Can São Paulo Stop Boca Juniors?

The cream of Brazilian ‘futebol’ meets the cream of Argentinean ‘futbol’ for the final decider as São Paulo FC host CA Boca Juniors at Morumbi stadium in the second leg of the Copa Sudamericana last sixteen shootout.

The first leg was prefaced by an apparent divergence in approaches to the match as visitors São Paulo seemed to be prioritising the domestic league (The Brasileirão: 'Big Brazilian') while hosts Boca Juniors were taking the clash very seriously indeed.

The Brazilians’ underrating of the Sudamericana (the equivalent of the much-maligned UEFA Cup) was punished by Boca Juniors – who had to play the match at home rather than in Salta after the Brazilians refused to budge from Buenos Aires – with Martín Palermo bagging a brace and Borges getting a potentially useful late consolation.

For the second leg it appears that São Paulo are going to up their efforts after confirming a nine-point lead in the Brasileirão. It seems more of a matter of honour now than a week ago for two reasons that should spice the clash up.

Firstly, despite the claims of indifference the defeat stung as the Tricolor Paulista lost their sixteen-match invincibility, and secondly SPFC want to take revenge for last year’s Boca Juniors celebrations of the Recopa title on the self-same Morumbi stage.

The prize at stake still isn’t as mouth-watering as a Libertadores Cup, but the chance of downing Boca Juniors at home now that the second domestic league title in a row is almost in the bag is still appetising – and the management is pushing for a win.

Nevertheless São Paulo will have to show a lot more than they did in a first leg that was marked by some truly appalling performances. Whoever makes it through will face either Chileans Colo Colo or Colombians Millonarios in the quarter-finals.