Corinthians Reclaim Their Crown; Internacional Impress On Debut

The Copa Libertadores Femenina–the premier women’s club football tournament in South America–was held in Colombia in its typical centralized format this year. 16 of the continent’s best teams including at least one representative for each nation did battle over the last three weeks to decide this year’s champion, and it is all settled now.

Group Stage

There was a decent amount of drama right from the group stage, where the contestants were divided into four groups of four with no two teams from the same nation drawn against each other to start with.

As expected, defending champions Palmeiras eased through Group A with three wins from three. They thrashed Ecuadorian champions Barcelona and their Venezuelan counterparts Caracas 5-0 and 6-0 respectively to seal progression to the knockouts within two matches, before getting pushed to the limit in a 4-3 victory against runners-up Atlético Nacional.

Group B had more of a three-way fight for the top two spots as just three points separated winners Universidad de Chile and third-placed Independiente Santa Fe. The decisive result, then, happened to come on the opening day when would-be runners-up Olimpia beat the Colombian side thanks to a 75th-minute winner, ultimately finishing a couple of points above them.

Group C was more straightforward as Brazilian champions Corinthians won it with a perfect record of 12 goals scored and none conceded. The only team that came close to matching them were would-be runners-up Colo Colo of Chile, who only lost by a lone goal in their opening fixture before going on to beat both Libertad/Limpeño of Paraguay and Bolivian champions Always Ready.

Group D was the one that produced the biggest headlines. Debutantes Internacional won both of their first two matches to secure a knockout spot before going on to make quite a statement by thrashing last year’s runners-up Boca Juniors 5-0 on the final day, denting their goal difference so much so that they finished behind América de Cali and missed out on the knockouts.

Brazilian Domination Continues in Knockouts

The quarterfinal bracket was set once the group stage concluded. As all Brazilian representatives topped their groups, three of the first four matches featured a team from the Brasileirão and the title looked almost certain to land in one of their hands.

The quarterfinal results solidified that prediction. Palmeiras put six past Olimpia, Corinthians cruised past América de Cali with a four-goal triumph and Internacional beat Colo Colo 4-2. The only non-Brazilian tie saw Universidad de Chile go down 1-2 to Atlético Nacional, who would not even have qualified if the tournament had not been held in Colombia.

They took on Palmeiras again in the first semifinal, where they were rather outmatched in a decisive 3-1 defeat. In the all-Brazilian tie, Internacional nearly caused an upset as they were a goal to the good well into the second half, but then a red card and late equalizer took the game to a penalty shootout where they eventually just fell short.

Before the final, we had a third-place playoff where Internacional had the opportunity to round off their debut campaign with a position on the podium at least, but they went down in an entertaining 3-2 match against hosts Atlético Nacional.

So, the winners of the last editions squared off in what was just the second all-Brazilian Libertadores final even though 11 of the previous 14 tournaments had been won by a club from the country. Corinthians edged out a one-goal win in a very hard-fought match to reclaim the continental crown to go with their domestic title, continuing the very successful era they are enjoying under now (also) Brazil head coach Arthur Elias.