The two strongest teams in the South American world will meet home and away to win the title of the strongest club on the continent. A fascinating challenge: Let’s discover the previews and secrets.
Recopa Sudamericana 2024, Ecuador vs Brazil
Quito and Fluminense Liga Deportiva Universitaria will compete at home and away to win the Recopa Sudamericano. South American World European Super Cup. This cup, now in its 32nd edition, is played as an introduction to the club season, just like the Super Cup on our continent: In South America, the championships start in March, which is the end of summer in the southern hemisphere of the planet.
Recopa Sudamerica pits the winners of the Copa Libertadores, won by Fluminense against Boca Juniors of Argentina on November 4, 2023, and the Copa Sudamericano, won by LDU Quito against Fortaleza of Brazil last October 28. The first match will be played on Ecuadorian soilOn February 22 at 19.30 (in Italy the time will be midnight on February 23), in front of 55,000 spectators at the Rodrigo Paz Delgado stadium in Quito.
Recopa Sudamericana 2024: finals
The return is scheduled for 29 February in Rio de Janeiro, in the hellish basin of the Maracanà stadium, with 80,000 seats: kick-off at 21.30 local time, i.e. 00.30 March 1 in Italy. precedents among them Liga de Quito and Fluminense are numerous and full of pity: The two teams have faced each other eight times in total; The Brazilian team had four wins, the Ecuadorian team had three wins and one draw.
However, there is a fact that will tip the balance in favor of LDU Quito in terms of predictions on paper. In the previous two matches where the teams met in the final (2008 Copa Libertadores and 2009 Copa Sudamericano) Ecuadorians always prevailed. In the case of the 2008 Libertadores, it was also a historic success; It was the first victory by a club from Ecuador in the South American continent’s most prestigious club competition.
There is still a player from that legendary team who will take part in the Recopa Sudamericano 2024 final. Captain Alexandre “Dida” Dominguez. Dominguez, who played 292 matches for LDU Quito’s white jersey, was only twenty-one years old and was in the squad as a reserve goalkeeper, but this time he will be on the field as a starter.
How do teams reach the Recopa final?
Fluminense has already started its regular season. Carioca leads the championshipRio De Janeiro State’s competition, played between January 7 and April 17, has 6 wins and 3 draws, three points ahead of Flamengo (but with one game less). In the last game away against Madureira, he came on the field with a team full of substitutes and narrowly headed home a 1-0 lead, but it still served to keep his concentration high heading into the Recopa final.
On the other side LDU Quito still in preparation phase and played eight friendlies in three weeks, all periods of thirty minutes; This choice will definitely not help the Ecuadorians who came to the Fluminense match without having played even a ninety-minute match in the last three months. minute.
Moreover, Fernando Diniz has been on the Fluminense bench since 2022Considered one of the most interesting of Brazilian football coaches, Josep Alcacer is a young Spanish coach who has his first real experience as a coach of an elite club and, moreover, will not be able to follow the final of the Recopa Sudamericana from the 19th century. He is on the bench because he does not have the required Conmebol license.
In short, the Brazilian team starts as a clear favorite thanks to a squad it can trust. mix of experience and talent Created by former senators such as former Real Madrid Marcelo and former Juve and Fiorentina Felipe Meloalong with young people like twenty-one-year-old John Kennedy and seventeen-year-old Kaua Elías.
LDU Quito saw its replacement arrive just two days ago Alex Arce, twenty-eight-year-old Paraguayan striker Last year, he scored 26 goals in 32 games with Argentine side Independiente Rivadavia, who won promotion to Argentina’s top league, the Primera Division, after beating domestic B series Primera Nacional.
Most of the hopes for the Ecuadorians’ season revolve around him They lost the Paulo Guerrero totemThe 40-year-old decided to return to his native Peru last season to play for Trujillo-based club Cesar Vallejo.
On the paper, In short, the fight on the Brazilian front is very unbalanced.As far as prediction is concerned, however, all remains to be seen; The Recopa Sudamericana is used to big surprises and the Ecuadorians have been on their side in the previous two finals. Colombian Andrè Rojas officiates the first match: Nice final!
