Sao Paulo, River Plate crash - 11:23 AM, April 6, 2006 |
| Defending Copa Libertadores champions Sao Paulo were stunned 2-1 at home by 10-man Guadalajara on Thursday (Australian time), while River Plate crashed to Brazilian second division club Paulista. Guadalajara made sure of a top-two finish in Group One and a place in the last 16 after their shock win against the Brazilians at the Morumbi stadium. They lead with 10 points followed by Sao Paulo on six, Caracas FC (Venezuela) on four and Cienciano (Peru) on three after four games. It was Sao Paulo's first home defeat in the competition in 30 outings, a run stretching back to 1987 when they lost 2-1 to Chile's Colo Colo. Sao Paulo, which lost to the Mexican outfit by the same scoreline two weeks ago, went ahead with striker Aloisio's curled opener in the 32nd minute. But the Chivas equalised on the stroke of halftime when Adolfo Bautista sent over an inswinging cross from the right and Sergio Santana beat Fabao to the ball to head past Rogerio Ceni. The game turned ugly in the second-half with some bad-tempered clashes. Fabao could have been sent off for elbowing Ramon Morales but the referee and linesmen appeared to miss the incident. Guadalajara striker Omar Bravo was then sent off after picking up a second yellow card for a seemingly innocuous challenge on Diego Lugano in the 74th minute. But seven minutes later, the Sao Paulo defence failed to deal with Alberto Medina's cross and Diego Martinez tapped the ball past Rogerio Ceni. Despite five minutes of injury-time and finishing with four forwards, Sao Paulo could not find a way back and were jeered off the field. Argentina's River Plate, champions in 1986 and 1996, lost 2-1 to Paulista in Group Eight, who are playing in their first Libertadores after winning last year's Copa Brasil knockout competition. Paulista raced to a 2-0 lead in 17 minutes through Amaral's looping 30-metre shot and after Jailson headed home a cross from Lucas. Daniel Passarella's team pulled one back after Jairo Patino scored with a low, swerving shot in the 19th minute. River stayed second with six points, but are now only one ahead of Paulista. Paraguay's Libertad lead with eight points and Ecuador's El Nacional trail with four from four games. In the evenig's other game, Brazilian provincial club Goias, already qualified for the last 16, lost their unbeaten record in a 1-0 away defeat to The Strongest at 3,600 metres above sea level in La Paz. Ronald Gutierrez fired home for the Bolivians in the 73rd minute as Goias conceded only their first goal of the group in their fifth outing. Goias lead Group Three with 10 points from five games while The Strongest are level on six with Chile's Union Espanola. Newell's Old Boys of Argentina are bottom with four. |
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