By Gustavo Castilho
While Santos and Athletico-PR await their opponents, rubro negro and alviverde try to remain in the lead of the respective groups in the competition group stage.
Flamengo, already qualified, receives in Maracanã, the desperate Junior Barranquilla (COL). The rubro-negro is the group leader with twelve points, and a draw is enough to assure the group A leadership. On Sunday, the team will face Internacional for the Brazilian Championship, in a game that is worth the leadership of the competition, it is very likely that the Gávea club will go to the field today with a very different team since the classification was assured with one round in advance. On the other hand, the Colombian club plays the most important game of the year. The classification for the next phase does not depend only on them. The team needs to beat Flamengo and hope that Independiente Del Valle (ECU) also lose for a large goal difference, because that way they would be even the points with their direct opponent, but would pass on the goal balance. Independiente Del Valle will host their rivals Barcelona de Guayaquil (ECU) at home. Del Valle is in second with nine points and four goals balance. A tie is enough to qualify. While Junior Barranquilla is in third with six points and minus two goals in balance, followed by the already eliminated Barcelona with three points. For Barcelona the game is worth third place, which may secure a place in the South American coup.
In group B, the situation is pretty much defined. Palmeiras and Guaraní (PAR) are already qualified and will only decide who will finish first in the group. Palmeiras is the current leader with thirteen points, while Paraguayans are in second with ten. The alviverde, still lacking a coach, receives the Tigres lantern (ARG), in São Paulo. Guaraní will go to Bolivia to face Bolívar. The Bolivian club has four points, but the South American place is not yet guaranteed, because Tigers with just one point can still reach the same score and surpass them on goal balance, although the task is quite difficult.
Santos and Athletico-PR, who had also previously secured their places, now await their opponents in the draw that will be held on October 24th at Conmebol. Santos kept the 100% advantage in the group phase by winning with a turnaround (2×1), Defensa y Justicia (ARG), in Santos. The defeat eliminated Defensa y Justicia, which until stepping in the field was second in the group. The place was occupied by the surprising Delfín (ECU), who defeated the renowned Olympia (PAR), playing in Paraguay. The Ecuadorians started the game in last place of group G and with the victory, they stamped their passport to the round of 16. Santos and Delfín await the opponents of the next phase, while Defensa y Justiça will play the South American.
Atheltico-PR was unable to remain in the lead of group C. The club was defeated away from home by Peñarol (URU). The 3×2 score left the Hurricane in second place, since Jorge Wilstermann (BOL) won Colo-Colo (CHI), in Chile. The Bolivians reached the same ten points as the Brazilians but surpassed them in the goal difference. Peñarol ended up with nine points and secured a spot in the South American
The only Brazilian who played in the last phase of the competition eliminated was São Paulo. The 5×1 rout over the Binacional (PER), in Morumbi, only guaranteed the team in the South American. While the two were fighting for a place in the competition, LDU (ECU) and River Plate (ARG) competed for first place in Group D. Playing in Argentina, the hosts won and did not acknowledge the leader of the group. With the score of 3×0, River reached thirteen points, one more from the LDU that finished in second place.
