Copa Libertadores's just found its own Atlético de Madrid

   Granted, most attempts to decode South American football tactics using European standards are simplistic and unfair to South American squads and their managers. But the Emelec side of Argentine-born Bolivian boss Gustavo Quinteros -who is to take over the Ecuadorean national team for Copa América- has some significant resemblances with Simeone's Atlético de Madrid. Most notably, their compact 4-4-2 formation, their patient approach without the ball and their use of a Diego Costa type center-forward: Miller Bolaños. That should make Emelec a tough rival in this Copa Libertadores and even a potential dark horse.

Emelec, current monarchs of the Ecuadorean Serie A, have so far outfoxed Universidad de Chile in Santiago for the opening match of Group Four (0-1), and outplayed Bolivian club The Strongest (3-0) for matchday two at home (played in Manta city due to renewal works of their George Capwell Stadium in Guayaquil). As one can tell from the above image against the Chilean team, they hardly modify their 4-4-2 formation both in possession and without it.

What makes their strategic approach extraordinarily similar to that of Atlético de Madrid is the bonus feature that Quinteros can deploy either natural wingers or inverted wingers (Ángel Mena, being left-footed, played the first match on the right flank while the second one he operated on the left) depending on depth-or-width necessities. Just like Arda Turan or Saúl Ñíguez in current versions of Atleti. Arguably, playing U de Chile away was best suited for a patient counter-attacking stance in which the wingers could occupy the interior zones left vacated by Bolaños and Luis Escalada's horizontal movement (as the Bolaños-Mena combination for the winner goal confirmed). The opposite stance, wingers providing width, worked brilliantly against weaker opposition in Manta.

In both matches, however, Emelec recorded lower percentages of ball possession and lower rates of pass success. This may indicate a preference for a more direct transition game in the channels as Pedro Quiñónez and Osbaldo Lastra, the holding midfield duo, actually lack passing accuracy.

The embedded vine above shows Bolaños's opener against The Strongest. Within the frame, one can observe Luis Escaladas's great cross from the right, which in turn was enabled by Mauro Fernández motoring forward in a quick counterattack from a corner kick. Outside the frame, nonetheless, one can't observe Bolaños's cynical tackle at the birth of that attack, taking down his marker while the referee was focused on the other side of the pitch. That defines Bolaños: a smart striker whose pace and dribbling abilities can turn him into an electric winger whenever the flux of play makes it mandatory, and a ruthless finisher whose gamesmanship turns him into the quintessential South American forward.

With two solid victories in a row, this Copa Libertadores's Atlético de Madrid stand a good chance to make it to the next stage. The doubts, of course, rise when one remembers that Quinteros will soon depart to take the Ecuador job. This may sound bad news for Emelec (and they are indeed), but given Reynaldo Rueda's cagey tactics in the World Cup, these can be great news for incoming Copa América.

Corinthians 2-0 Sao Paulo: Cohesion versus separation

   In the Arena Corinthians the home side thoroughly overplayed their city rivals, Sao Paulo FC, by quick aggression attacking both from the outside (pushing with the full-backs Fabio Santos and Fagner), and from the inside, (surprising with box-to-box midfielder Elias). After the opener, the Timao soaked pressure up with the very same cohesion deployed at attack. Sao Paulo, on the other hand, showed themselves as quite disjointed a squad with three men (Luis Fabiano, Alan Kardec and Paulo Henrique Ganso) in charge of offending and the rest taking the brunt of defensive duties.

The Corinthians boss, Tite, chose what actually is a 4-3-3 formation: Renato Augusto (the launcher) and Elias (the runner) stuck close to Ralf (the protector) in midfield, while Danilo came on for suspended Peruvian central striker Paolo Guerrero, moving constantly away from the Sao Paulo center-backs. This latter vertical mobility proved crucial as Corinthians overloaded the center of the pitch and controlled the flux of play. The image that precedes these lines being a good example, Elias's gol was created from a nice combination between him and Danilo to surpass Denilson with the assistance of a great Jadson lobbed ball.

                    

The formation employed by Muricy Ramalho was a wingerless midfield diamond (4-3-1-2) in which Ganso performed the trequartista role, and both Luis Fabiano and Alan Kardec failed to move to the channels to provide the much-needed width given the lack of true wingers. In fairness to Ramalho, he could not use Alexandre Pato, a more versatile striker, since he's in loan from Corinthians, and could not use either Ricardo Centurión, the Argentine winger brought from Racing de Avellaneda, due to suspension. The problems for Sao Paulo, however, had more to do with their little cohesion rather than with some certain formation.

Until the Elias's opener eleven minutes from the start of the match, Corinthians pushed Fagner and Fabio Santos in support of Jadson and Emerson (who regularly cut in from the channels). As Denilson, Souza and Maicon were occupied with Elias and Renato Augusto, Corinthians caused one-two situations against the Sao Paulo full-backs almost by default. Even at those early stages Fabio Santos had shot twice against Rogerio Ceni's goal. As the Sao Paulo forward trio was almost totally oblivious to defending, Souza and Maicon faced this impossible dilemma: Should we track the Corinthians full-backs at expense of exposing the midfield, or should we stay in position at expense of exposing the flanks?

The midfielders of Sao Paulo tried to cover both the center and the flanks and, at the end, got caught by Danilo's false nine movement, Renato Augusto's fine passing and Elias' impressive work rate. Had they counted with some help from upfront, they could perhaps offer more in an attacking sense to exploit the space left behind the enemy full-backs. Instead, Corinthians have once again shown their cards as a cohesive squad that moves along the field as a unit but, more importantly, as a well-drilled machine that creates and exploits space from the inside and the outside.