MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — It has become perhaps the most unexpected rivalry in the western hemisphere. This was originally supposed to be a piece dedicated to the achievements of Sport Club Internacional, the reigning Copa Libertadores champion. But what I witnessed here last Wednesday changed my mind.
Enter Club Nacional de Football, the most exciting team in South America at the moment. The Uruguayan outfit put on a remarkable display as it tore apart the champs 3-1 in both teams’ 2007 Libertadores openers.
Nacional may not have a reputation with most soccer fans around the world, but it has a strong one in South America. The club has won 41 league championships and three Libertadores titles, including a finals victory over Internacional in 1980.
But much like the Uruguayan national team, Nacional’s achievements are classified as prehistoric. It hasn’t had anything to cheer about in terms of international hardware since 1988, the last time any Uruguayan club won the Libertadores.
Despite all this, Uruguay’s two representatives in this year’s tournament are looking particularly strong — Defensor Sporting cruised past Argentina’s Gimnasia La Plata 3-0 in its group opener last week, too. Is this a sign that Uruguayan soccer is heading in the right direction?
The question is whether Nacional has what it takes to be a real contender. Most people will tell you that Uruguayan clubs can’t compete with the likes of Boca Juniors, River Plate, São Paulo, Internacional and Santos — the elite clubs of the continent. But based on their early form, the Tricolores have been the revelation of the competition so far, and could be poised to make history.
Earlier this week, winger Gonzalo Castro told me, “The win gives us the confidence to keep on going. Despite going a goal down, and with a man less, we were able to reverse the situation and win the match in the final 20 minutes.
“The result has had people talking,” he added. “It’s funny to see that all of a sudden we are considered as title contenders. This has done a lot of good for Uruguayan soccer in general, but we must keep on going as it is still early. Nacional has the ambition to return where it belongs.”
Taking down the defending champs is one way to prove it. Nacional knows it’s capable of beating the best clubs on the continent. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the heroics of Inter keeper Clemer, the Uruguayans could have won by a greater margin against the same side that defeated European champion Barcelona in the final of the Club World Cup last December.
But which is Nacional’s real face? Last Saturday the Tricolores followed up their victory with a 3-0 league thrashing at the hands of Uruguayan champion Danubio. They’ll need to recover from that defeat quickly in order to confront their biggest test yet: Vélez Sársfield, in Buenos Aires on Wednesday. How Nacional performs in that match will give us a better idea if it’s the real deal or not.
“It’s going to be an open match,” Castro said. “Vélez plays with an attacking incentive, so we will try to damage them on the counterattack and then look to close the result. I think we have enough quality to win the three points.”
If Castro sounds confident, he has reason to be: Nacional actually has made some decent noise in recent South American competitions. Last year it did fairly well in the Libertadores before being eliminated by Inter in the cruelest of circumstances.
Both clubs had already met twice in the group stage, and fate matched them up again in the knockout phase. In the second leg at the Beiro-Rio Stadium, Nacional should have gone through to the quarterfinals instead of the Brazilians, but had two clearly legitimate goals disallowed. Inter advanced on aggregate and went on to win the tournament.
Nacional also has experienced misfortune in the Copa Sudamerica. Last year it grabbed all the headlines after eliminating Argentina’s Boca Juniors in the round of 16. Boca was the overwhelming favorite after winning back-to-back titles but couldn’t get the better of the Uruguayans. Nacional was arguably the best team in the competition at that point but was eliminated because a number of players from its starting lineup — including Castro — were out with the mumps for the quarterfinals against Atlético Paranaense.
“We did well last year, but unfortunately couldn’t progress further because the situation was completely out of our control,” Castro recalled. “Hopefully this doesn’t repeat itself; we will do our best and see how far we can go [in the Libertadores].”
Will luck be on Nacional’s side this year? Maybe, but getting out of its group of death will be an achievement in itself. The win against Inter was crucial as the Tricolores look to reach the next phase; if they pull off wins in their next two home games, they should almost be assured of qualification.
One vital factor is the huge home support Nacional receives from its fans. Even the Inter fans who came here last week will tell you that for once, their players were intimidated. And Nacional wasn’t even playing at the 75,000-capacity Centenario Stadium, but at the much smaller Parque Central, site of the first World Cup game back in 1930.
But standing in Nacional’s way is a factor that has affected Uruguayan clubs in recent years: They’re forced to sell their best players in order to survive, and on many occasions during the decisive stages of continental competitions like the Copa Libertadores. If that’s the case this year, Nacional will be hard-pressed to win the trophy.
“Years ago, clubs didn’t have this problem,” Castro said. “The best players in the country played in the local competition. Now they play in Europe or Argentina, and the situation is just getting worse. I think the reason Nacional is doing well this season is because we have kept the basis of last year’s team.”
This current Nacional squad has the potential to put Uruguayan soccer back on the map. It has already shown it’s more than capable of mixing it with the best, and is well aware that a continental title is the key to winning back its respect. The next few weeks are crucial in determining whether it will be able to keep its Copa dream alive.
Gregory Sica
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