Santos: to change Brazil's image in the Libertadores Cup

By Márcio Kroehn_247 – Santos and Peñarol begin their battle for the Copa Libertadores title this Wednesday, the 15th, in Uruguay. The 52nd edition of the continental tournament could be the year of Santos' third title or the Uruguayans' sixth. In 1962, Peñarol was also seeking its third title and faced Santos in the final of the competition. But the Brazilian team interrupted the Uruguayans' winning streak, as they had won in the two previous years. That year, Santos won 2-1 at the Centenario stadium in Montevideo and lost 3-2 at Vila Belmiro, in a game marred by the referee's decision not to recognize Santos' equalizing goal in the official match report. This blunder necessitated a tie-breaker match on neutral ground. And in Buenos Aires, Pelé scored twice, and the Uruguayan goal sealed the 3-0 victory and the first continental title for Brazilian football.

In this match, Santos will take the field with a less than favorable history for Brazilian teams. In the Libertadores Cup, Brazil has the lowest success rate among the three main countries that dominate the competition. In 30 finals played, Argentinians won 73% of the titles (22 to 8). Uruguayans reached 15 finals and took home 53% of the trophies (8 to 7). But Brazilians, who reached 29 finals (27 against foreign teams), only won 48% of the tournaments (14 to 15). In the last decade, national teams reached eight finals, but only celebrated three titles. And, of those three victories, two finals were between Brazilian teams: São Paulo and Atlético-PR, in 2005; and Internacional and São Paulo, in 2006. Therefore, only Internacional, last year, beat a foreign team, the Mexican team Guadalajara, which guarantees a very low average of 16% in matches against international teams.

To further complicate matters for Santos fans, the first decisive match is unfavorable to the Brazilians. They have nine wins, six draws, and 10 losses against foreign teams. But, amidst all this poor record, Santos fans have one reason to celebrate. Of those nine victories, the team's second championship win came with a victory in the first leg: in 1962, against Peñarol (2-1); and in 1963, against Boca Juniors (3-2).

Despite fears about ash from the Puyehue volcano, Santos landed in Montevideo early Tuesday afternoon. Speculation suggested the match might be postponed by CONMEBOL or that Santos would have to travel from Porto Alegre to the Uruguayan capital by bus. That wasn't necessary. Muricy Ramalho's team is already facing the noisy Peñarol fans at the hotel, who promise to give the Brazilian players no peace. This is yet another obstacle in their quest for a third championship.