Delayed final a savage blow to Copa’s global dreams

This was the moment the Copa Libertadores had been waiting for. The moment when all the world would be watching and waiting.

Security forces stand guard as supporters of River Plate leave the Monumental stadium Source: AFP

But the emphasis has been on waiting rather than watching. The scoreline so far is 2-2 after the first leg. But the the real scoreline is 3-1. Three delays, one match. No matter when the second leg is played, if indeed it is played, we will have had more postponements than matches.

The saddest part for me and other lovers of South American football is that this was the final that, upon its confirmation as a Boca Juniors-River Plate play-off, was immediately flagged as the game-changer.

This was the day the stereotypes about football in Argentina - and in Latin America more broadly - were due to be smashed. The biggest club match staged outside Europe in football history. No hyperbole required.

Never before has a Copa Libertadores final garnered more international attention than a UEFA Champions League final, but this one went stride for stride with any of them.

Or at least, it could have. It should have. The first leg of this final was delayed by forces beyond the control of anybody. The monsoon-like torrent that drenched Buenos Aires put the city underwater.

But the second leg was delayed by far more sinister forces. Boca’s team bus was attacked on the way to the stadium, leaving captain Pablo Perez and midfielder Gonzalo Lamardo requiring hospitalisation, while tear gas from police forced Carlos Tevez to throw up.

Then came the predictably bureaucratic nightmare about whether the game should go ahead or not. Forces all pulled in various directions and hastily blamed the other. The seedy underbelly of football politics in South America surfaced in minutes.=

Frustratingly, those aforementioned stereotypes about football in the region are now all but confirmed. Unsafe. Chaotic. Disrespectful. Unorganised.  Unprofessional. Confirmation bias at its worst.

Admittedly, it will make for a staggeringly good documentary - Australia’s very own Eli Mengem is doing exactly that for Copa 90 and ESPN will probably unleash a killer 30 for 30 - but beyond we diehards, it is a missed opportunity.

After the second postponement this morning, we don’t even known when the second leg will be played. Heck, officials from the two clubs have to go to another country (Paraguay, where CONMEBOL calls home) just to thrash out the coming arrangements on Wednesday. Mengem has even speculated the second leg may not go ahead. Shockingly, he may be right.

Much of the world’s football media has descended on Buenos Aires and have been busily tut-tutting everyone involved: the fans, the clubs, the police, the security forces, the confederation. Even FIFA has been thumbed - an allegation has been lodged that Gianni Infantino vigorously encouraged the game be played, despite the chaos the Boca team suffered en route to the stadium.

But rather than joining the steel-capped chorus, I think it’s worth taking a look at this from another angle.

Asia may not be a traditional football market globally speaking but it is football-hungry - and going forward, the Libertadores should aim to find a place in the morning television time slots (anyone who doesn’t believe in the power of breakfast-football correlation should check out the staggering success of the English Premier League in the USA).

At SBS, the decision was made to broadcast the Libertadores from the quarter-finals onwards. Testing the waters of interest, as much as anything. But what a reaction. Some things in life just work: top class football on free-to-air, in HD, is clearly one of them.

One can only apologise to those thousands who woke up, twice, expecting the climax to an epic battle.

Alas, that is the point that has been missed in all of this debate about who-did-wrong-and-why over the past 48 hours. How incredible was that first leg? It exceeded the hype - which was already off the charts. This column was meant to be dissect the second leg. Like you, I couldn’t wait for it.

South American football is undoubtedly a fabulous product, one that deserves a much greater audience than it currently receives. It is a genuine alternative to Europe in terms of on-field quality and probably delivers even more off it. I still believe it has enormous untapped potential.

But this weekend has highlighted where it still falls short. Whilst we all love it for being rough around the edges, it feels as though these past few days have reminded us of just how far there is go.