Copa Libertadores 2012, Matchday 2: Santos FC Defeated, Corinthians Disappoint In Draw

Matchday 2 of the Copa Libertadores continues to be bizarre. All of Universidad de Chile, Boca Juniors, Corinthians and Santos FC, almost certainly the four biggest favorites to win the competition, have failed to win. La U and Boca were both poor and couldn’t score on Tuesday, but things went a bit differently for Corinthians and Santos on Wednesday. Corinthians found a late equalizer, while Santos gave away points late.

The Strongest 2-1 Santos FC

Playing in La Paz is always difficult, but Santos were still expected to get three points against The Strongest. In the early going, it appeared that they were going to do just that. Henrique scored in the 9th minute following a set piece, getting onto a deflected ball and smashing it into the back of the net to give his team a 1-0 lead.

The Strongest found their equalizer in the 33rd minute, with Enrique Parada putting in a cross for an unmarked Ernesto Cristaldo to finish. Cristaldo should have been picked up by right back Jorge Fucile, but the Uruguayan was caught flat-footed. That Danilo-Fucile swap isn’t exactly working out great for Santos, while Porto are currently thrilled with the results.

The unexpected equalizer came in stoppage time, on a corner kick. The marking by Santos was abysmal and they left Rodrigo Ramallo, the man who scored with a diving header, completely unmarked.

Lanus 1-1 Flamengo

Lanus and Flamengo are both entertaining sides with outside chances to win their domestic leagues this year, and their Copa Libertadores match lived up to the billing on Wednesday. Though there was only one goal for each side, each goalkeeper made a couple of great saves, while the game also featured some brilliant narrow misses. Renato of Flamengo had a 35-yard free kick blaze over the crossbar by inches in the first half, which was followed by Juan Neira of Lanus hitting the crossbar shortly afterwards on a brilliantly worked indirect free kick.

Flamengo’s goal came in first half stoppage time, and it came as the result of some terrible defending. A low cross by Júnior César inexplicably rolled by two Lanus defenders before it found the feet of Leonardo Moura, who had a simple near-post finish to make it 1-0.

Lanus’ equalizer came in the 74th on a well-worked move. Substitute striker Silvio Romero started it with a low cross, which was laid off brilliantly by Mariano Pavone. That set up César Carranza with a simple finish and he powered the ball into the back of the net to salvage a point for his side.

Deportivo Tachira 1-1 Corinthians

A road draw against a decent side isn’t the end of the world for Corinthians, but they’ll be disappointed by the manner of the draw. They went down to Deportivo Tachira in the 21st minute on an odd set piece goal, made possible by some poor defending and goalkeeping. Sergio Herrera netted the weird pinball goal, in which Corinthians goalkeeper Julio Cesar rushed out and deflected the ball into Herrera, and Herrera’s body deflected it into the net.

The equalizer came in stoppage time, and it was a deserved one. On a free kick, Ralf rose up above the Deportivo Tachira defense and hit a powerful header into the back of the net, rescuing a point and denying the hosts two points that could ultimately be the difference between elimination and qualifying for the next round.