Corinthians will face Flamengo in the first knockout round of the Libertadores Cup after their fellow Brazilians scraped in as one of the best group runners-up.
Flamengo, who finished second to Universidad de Chile in Group 8 on Wednesday, had to wait 24 hours to find out if they were among the six best runners-up in the eight groups.
Another Brazilian side, Internacional, beat Deportivo Quito 3-0 at home in Porto Alegre on Thursday to reach the knockout phase as Group 5 winners.
PHOTO: EPA
Midfielder Andrezinho opened the scoring in the fourth minute from a corner, defender Bolivar added a second after an hour and Giuliano completed the win in stoppage-time. Inter substitute Edu was sent off two minutes from time.
Corinthians, who secured top place in Group 1 last week, beat Colombian champions Independiente Medellin 1-0 in Sao Paulo with a Juan Valencia own-goal to amass 16 points from their six matches, the best record in the group phase.
With former Brazil World Cup winners Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos in their squad, they hope to mark the club’s centenary year with their first South American crown.
Two more Brazilian sides, last-year’s runners-up Cruzeiro and three times champions Sao Paulo, also reached the last 16 among the six best second-placed teams to take the country’s total to five qualifiers.
Two spots were reserved for Mexico’s Guadalajara and San Luis, who were given a bye into this year’s knockout phase having had to pull out last year because of the swine flu epidemic.
They have been pitted against Argentine opponents, with San Luis facing holders and Group 3 winners Estudiantes and Guadalajara meeting Velez Sarsfield, who topped Group 7.
In other ties, Universidad de Chile face Alianza Lima, Sao Paulo meet Peruvian champions Universitario, Paraguay’s Libertad face Once Caldas of Colombia, Uruguay’s Nacional play Cruzeiro and Internacional clash with Argentine champions Banfield.
The matches will be played over the next two weeks, with the quarter-finals scheduled next month before the competition goes into recess for the World Cup.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later