Independiente win Copa Sudamericana!

By
Juli2014
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49
Independiente Argentina
Independiente Argentina

Hey guys, Independiente have won the Copa Sudamericana last night!

The “Rey de Copas” or the “King of Cups” deservedly won 3-2 last night on aggregate. It was their second Copa Sudamericana title.

Trailing 2-1 from the first leg in Argentina last week and with support from more than 54,000 fans in an overflowing Maracana, Flamengo striker Lucas Paqueta opened the scoring in the 29th minute from a low cross by defender Rever. Just minutes later, a disputed penalty allowed midfielder Ezequiel BARCO to equalize.

Colombian referee Wilmar Roldan issued seven yellow cards, four of them to Independiente players, all in the last 17 minutes of regulation time. Flamengo have had to play without striker Paolo Guerrero, who has been suspended by FIFA after failing an anti-doping test.

Independiente midfielder Ezequiel BARCO said the Copa Sudamericana opens a new era for the club. They are the biggest winner of the Copa Libertadores with seven titles, but the last one was in distant 1984. No side has lifted the Sudamericana on more occasions than Independiente, though Boca Juniors have also triumphed twice, while the Avellaneda (of Buenos Aires) based club’s seven Copa Libertadores titles are unparalleled.

On their way to the title, the Sudamericana champions eliminated Argentina’s Atletico Tucuman and Paraguay’s Nacional and Libertad until they met Flamengo in the final.

Barco, one of the best players of the tournament, is leaving the club to play in MLS for Atlanta. He is likely to have played his last match for Independiente at the Maracana.

BARCO of Independiente

“I never imagined I could leave Independiente, but now all I want to do is to celebrate this title and thank fans for their support all those years.”

Copa Sudamericana final highlights

VAMOS ARGENTINA!!

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49 Comments

  1. What’s with this obsession about playing against Spain in a friendly game? Why do Argentina need to go into some tactical battle against Spain in a useless friendly game that might turn out to be a low scoring victory or tie for either team? Playing against Spain before the world cup proves nothing for Argentina. The Argentina national team will need confidence in terms of goals heading into Russia, so the idea of playing Spain doesn’t make any sense. Organize games against teams that will bring confidence in the Argentina camp. Argentina will need their players (especially the strikers) to be sharp heading into the group stage, not playing lackluster friendly games against Spain or England to make some useless point. Being that the world cup is in Europe, there are a lot of teams that come to mind who Argentina can arrange games against; Holland, Turkey, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cameroon, Finland, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania etc. Playing against three to four of these countries before the group stage will give the team a boost in terms of scoring goals and players flexibility on the pitch. No need to be playing the likes of Spain, France, Germany, Brazil etc before the world cup. Argentina doesn’t need to play against any of the so call world cup contenders in friendly settings leading up to the 2018 world cup.

    • Argentina playing against Spain in friendly?? I don’t think it’s a good idea playing Spain who is probably the quarter final opponent they probably judge our strength and weaknesses not a good idea

      • Exactly, Argentina played against Germany back in 2009 before the 2010 World Cup, and again, in late 2012 ( in August if I’m not mistaken) before the 2014 World Cup. None of the teams drawn together in the group stage are going to play against each other before the World Cup officially starts, so why play against potential second round rivals? If you’re going by the World Cup brackets, and looking at potential teams Argentina might face in the round of 16 and beyond, Argentina will need to avoid friendly games against any team they might come across deep in the tournament. This means no pre world friendly games against the likes of France,Spain,Germany,Brazil,Portugal etc. Holland/ Slovenia/Slovakia,Turkey and Cameroon would be good practice games for Argentina before the 2018 World Cup.

        • But this time around the scenario is little bit different we don’t have a steady starting eleven and even sampaoli is not sure about starting squad and he is still not sure how team should play back 3 or back 4 I assume 3-4 players only surely will play others are not yet a surety so playing Spain now will not have that bad because u can gauge their strength and weaknesses plus our which players is really good and the meantime as we don’t have settled eleven and settled formation Spain can’t figure out what to expect from us in the wc knockout stage

  3. In all the world cups I have watched, club form as never benefited the Argentina national team at the tournament. The back and forth of who is playing, and who isn’t playing enough, and who is starting every single club game won’t make Argentina world cup chances any better going into the 2018 world cup. If you go back to the 1994 world cup through to 2014 world cup, Argentina went into those tournaments with arguably some of the best players and best inform players on the planet yet no world cup titles to show for it. Personally, Argentina should have won the world cup in 1994, 2002, 2006 and 2014 given the teams and players they had (and if you want to go back further, they should have won/repeat the world cup in 1990, a tournament I didn’t personally watch). So, a player like Icardi is not doing anything new that we haven’t seen from past and present Argentina strikers. Back in 2014, if you go by club stats, Palacio almost had the same amount of club goals/stats as Muller, Klose and Gotze combined, and he was Argentina 4th striker.

    • ARGENTINA should have been world cup champions back to back in 1990 had it not been for the obvious half Mexican/1/2 Uruguayan REF. who he and FIFA clearly did not want ARG to win.

        • Agreed, that 1990 team was just awful save for Diego, Cannigia and Goycochia, they had no business reaching the final let alone winning it.
          The 1994 team was fantastic on paper and could’ve gone quite far had Diego not been kicked out.
          The 2002 team peaked too early and were awful in the WC and deserved to exit early.
          The 2006 team were excellent but penalties have a huge element of luck and historically speaking Argentine players haven’t shown the mental fortitude to win most of their penalty shootouts.
          In 2014 the team showed alot of spirit to reach the final but ironically Argentina’s forwards (their supposed strongest asset) let the team down.

        • The 1990 wc team was the worst Argentina squad i have ever seen indeed, barring Maradona and Caniggia. But still the Germans couldn’t beat that team properly and they needed a non existent penalty to do so just six minutes before the end of regular time, not even need to mention that Caniggia who was our second best and most in form player didn’t play that final.

          And lets put the factor luck aside. Germans were extremely lucky that we didn’t convert our chances in 2014 wc final, because this is the only reason they are world champions at the moment.

  4. Sad to see Mascherano leaving Barca. His departure from Barca is even more painful than retiring from Argentina ( after World cup ). But why he is so hurry and not ready to postpone till world cup. He will be there in our squad for World cup and limited playing time with Barca means he will be more fresh. But why he is so keen for the switch. Well Icardi is our asset no doubt about that but yesterday after watching him against Udinese feel he is also someone who finish the chance than trying his best to create the chance. We miss players like Saviola even though he was not a great finisher but great worker.

    • Mascherano should not be a starter in wc he is too slow we need fast CB our defense is not that strong now a big concern

        • How is funes Mori or mercado or rojo or mammana.i think otamendi place is sure so that leave 2 places I think Argentina can’t be so void of 2 good fast technical defenders they used to produce superb defenders

        • I think the biggest mistake Sampa did so far is Mascherano’s inclusion in defence line. Put Biglia on the bench and let Mascherano play in his natural position, it’s simple as that. When Masche plays alongside a creative midfielder he can dominate the midfield with his leadership and passing skills.

          Yes Mascherano can be used as a defender, but only when there is shortage of defenders and right now the team isn’t in short of defenders. There is Otamendi who marshals the back line very well, so for me it seems a very bad decision to use Mascherano as a defender.

    • Mascherano’s inclusion in a 3 man defense is going to cost Argentina dearly. First of all a 3 man defense is just silly especially when a team doesn’t have the players that fit the criteria (no NT has to be honest, hence none of the major NTs uses such a defense). Second of all using a slow player who’s weak in the air like Masch in a 3 man defense is even more silly.
      Mascherano is a legend but he is a sub at best and starting him in the WC is a perfect example of how emotion gets the better of logic and ends up destroying a team’s dream.

  5. About Dybala, he is a great asset whether he will start for Argentina or used as a sub. Our attack is unmatched, Icardi is a beast for me he must be the starting 9, we have Messi, Aguero, Higuain for giving depth in our bench or even very talented and skillful young strikers such as Pavon and Martinez. Our defence is very good too and about the midfield, the right mix of defensive and attacking midfielders has to be found.

    The only thing is that all these players must be set properly on the pitch in order to form a well composed team, something that Sampoaoli is trying to implement.

    Icardi has become an amazing striker, he is the top scorer already, scoring every week and in my opinion he is easily the best young striker among those who play in Europe by far.

    • I think our defense is quite shaky specially against counters slow defender like masche should not start Romero is not good with his feet we don’t have good fullbacks so sampa will play 3 at back which need high press from midfield and high line of defense and fast technical defenders I’m really concerned regarding our defense plus our midfielders rarely press and after season end fatigue will come into play if they can’t improve then we will struggle against counter attacking teams like Iceland France Germany Portugal etc and even Nigeria can hurt us

  6. Dybala seems no more a regular starter in Juventus, Allegri found his ideal formation(the 4-3-3), where Dybala has no place, plus he plays very bad nowadays, and acts like an idiot, too big the face.

  7. Lanzini is good if team is playing offensively.He has nothing much to do if team is playing defensively.
    He can be included in Sampa style of play attack with six player and defence with four player

        • I agree with you, Gonzalo. He was phenominal and he is the type of a player Argentina is in need of.

          BTW, I know River aren’t in their best form, but how is Nacho Fernandez performing lately. I haven’t heard much of him recently.

          • Dadir10 like you said River isn’t really doing all that well and when the team as a whole doesn’t do well, the players don’t end up doing well either (apart from G.pity) so I can’t really blame Nacho’s drop in form on him alone. Still Nacho is one hell of a player and I would still like to see him, Gonzalo pity and Belluschi ahead of Biglia, Banega and Lo Celso (talented but raw) in the national team.

            Regarding la joya, I remember back in the day I completely dismissed Lanzini when he went to the mid east to play and when he was bought by westham I thought the kid wouldn’t last the season but Gonzalo kept praising him and guess who turned out to be right 😉
            Lanzini is one hell of a player, versatile, skillful, creative and hardworking, infact he’s made for Sampaoli’s system and he needs to go to Russia.

          • @Mamoun, when a club loses form it doesn’t necessarily mean all the players lose form too. Sometimes a player cans stay firm and his club can can bring bad results.

            Nacho is one of my favourite local players and he has many similarities with Lanzini. I don’t know if Sampa will give both of them the chance to go to the WC but they are, without any doubt, very creative players that can contribute a lot to the team.

          • Nacho scored winning goal (nice one) in Copa Argentina weeks ago. He still keeps his normal level. Pity Martinez is beast nowadays. Best player of River and one of best of the league. I think Sporting will take him sooner or later.

            Basing on current form my NT line up would be:

            ………………..Romero

            ……..Pezzella..Otamendi…Tagliafico

            ………Paredes..Battaglia..Lanzini
            Nacho…………………………….Pity/Cervi

            …………….Messi….Icardi

            or:

            ……………..Romero

            ………….Fazio..Otamendi
            Bustos………………………Tagliafico

            …………Paredes..Battaglia
            .Pity/Nacho…………………..Lanzini

            ………….Messi..Martinez

  9. Darío Benedetto: “Lautaro Martínez is the best number nine in Argentine football.”

    I wouldn’t mind if Martinez taking the place of Benedetto on WC if Boca player is out. Neither Aguero or Higuain are reliable.

    • completeĺy agree,even hig is better than aguero.laturo is the answer to our problem.we need a midfield heavy side becoz messi can play as false nine.
      i think aguero will choke like hig.

      • Aguero might have done very little for the National team but he is not a choker like Higuain.. but his poor run of form for his club is very surprising .. usually he scores a ton of goals for city and gets injured when it matters the most for us!!

      • Although Atletico isn’t a good environment for young players but it is a better option for him than going to th MLS. German mid-table teams are the ones that heavily rely on young players, so it would be a wise move if he opts for German teams. Barco has an Italian passport and it’s very easy for him to ply his trade in Europe right now. I heard that his representative is pushing him to go to Europe which is a very good thing for both parties.

  11. Independiente is Sampaolis favourite club so we can expect some of them may get a callup, like Bustos, Sanches Mino, Tagliafico. Barco i think is still a RAW talent, Never know. Well eagerly waiting for the March friendlies so that we can have a better idea about the final 23.

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