Sudamericana semifinals

River Plate tied Defensor Sporting of Uruguay 0-0 and qualified for the Copa Sudamericana semifinals. River Plate will meet fellow Argentine side Arsenal in one half of the semis while Club America of Mexico will play Millonarios of Colombia in the other.

At this point, the final most people want to see is River Plate-America. Both sides are loaded with tradition and count on support from millions of fans across the globe. That final would be truly captivating. However, it probably won't happen. Too many things seem to go wrong against Mexican teams in South American competition. Still, Pachuca won this very tournament a year ago to break Mexico's duck in South American tournaments so if anything America has that to draw inspiration from.

A final of Arsenal-Millonarios might still be entertaining but it wouldn't draw nearly the same amount of attention as River-America.

River Plate seems like a team of destiny, at least in this tournament. Their Round of 16 match against Botafogo was one of the more thrilling finishes I've seen in a while. River were playing 9-on-10 and needed a goal to win the series. It seemed like it was all but over until Ariel Ortega hit a perfect cross to Radamel Falcao, who placed the header gently into the back of the net in stoppage time and River Plate won 4-2 and advanced on a 4-3 aggregate.