Jorge Sampaoli’s Universidad de Chile extended their unbeaten run to an astonishing 35 matches last week as they beat LDU de Quito of Ecuador to lift the Copa Sudamericana, the club’s first ever continental crown. The final was, for only the second time in the competition’s 10-year history, notable in the absence of a finalist from either of South America’s traditional big hitters, Argentina and Brazil; with Velez Sarsfield (Argentina) and Vasco da Gama (Brazil) both having exited at the semi-final stage.
It has since been mooted that we may be seeing the beginnings of a power shift in South American football, with the gap between the big two and the rest decreasing. It’s an argument that’s tough to quantify, with each variable inherently leading us to another. Of the last 16 in this year’s Sudamericana, half of the club’s were from Brazil and Argentina (4 from each nation) due to the increasingly convoluted format of the competition, but only three progressed to the quarter-finals.
The Sudamericana in itself, however, seems an inappropriate yardstick - not least because the competition is given vastly differing levels of significance by its competitors. Vasco elected to play mainly reserve sides away from home in the competition, prioritizing a bigger prize in the form of their domestic league title. Thanks to the archaic state championships that run for four months of the year in Brazil, leaving the nation’s biggest clubs mainly turning out against part-timers, the Brazilian domestic league squeezes 38 rounds into just seven months. That left Vasco facing seven games in 24 days whilst attempting to negotiate their way past Bolivian club Aurora in the quarters.
Both Velez and Vasco were quite clearly prioritizing their leagues. Despite Boca Juniors having all but sealed the title by the halfway stage of Argentina’s Apertura, Velez coach Ricardo Gareca was still certain as to where his priorities lay. “We have to see how we end the local championship,” he said following his side’s quarter final first leg, “and then see if we can move forward in the Copa Sudamericana.”
“To me, [the Sudamericana] will school us for the Libertadores” said Vasco’s Dede. The Libertadores is now number one on every South American club’s list of priorities, so it perhaps provides a better measurement of the disparity between the ten CONMEBOL nations. Historically, the dominance of Brazil and Argentina over the Libertadores is plain to see. Of the eight clubs to have lifted the trophy more than three times, five are Argentinian or Brazilian. This year’s was the 52nd edition of the competition, 37 of those are split between the Brazil and Argentina. You have to go back 20 years to the last final that wasn’t contested by a club from either nation, when Colo Colo grabbed Chile’s first and only ever Libertadores crown by beating Olimpia of Parguay.
This year, however, Brazil and Argentina had just one team each at the quarter final stage after the Brazilian clubs’ dreams of the Libertadores title were shattered in what the media dubbed ‘Black Wednesday’. Five of its six clubs would crash out at the round of 16 despite the Brazilian league being at its strongest in decades. The eternal ‘nation of tomorrow’ is in the midst of an economic boom, with government figures estimating that over 30 million people have joined Brazil’s middle classes in the last 10 years. That’s a lot of added disposable incomes, and the leading corporations have taken notice, plunging money into huge sponsorship deals that have aided the returns of the likes of Ronaldinho, Luis Fabiano, Fred and Deco whilst also proving enough to keep youngsters such as Neymar and Lucas Moura at home that little while longer.
It’s possible, though, to read too much into that. Brazilian clubs were probably showed up for being naïve as opposed to any discernable lack of quality, as the most common failing amongst the clubs to fall was an inability to deal with counter-attacking opposition that utilized wide forwards, restricting the forward movement of Brazilian full-backs, and one of two missed enough chances to win three matches. Though one of football’s great tactical innovators, Brazil can be an insular nation, and its clubs will have to be a little more streetwise if they wish to exert any real dominance over the rest of the continent next year.
Unlike Brazil, Argentina does have cause for concern. The short tournament system has undoubtedly spread a culture of short-termism throughout Argentinian soccer, and it is no surprise that Velez - the league's most practically run club - has been its standout performer over the last two years, twice lifting the league title and reaching the semi-finals of both continental competitions.
The emergence of this year’s Sudamericana finalists, 'La U', most likely the continent’s best team at present, and LDU, a club that has written its entire continental history in the last four years, are perhaps more aptly described as variants as opposed to examples of something representative of a major power shift; as are Penarol of Uruguay, deserved Libertadores finalists this year.
Successful clubs anywhere in South America are habitually disbanded as soon as success arrives, with the allure of the increased wage and status offered by a big move too much to turn down. Penarol have since lost coach Diego Aguirre to the Middle East and star forward Alejandro Martinuccio headed to Brazil to join Fluminense. LDU quickly lost Jairo Campos to Brazil, Claudio Bieler to Argentina, and Damian Manso to Mexico following its 2008 Libertadores triumph; La U has already lost its star forward, Eduardo Vargas, who sealed a move to Napoli in Italy’s Serie A less than a week after firing his side to the Sudamericana title.
Player movement at such a rate undoubtedly makes it more difficult for those outside of Brazil and Argentina to compete long term; despite lacking financial muscle, Argentina is well established as a major shop window to Europe and continues to attract players from around the Americas. According to the Professional Footballer Observatory’s 2011 player migration report, Brazil exported 283 players 2010, Argentina 215; of the other CONMEBOL nations, only Colombia and Paraguay made the top 20 (with 71 and 43, respectively).
Other clubs from around the continent will continue to compete, and likely make major impacts on South American competitions, but, for now, it seems Argentina and Brazil will, collectively at least, continue to sit above the rest. If the disparity between domestic leagues is increasing anywhere, then the most striking example is likely Brazil’s continual strides ahead of Argentina.
