Opinion – Sandro Macedo: Hey, Conmebol, come back to the final in two games

It is necessary to start this column with an obvious statement, but forgotten from time to time (almost always) by those who run football: South America is not Europe.

Yes, we all wanted a Premier League to call our own; who wouldn’t like to watch games with full stadiums, on perfect pitches, and have an organized schedule? Yes, the Champions League is practically one World Cup a year, especially when it reaches the decisive stage. For some it is even better than the Cup. After all, at the Worlds there is no Pep Guardiola or Jürgen Klopp, there is no Haaland or Salah. It’s the crème de la crème. Today’s kids ask for shirts from European clubs more than from the national team.

That said, Conmebol should only copy the good part of the Champions League, such as having an organized calendar, demanding good pitches, reprimanding racist and violent fans, etc.

All this to say that the one-game final for the South Americans doesn’t make any sense. Conmebol needs to get back to the format of the decision in home and away games, the delicious knockout. It is hard to believe that the poor South American fans will move easily and fill stadiums anywhere on the continent.

Without going into the sporting merits of the Copa Sudamericana decision, it was shameful to see the Mario Kempes stadium, in Córdoba (Argentina), with less than a quarter of its capacity occupied. And look, São Paulo had the decision, a team whose fans bought the competition and filled Morumbi in the knockout stage.

Some game card had more than 24,000 people in an arena with a capacity of 57,000 — this is the information that appears on Wikipedia, for example. But the number looks made up. The São Paulo people did their part, there were about 10,000. Del Valle, who would be entitled to 14,000 tickets, said something like “no, no, we only need 1,500”. And the rest? Hardly the total audience exceeded 15 thousand paying.

Conmebol should have held raffles during the week in the Argentine city, something like: “Hey, you who are passing on the street, say a number from 1 to 10… You won the ticket! Take a pair, soon”.

And look, Córdoba loves football. Days after the Sudamericana final, the same stadium hosted a game by Talleres, threatened with relegation, and another game by the intrepid Belgrano, champion of the access division – both with a full stadium.

São Paulo’s game is just the icing on the mico’s cake. Something similar had already happened in the final of last year, in Montevideo, between Athletico-PR and Red Bull Bragantino.

With Libertadores the situation is better, but far from ideal. Flamengo and River Plate failed to reach the maximum capacity of 80,000 people at the Monumental Stadium in Lima in 2019 – then we had a final with a very small audience due to Covid.

And there’s the South American way, which goes hand in hand with the Brazilian way: tickets are very expensive, air packages also gain a new price during the final period, all to make life difficult for those who want to see the decision.

Last year, when Palmeiras did not fill their sector against Flamengo, legend has it that it was cheaper to go to Europe than to Montevideo in the week of the Libertadores final.

Not to mention that the place of decision is never guaranteed. The Sul-Americana should have been in Brasília, but the CBF asked to change the venue due to the Lula x Bolsonaro final (first leg, the second leg is still to be played). And Libertadores? Until the other day Guayaquil, Ecuador, was still threatened with losing the chance to host the game. Conmebol would be concerned about security (hahahaha) and the low demand for tickets – which are between US$ 142 (R$ 738) and US$ 245 (about R$ 1,274).

We need to go back to the final in two games, as it has always been on the mainland. It’s our tradition. In fact, if it had been a round-trip decision, maybe São Paulo would have had better luck, even with the final match in Ecuador. At the very least, it would guarantee a full Morumbi on the way out and 10,000 excited fans on the way back.