Conmebol Sudamericana: Oriente shares group with Fluminense

 The Conmebol Sudamericana draw left us in group H where we will face Junior Club SA, Club Atlético Unión and Fluminense Football Club.

We are going to Colombia 🇨🇴, Argentina 🇦🇷🇷 and Brazil 🇧🇷.

Conmebol Sudamericana 2022: Oriente Petrolero 3 - 0 Royal Pari

 The refineries won with goals by Facundo Suárez (64' and 83') and Leandro Zazpe (94'). They secured their place in the group stage of the Cup. The aggregate score was 6-2, as the first leg favored the albiverdes by 3-2.

Oriente Petrolero is the first Bolivian team to qualify for the group stage of the Copa Sudamericana. The albiverdes defeated Royal Pari 3-0 on Tuesday in the second leg at the Tahuichi Aguilera stadium.

On aggregate, the refineries won the first phase by 6-2, as the first leg, played on March 8, was won by 3-2.

Argentine Facundo Suárez stood out with his two goals (64' and 83'), demonstrating effectiveness. Uruguayan defender Leandro Zazpe sealed the victory four minutes into stoppage time (90+4).

The first half was not very colorful due to the footballing expression developed by both teams. It had some additions such as the duel between the Álvarez brothers. Sebastián is a central defender for Oriente and Gilbert is an attacker for Royal Pari. 

In addition, Julio César Baldivieso made a forced change in defense after 26 minutes due to the injury of the Ecuadorian Roberto Luzárraga. He was replaced by Jeferson Virreira.

The second half was more lively. Erwin 'Platiní' Sánchez changed parts of the midfield and attack to strengthen sectors that were weak in the first half. Juan Mercado, Miguel Ríos, Jamir Berdecio and Hugo Rojas came on.

The changes paid off. Oriente showed another facet, perhaps the one that was not seen in the first half or in Saturday's 1-2 loss to Blooming in the sixth round of the Apertura Professional Division tournament.

In this period, the dynamic Ronaldo Sanchez, who was the one who gave the pass to Suarez, was decisive. With a quick hook to the edge of the area, he stopped almost the entire backline and with an accurate shot he opened the scoring at 64'.

In that period, Suárez's best offensive version was seen. He had company in attack and his partner was Hugo Rojas, who in the 83rd minute overflowed on the right, leaving Marvin Bejarano in the way, and near the end line was able to send a cross back to the scorer of the day who scored the second goal.

The game was settled, although Royal Pari had a couple of chances to score. The clearest was a one-on-one from striker Miguel Murillo with Wilson Quiñónez, who was able to cut off the shot in time.

Oriente was on fire in the final stretch. This attitude allowed them to score the third with four minutes of stoppage time (90+4). Carlos Roca's cross was headed in by Zazpe, who beat Virreira to the ball.

With the 3-0 scoreline, Oriente celebrated an emphatic qualification on aggregate.

Santa Cruz Clasico: Oriente Petrolero 1 - 2 Blooming

 Brazilian Jefferson Tavares scored the winning goal on Saturday at 93'. The other Celeste goal was scored by Arismendi ('7). Dorrego (73') scored for the refineries, who will have the chance to make amends on Tuesday when they face Royal Pari in the Copa Sudamericana. 

The first official Santa Cruz derby of the year went to Blooming. The Santa Cruz academy won 2-1 in the sixth match of the Apertura tournament. 

Brazilian Jefferson Tavares was the Celeste hero, scoring the winning goal three minutes into stoppage time and it looked like the game would end in a draw.

The team coached by Chilean Rodrigo Venegas reached the top of Group B with this victory. They are now three points ahead of Bolívar, who will face The Strongest on Monday.

Erwin Sanchez had to chew on the defeat and had to leave the field after 66 minutes because he was sent off. 

The DT of the refineries started with an alternate team in order to take care of the starters, although most of them started as substitutes, because next Tuesday they have the revenge match against Royal Pari in the Copa Sudamericana. In that match the qualification to the group stage is at stake.

On the other hand, Venegas gave everything he had. Blooming had 17 brilliant minutes in the first half. In this period they made a difference in the game by virtue of the attitude they imposed against an opponent that at the beginning was imprecise, especially in defense.

Fernando Arismendi's goal after 7 minutes was a reflection of what was happening on the field. Rafinha's free kick to the far post; Abraham Cabrera pivoted and brought the ball down for the Uruguayan striker to open the scoring.

Oriente had a hard time at that moment. Even at 17' they could have conceded a second goal. Tavares was not able to score a goal, after a great pass from Rafinha.

A minute later, the history of the match changed. The goal missed by Ferdy Roca after an assist from full-back Samuel Guzmán was a sign of the refinery's reaction, which in the 36th minute generated the clearest goal when Roca headed again and his shot ended up in the hands of goalkeeper Wilson Quiñónez.

In the second half, 'Platiní' Sanchez was forced to put on the starters in order to pull out the game. Hugo Dorrego, Alexis Ribera and Facundo Suárez came on. The changes were noticeable in the Albiverde game because they had more of the ball and grew in dynamics.

Blooming slowed down in this stretch. The wear and tear began to take its toll, although it never gave up. Venegas had to make changes to refresh his team. Clody Menacho, Paúl Arano and Darlan Noronha came on.

Oriente's best moment came when Dorrego scored the equalizer at 73' thanks to an assist from Facundo Suárez.

The 1-1 draw was emotional, especially for the albiverdes fans, who enjoyed the Argentine striker's goal and suffered in the final minutes when Junior Sánchez gave a masterful pass to Taváres, who, in front of Uraezaña, scored with the serenity and effectiveness of an experienced striker.

Oriente Petrolero-Blooming, a duel between two archrivals seeking the summit

 The match, which corresponds to the sixth date of the Apertura tournament, will be played this Saturday from 20:00 at the Tahuichi Aguilera stadium. At 15:00 two matches will be played: Palmaflor-FC Universitario and Real Santa Cruz-Always Ready.

The stellar match of the three that will be played this Saturday for the sixth date of the Apertura tournament is the one between Oriente Petrolero and Blooming at the Tahuichi Aguilera stadium at 20:00.

Both teams will face this match not only with the objective of defeating their old rival but also to reach the top of their respective groups.

Oriente is third in 'A' with nine points, two less than the leader, The Strongest. If they win, they have a chance of reaching the top.

Blooming shares the lead with Bolívar in Group B. Both have 10 points. A win could consolidate the sky-blue team in their series.

 Erwin 'Platiní' Sánchez has no casualties to face this match. The DT of the refineries said that he will keep the same game plan that the team has used in the last five home and away games, so he expects his players to ratify the good moment they are going through with a victory.

Rodrigo Venegas has only one absentee, midfielder Julio Herrera. The candidates to replace him are Juan Ferrufino and Rafinha. The academy's coach is satisfied with the performance of his players in the Apertura, as he values their sustained play and especially their attitude.

The match will be refereed by Ivo Méndez from Santa Cruz.

Probable line-ups

Oriente Petrolero: Wilson Quiñónez; Maximiliano Caire, Marcelo Suárez, Sebastián Álvarez, Ayrton Paz; Daniel Rojas, Juan Mercado, Ronaldo Sánchez, Hugo Dorrego; Facundo Suárez and Ferdy Roca.

Blooming: Braulio Uraezaña; Jesús Sagredo, Abraham Cabrera, Nahuel Iribarren, Santos Navarro; Richard Spenhay, Juan Ferrufino, Junior Sánchez, Pablo Luján; Jefferson Tavares and Rafinha.

Saturday's matchday

Two other matches will also be played this Saturday. Both will start at 15:00. At the Colcapirhua stadium, Pamaflor-FC Universitario will face each other. At the albo stadium, Real Santa Cruz and Always Ready will play against each other.

Oriente Petrolero - History Part 2

 It obtained its greatest international achievement in 1988

In 1972 Oriente made its debut in the Copa Libertadores de América. Their first international match was against América de Quito, in Santa Cruz on March 12, 1972, at the then Willy Bendeck stadium. They won 4-2 with three goals by Luisinho and one by Dedé. From then on, Oriente participated in the 1973, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1980, 1985, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1991, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2003 versions and in the preliminary versions of 2005 and 2006.

There is no doubt that its greatest glory came in 1988 when it faced Bolívar, Olimpia and Cerro Porteño of Paraguay, reached the second phase in an impeccable manner, eliminated Colo Colo of Chile and reached the third phase (a merit shared only with Bolívar in the case of Bolivian teams), facing América of Colombia, with whom it tied in Santa Cruz to one goal and lost by 2 to 0 in Cali. In that team there were players of the talent of Víctor Hugo Antelo, Alves, Amodeo, or Da Silva.

But Oriente did not stop there. In 2000 they represented Bolivia in the now defunct Merconorte Cup and in 2002 and 2010 in the Copa Sudamericana.

In a nutshell

The name, the jersey and a curiosity. I always thought that Oriente should change its name. Stop being called Oriente Petrolero and just keep the name Oriente. First, because it has nothing to do with YPFB. Second, because any self-respecting Oriente fan just calls it that: Oriente, the fan is orientista, not orientepetrolerista, and because the word, for obvious reasons, has a great symbolic meaning. The curiosity: Why, being a team of tradition like River, Boca, Peñarol, Nacional, Olimpia, Cerro, Flamengo, Fluminense, Colo Colo, U de Chile, Alianza or Universitario, to give a few examples, does not maintain a single jersey? In any case, it would be a great challenge for some club historian to make a tally of all the different jerseys that Oriente has worn throughout its history. It must be a world record that is not without its appeal and anecdotal side. In any case, it is time that our teams, when remembering their glories, do not refer only to the Liga, because for some, like Oriente, the Liga is too small for the size of their past.

A player. If I may make a value judgment, I believe that Erwin "Chichi" Romero has been the greatest crack of Bolivian and Santa Cruz soccer, hand in hand with Diablo Etcheverry, it is true, but personally I prefer Romero over Marco Antonio and Víctor Agustín Ugarte. Romero would be for me the emblematic figure of the Oriente team, despite his time with several national teams and Quilmes of Argentina.

Facts and figures

Since the creation of the Aerosur Cup, Oriente has won the 2003 and 2005 titles. In addition to second place in 2007

19 titles in the showcases

Thus, Oriente has 19 titles, 4 in the Santa Cruz amateurism, 7 in the Santa Cruz professionalism, 1 national title in the Simón Bolívar Cup, 5 national titles in the League and 2 in the Aerosur Cup. It ranks fourth in number of titles won after Bolívar (34), The Strongest (29) and Wilstermann (23), but with the difference that Strongest was founded in 1908, Bolívar in 1925 and Wilstermann in 1949. The La Paz teams in particular have either twice or almost twice as many years of existence as Oriente, which, especially in the case of Strongest, enabled them to win numerous amateur titles in La Paz in the first half of the 20th century.

With fifteen participations in the Libertadores, plus two in the preliminary phase, one in the Merconorte and two in the Sudamericana, it is, after Bolivar, the Bolivian team with the most international appearances in our history.

Oriente Petrolero - History

 Amateurism was born in Santa Cruz in 1917, a long ninety-three years ago and its first champion was Franco, being the runner-up the team called Mundial. Oriente Petrolero was born as a club -in the context of the Bolivian oil boom and the importance of Santa Cruz for YPFB's production- together with other "petroleros" such as Chaco Petrolero in La Paz, Petrolero in Cochabamba and Oeste Petrolero in Sucre. Its birth certificate dates back to November 5, 1955 by the hand of its first president Mr. Elmer Saucedo, fifty-five years ago. There is no doubt that of the saga of the 'petrolero' teams in Bolivia, Oriente is by far the most successful.

Once promoted to the first division of Santa Cruz soccer in 1957, it began its brilliant career.

A digression is in order here. It is often mentioned that everything prior to the Liga was amateurism, but this is not the case. Bolivian professional soccer (i.e. a spectacle with clubs that pay salaries to their players) was born on May 25, 1950. First in La Paz. In 1954 Oruro and Cochabamba entered professionalism. In 1965 Santa Cruz did so, followed by Sucre, Potosí, Tarija and Beni. The only department without professional soccer is Pando.

Just four years after its creation, Oriente was the Santa Cruz amateur champion in 1959 and also won the title in 1961, 1962 and 1964. Four times champion of Santa Cruz and once runner-up (1960).

Then came professionalism in local soccer. Santa Cruz played its first professional tournament in 1965, that year Destroyers was consecrated as the first Santa Cruz professional champion, but without any doubt Oriente became the most winning team in the Santa Cruz championship until the creation of the League. It was champion in 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1976. It is the only five-time champion of that stage of local professionalism. Seven Santa Cruz titles and as if that were not enough, it was runner-up three times in 1965, 1966 and 1975. As a result, Oriente did not win any awards in only two championships, 1968 and 1974.

After that, the albiverdes continued to win prizes in the Simón Bolívar National Championship. While professionalism had been limited to La Paz, Cochabamba and Oruro in the 1950-1959 period, the Simón Bolívar National Championship was created in 1960, bringing together teams from seven of the nine departments. In that national professional tournament, Oriente was the first team from Santa Cruz to win a national title, perhaps the most endearing in its history, that of 1971, which inaugurated its fundamental role as one of the great Bolivian teams of all time. That title, which ironically it disputed until the end against another oil team, Chaco de La Paz (which was runner-up), was won with outstanding figures such as Miguel Antelo himself, its current and successful president, Ladislao Jiménez, Jorge Campos, Rolando Justiniano, René Domingo Taritolay, Dedé and Toninho, among others. Of the Bolivian players who were part of the team, many were stars of our national team in the seventies. But at that time they also won two national sub-championships, in 1972 and 1976.

Once in the League, Oriente was the protagonist of 15 tournaments. Here we enter the 'official history'. Oriente was champion in 1979, 1990, 2001 and twice in 2010. If '71 was the sweetest moment, '77 was probably the most bitter. It was the first year of the League and in a final in Cochabamba they lost the first league title to The Strongest by 3 to 1, it was the Tigre of Jorge Carlos Lattini and Ovidio Mezza....

But what few remember is that the Albiverdes have achieved no less than twelve runner-up finishes, the aforementioned 1977 and those of 1984, 1986, 1987, 1987, 1989, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2007 Apertura and 2010 Apertura.

Curiously, because of those incomprehensible things that the League has, the refinery team has a title that nobody knows if it is official or not for this computation, the so-called Winter Championship of 2010, which would be good to know what formal category the League gives it in the history of its championships. In my opinion it should be computed among its official titles.

This adds up to five league titles (one that is in "limbo") and twelve subtitles.