Club America Vs. Santos FC, 2011 Copa Libertadores: Brazilians Advance, Rafael Is A Cyborg

I for one, welcome our new cyborg overlords. If the performance of Santos FC goalkeeper Rafael is anything to go by, our planet is about to be taken over by a super race of cyborgs with a heightened sense of awareness and athletic abilities beyond anything humans possess. No, seriously, his performance against Club America was that good, and as a result of his unbelievable goalkeeping, Santos have advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2011 Copa Libertadores.

America should have scored from one of their two clear-cut chances in the first half, but they had even more opportunities to score in the second half. This time, it was not their own finishing that was their undoing, but some bad luck and an absolutely unbelievable performance by Rafael. In a period of 14 minutes, he made four absolutely world class saves, denying America the goal they needed to force extra time.

Three of the saves were absolute carbon copies of each other. Angel Reyna entered the game as a halftime substitute for America, and though he didn’t score, his play certainly justified the decision of Pavel Pardo. In the 63rd, 75th, and 77th minutes, he had fantastic, powerful, well-placed long shots turned away by Rafael. In the 79th minute, he finally beat his nemesis, but was denied by the crossbar. Another substitute, Enrique Escueda, also had a great chance to score for America, but his 70th minute header was also denied in spectacular fashion.

America continued to press forward and shoot at the goal in the final 10 minutes of the game, but they remained unable to score, allowing Santos to advance, despite the fact that they could have easily scored six goals in this game. It was an unbelievable game, and going into the quarterfinals, Santos now have to feel like they’re playing with house money.