Boca Juniors must beat Vasco da Gama in Rio on Tuesday, October 20, to reach the Copa Sudamericana final, after losing the first leg of the semifinal 1-0 at La Bombonera on Tuesday night.
Adson headed in a cross from Andrés Gómez for Vasco in the first half. Gómez was sent off in the 64th minute for a second yellow card, and Boca then hit the crossbar through Lautaro Blanco and the post through Santiago Ascacibar without finding an equalizer. Gómez will miss the return leg. The defeat ended a 17-match unbeaten run. “It was not our best game,” coach Rodolfo Arruabarrena said. “We have a week to go to Brazil and look for qualification.”
A win by two goals sends Boca through to the final; a 1-0 win sends the tie to a penalty shootout. The winner plays the final on November 21 in Barranquilla, Colombia, against the winner of Atlético Mineiro and Montevideo City Torque, who meet in Brazil on Wednesday and in Uruguay on October 21. Boca was knocked out of the Copa Libertadores earlier this year by Chile’s Universidad Católica, so this tournament is its way back into a continental final.
Vasco cannot use its own stadium, São Januário, because it falls short of the 30,000 seats the South American football confederation, Conmebol, requires for this stage. It asked for the Maracanã, which a consortium of Rio rivals Flamengo and Fluminense runs, and the consortium went to court, citing a basketball game between Flamengo and Botafogo at the adjoining Maracanãzinho arena the same night.
A Rio court allowed the Maracanã on October 9 and suspended that order the next day. On Tuesday morning a judge restored it, and Vasco has since sold more than 45,000 tickets. The consortium filed a new appeal that day to block the use of the stadium. Conmebol has told Vasco and Brazil’s football confederation that the match would move to Asunción, Paraguay, if a new ruling bars the Maracanã, Brazilian broadcaster Sportv reported.
Kickoff is set for 9:30 p.m. Argentina time on October 20.