Ha, finally got around to doing a Boca Juniors post.  I missed the 1st quarter of the Cavs-Spurs Game 1 tonight because I was eating dinner (skirt steak, of course) at a Colombian restaurant with the GF, watching the Boca Juniors-Cucuta Copa Libertadores semi-final game. 

Boca Juniors is one of Argentina's premier soccer clubs; Cucuta is the representative of Colombia in this tournament, which is South America's premier tournament for local clubs (and recently Mexican clubs have been participating, too).  I watched the game at the Colombian restaurant in my neighborhood because, um, it was cheaper than the Argentinean one.  I also passed on the opportunity to watch the game at the Boca Juniors restaurant in Queens (yes, there is a restaurant not only dedicated to Boca, but named after it, in Queens, and it has great food).  I wanted to stay close to home, so I could go home and watch the Cavs-Spurs game.

The game was played at La Bombonera, Boca's home stadium which is well known for its intimidation-ness.  Raiders fans ain't sh*t.  Add in some crazy foggy conditions straight out of the Thriller video.  For most of the 1st half I just figured the fog was smoke from something on fire in the stadium, perhaps the stadium itself.  

Juan Riquelme scored a beautiful goal late in the 1st half to give Boca the 1-0 lead.  Early in the second half, Martin Palermo scored a goal to make it a comfortable 2-0 lead; the scoring was finished when some dude named Sebastian Battaglia scored off a great Riquelme corner kick (I don't know that much about soccer, but I do know this - Riquelme is the most dangerous guy on a corner kick this side of Beckham).  That third goal was huge... because Boca had lost 3-1 against Cucuta in the first game of this two-leg series, Boca had to make up the deficit.

With the 3-0 victory, Boca advances to the Finals against Gremio (Brazil) in a two-leg battle.  It always comes down to Argentina versus Brazil.  Boca has won this tournament 5 times in the past already, include 3 times this decade (2000, 2001, 2003).   This is also their fifth appearance in the Finals in the last 7 years (they lost in 2004). 

Argentina club Independiente holds the record, having won the title 7 times.  Argentine clubs have won 20 times overall, versus 13 for Brazil (most in the last two decades), 8 for Uruguay, three for Paraguay, two for Colombia, and one for Chile.

Other general Argentina soccer news:

• The Argentina league title is almost decided, with two games left for most teams.  San Lorenzo has a four point lead over second place Boca Juniors (39-35).  If they win this Sunday (3:10 game), they clinch the title.  The good news for Boca is that San Lorenzo's game is against fourth place Arsenal de Sarandi.  We'll keep an eye on this over the weekend.

• On Tuesday the National team defeated Algeria 4-3 in a friendly that featured two big goals from wunderkid Lionel Messi, as well as one from Carlos Tevez.  See the YouTube footage below

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