catch the second leg on Fox Sports en Espanol or various other outlets online. Game’s next Wednesday at Rio’s famed Maracana stadium. These are the games for the future stars of the Champions League.

    But who’s Liga? For those not familiar with South America’s teams, that’s Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito. In short, Quito’s university league team. Founded in 1930, it is one of the traditional Ecuador club teams. They’ve won the league title in 1969, 1974, 1975, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2003, Apertura 2005 and 2007. This is their first time in history at a continent-wide event and only Barcelona de Guayaquil has been to the final before (1990, 1998) but only managed 3 losses and 1 tie. Liga’s already making history and also turning more than one head to the equator-bound side.

    Truth be told, Liga’s not really my team. I’m an Emelec fan and will always be but I still enjoy seeing my fellow Ecuadoreans perform well at the international level. Currently, Liga boasts players such as Jairo Campos, Agustin Delgado, Claudio Bieler, Joffre Guerron, Jose Fransisco Cevallos, among others. Delgado is the legendary goleador that scored in most of the historical wins for the national side. Others that have come up through Liga’s ranks include Neicer Reasco (Sao Paulo), Giovani “La sombra” Espinoza (Cruzeiro), Ulises de la Cruz (Hibernian/Aston Villa/Reading), Joffre Guerron (recently acquired by Getafe of Spain), “Pepe Pancho” Cevallos (Barcelona SC, Once Caldas).

    The fight will be difficult next week and I would have liked to see the score remain at 4-1 as it was at the half. Fluminense will need to score 3 to secure the title. No easy feat, but they are Brazilian and jogo bonito is what they do. For now, and unless you’re a Flu fan let’s enjoy the result and leave history to decide which team is the greatest on this side of the hemisphere. …. Now if only Ecuador could perform like this.

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  5. Forgot to mention Jose Cevallos has been reborn in net for Liga.

    Convince him? Hincha, he wrote it up, he’s at least up on it. Besides. Peruvian soccer writer not following the Copa? That’s like all pb and no j. Like me going to Nash’s jam on Wednesday and getting great shots… of the watergirls. Wait. Scratch that last comparison.

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  6. I think LDQ still has an uphill climb – to lose by no more than 2 in Brazil. Even losing 3-1 isn’t good enough (I’m assuming away goals is a tie-breaker?).

    It’s been a great run, but if I were betting, I’d pick Fluminense to win by enough.

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  7. Aguinaga and others,

    Love to hear from my fellow Copa Libertadores fanaticos. Let’s convince Ives its worth his time to start following/watching.

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  8. Agree with Danny, first let’s win our own regional tourney, then let’s get invited to Copa Libertadores like the Mexican league teams are.

    Also agree with hincha tim, just watch and absorb the passion and the spectacle of it all, we in MLS can only dream of such game atmosphere at this point in time… That many of Europe’s Latin American players make the jump because of their performances in this tourney is def worth noting. Far as Liga itself goes… LI LI LI GA GA GA Universitaria!!

    Guerron has been sick all tourney, especially against America in the 1st leg. He also seemed to have learned he misses many wide open teammates because of trying too many 1v1 or 1v2/3 situations, as this last game he was more on point with his passing, and even got back to help defensively several times.

    There’s a couple of other players worth mentioning on Liga. Patricio Urrutia has been shining in defense for LDU, scoring in both this game and Ecuador’s last WC qualifier in Buenos Aires. The kid’s got game. Fellow Ecuadorian Luis BolaƱos was just up and down the field nonstop vs. Flu, and along with Guerron, str8 up owned the wings and spread the Flu defense thin.

    Liga also has a very strong Argentinean presence, with Claudio Bieler a poacher up top, Damian Manso a protype Latin American #10 spraying passes all over the field, and Edgardo Bauza pulling the strings of it all. The Paraguayan Enrique Vera is also underrated at DM. All in all, a collection of players almost no one though capable, & worthy of representing the tournament as champions in Tokyo, should they overcome their biggest obstacle yet, an absolutely insane Maracana packed with over 100000 fans. If only they weren’t all sure to split for bigger money once it’s over…

    Last, thank you Dusan Draskovic.

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  9. libertadores will never compete w/ champions league because of money only. its a shame ’cause there’s way better games in libertadores . when was the last time they scored 6 goals in one game in a semi or finals in europe. champions league is usually so conservative in the late stages it becomes boring to watch. also , can’t wait ’till the day mls competes in the libertadores.!

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  10. Fred,

    Cienciano did not win the Copa Libertadores, they won the Copa Sudamericana, the lesser of the two continental tournaments (but still a major achievement). Once Caldes, a small Colombian team, upset Boca for the Copa Libertadores, I think in 2004, which was a huge upset. Both Once Caldes and Cien Ciano havn’t been able to duplicate their success, because almost immediately their team was broken up by transfers. They sure were fun to watch, although as a River fan, it hurt to lose to Cienciano.

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  11. Juke Box,

    Only to a point. You see there’s a pecking order, and the smaller clubs are getting their players cherry picked by the bigger, more affluent clubs, so the Colombian and Ecuadorian clubs have their best players transferred to Argentina and Mexico and to a lesser extent Brazil, so they deal with probably as much or more turnover as the Boca’s, River’s. But they, in turn, cherry pick from the lesser clubs in their country. It’s similar to the NCAA basketball tourney in that a team can get gel and get hot at the right time, but still, it’s harder because it’s two games, not one in the knock out phase and the big teams usually have much more depth to be able to handle their domestic league commitments and the Copa’s (Boca played almost entirely reserve teams in the last part of the Primera Clausura to save their guys for the Copa).

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  12. You’re absolutely spot-on, Hero. The giants of South America will always have consistency on their side but one or two slip-ups will happen if they overlook a cohesive and colletively-minded side that has the right chemistry to boost their momentum throughout the tournament. Look at Peruvian soccer. They are in dire straits at the moment and are in desperate need of change at the national and league levels but just a few years ago, Cienciano of Cusco ousted both River Plate and Boca Juniors to lift the Copa Sudamericana.

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  13. True Congguy, 9300′ makes a difference but there were many other teams that had a similar advantage (some of the Bolivian, Colombian and Mexican teams). At home, they were 4 wins, 3 ties and no losses while outscoring their opponents 13-4. Away, they were 1-2-3 (5 goals for 8 against) but when it counted they more than held their own in the knock out rounds away from home (1-1 away to America, 1-1 away to San Lorenzo, 1-2 away to Estudiantes) which is actually got them through more than their home performances.

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  14. Haven’t followed it much, but with these surprise teams routinely making it far into the tournament, I think there is an interesting parallel with the state of South American club football and the state of college hoops. The traditional powers still get the best prospects, but these prospects are constantly being cherry picked by Euro clubs and NBA teams, respectively. That somewhat levels the playing field for teams that may not boast the raw talent, but have more age, experience, and cohesion because their players aren’t constantly leaving for $greener$ pastures. Thoughts?

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  15. I would LOVE to see MLS in the Copa Libertadores. Of course, first we need to have teams winning (on a fairly consistent basis) our own Champions Cup (now Champions League). Losing to Pachuca every year and Saprissa this year just isn’t good enough to make it down south. We haven’t been exactly wonderful in the Copa Sudamerica either. First, MLs needs to win CONCACAF tourneys, then WE TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Well, you know what I’m saying.

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  16. As (almost) always, this tournament has been entertaining to watch, with moments of unrivaled individual genius, and wild finishes.

    While on some levels LDU Quito is a surprise team, they didn’t have an easy route. They were originally paired in a tough group with Fluminense, Arsenal de Sarandi and Libertad, and came qualified second out of the group to Fluminense for the knockout rounds. They than dispatched Estudiantes (3-2 aggregate), San Lorenzo (penalties) and America (away goals) to reach the final and a rematch with their qualifying group counterpart, Fluminense.

    LDU Quito plays a wide open, athletic, fast paced type of game. I don’t watch Ecuadorian soccer, but their play reminds me of Colombian teams. Ecuador has developed into one of the second tier S. American footballing nations (Paraguay, Uruguay, ahead of Chile, Colombia) so it shouldn’t surprise that the nation’s best club should find some success.

    Fluminense, one of the most popular clubs in Brazil, but one that has had littl or no success over the years might be a bigger surprise. But they qualified first out of their group and than in turn knocked out giants Sao Paulo and Boca in scintillating matches to reach the final. Their forward Washington can be amazing. And I love them for knocking out Boca.

    The first leg was a wild first half (4-1) with lots of defensive errors by Flu (mostly their goaltender) interspersed with some great plays.

    The second leg of the final in Flu’s home pitch with 90,000+ wild fans and the fact that flu has to realistically win by 3 to take it should make a wild affair. Don’t miss it. Just watch it! Don’t sit back and try to Eurocentrically analyze. It’s a different type of football, I think in many ways more entertaining and exciting, so just sit back, take it all in, and just enjoy the wild ride, which will be sure to put a smile on your face and a couple of “what the *&^&^% just happened??” utterances.

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  17. Ive watched the whole Copa and Liga de quito has been amazing, Joffre Guerron(Getafe) and Luis Bolanos are superstars.

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  18. I agree, this has been an exciting Copa. And I also have to agree that I get more amped up for Copa Libertadores than Champs League. As for MLS teams participating in Libertadores: I don’t think they’re quite ready yet but I would love to see that in the future. Besides, MLS teams have their own Champs League to compete in soon. I can’t wait for that. They should have organized something like that years ago.

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  19. Thanks for mentioning Copa Liberatores, Ives! The tournament this year has been thoroughly exciting. I look forward to these games every year, even more so than Champions League, which seems to have the same cast of characters over and over again.

    I hope for more Libertadores coverage every year and I dream of some games being broadcast in ESPN HD because the transmission on FSE isn’t exactly top-notch.

    I hope the Ecuadoreans take it all. They fully deserve it because they boast a very strong team from front to back. They have a great stadium, great fans and good management.

    Can’t wait for next year. And don’t forget Copa Sudamericana—the UEFA Cup equivalent of South America.

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