[Guest]

The Mercorte 2000 will start on Tuesday when Nacional take on Venezolean Estudiantes de Merida in Quito, Ecuador.
The competition is possibly the second most important event in South and Central America behind the Libertadores Cup and is a chance for the better clubs of Peru, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico to show.

However there is a tinge of anticipation in the air as some clubs will be in the tournament for the first time and CONCACAF must be worried as to how Costa Rican side Alajualense will face against the likes of the established teams like Colombia's Millonarios and Peruvian's Alianza de Lima.

Mexican clubs Pachuca, Necaxa, Guadalajara and champion Toluca are the newcomers but the other teams will be cautious of those sides considering Atlas and America managed to reach the semi-finals in the Libertadores last month.

The teams will play in four groups as follows.

Group A
America de Cali (Colombia)
Nacional (Ecuador)
Guadalajara (Mexico)
Estudiantes de Mérida (Venezuela)

Group B
Alajuelense (Costa Rica)
Necaxa (Mexico)
Atletico Nacional (Colombia)
Alianza Lima (Peru)

Group C
Toluca (Mexico)
Millonarios (Colombia)
Barcelona (Ecuador)
Universitario de Deportes (Peru)

Group D
Oriente Petrolero (Bolivia)
Pachuca (Mexico)
Emelec (Ecuador)
Sporting Cristal (Peru)

 

[Guest]

DRIVER could you possibly comment on the STRENGTH on the TEAMS that participate in the tournaments ??

 

[Guest]

I don't know about the south american teams,but I'll tell you that Alajuelense is not a "easy team".There is a reason
that they were invited and it is because they are the best in central america.Alajuelense is very well on the level of the best mexican teams.As a prove is that they beat champion toluca last year in the concacaf finals and lost 2-1 against nexaca in the final.So I think that this will be a tough tournament with no small teams