RIO DE JANEIRO (DIRECTV Liga Sudamericana 2018) – One ticket remains to the Final of the DIRECTV Liga Sudamericana 2018 and the Jeunesse Arena of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is ready to receive, from this Tuesday, November 20, the four teams of the second Semi-Final group: Instituto de Córdoba (Argentina) and the Brazilians teams of Baurú, Minas Tenis Clube and Flamengo.

The team that wins the group will earn the right to play for the Horacio Muratore Cup, in a best-of-three series against Franca of Brazil.

Flamengo enters the Semi-Final Phase of the DIRECTV Liga Sudamericana 2018 after dominating Group D of to a 3-0 mark, after defeating Libertad Sunchales (Argentina) by 98-86, and the Uruguayan teams of Goes and Welcome with slates of 93-81 and 86 -72, respectively.

In the NBB of Brazil, those led by coach Gustavo de Conti march in third place in the standings with a balance of 8-3. In their most recent game, last Friday, they fell (97-84) against Paulistano, second in the standings.

The former center NBA Anderson Varejao, the point guards Deryk Ramos and Argentine Franco Balbi, as well as the forwards Marquinhos, Olivinha and Rafael Mineiro, will be the referents of the club, which looks solid and with depth in all the lines.

For its part, Instituto, advanced to the semifinals as second of Group A. The quintet of Facundo Müller left the preliminary group with a 2-1 record with wins against Aguada de Uruguay (75-68) and Leones de Quilpué de Chile (76-70). The team’s only setback in the Group Phase was to the finalist of the Liga Sudamericana 2018 Franca by just two points (82-80).

The team from Cordoba will arrive to the Semi-Final Phase after being eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Super 20 Torunament in Argentina. The positive of that result is that it allowed the squad to have just over a week to prepare for this international event and to recover some of their pieces that suffered physical ailments.

"We had a couple of days of rest and now we are ready for the Liga Sudamericana. It is going to be a very demanding group, and to have a shot of Qualifying we will have to play our best games. I think everything is possible, it can be achieved, and we are working for that," coach Müller told the press.

Baurú and Minas Tenis, are in similar situations in terms of performance. In the Brazilian League, both are going through a streak of three defeats. In fact, the last triumph of the "Dragon" was on the 8th, precisely against Minas.

Baurú, surprisingly, is ranked 12th in the standings with a 3-8 mark, but those led by coach Demetrius have suffered since the start of the season due to the injuries of captain Alex García, Gui Santos and Gabriel Jaú.

In the DIRECTV Liga Sudamericana 2018, they were second in Group C with two victories and one reverse. First, they fell to Quimsa (Argentina) by 86-80; however, they took a step forward against Minas (75-70) and Fastbreak of Colombia (82-66).

The performance of Center Lucas Mariano, leading scorer of the first phase with 22.7 points per game, plus Larry Taylor, Fulvio and Jefferson will be vital for their aspirations.

Meanwhile, Minas Tenis ranks sixth in their home league with 4-4. After a start of four successes in five games, they have struggled. In the South American advanced as best third with record 1-2 in Group C. First, they had a victory over Fastbreak (91-74) and then suffered losses against Baurú (75-70) and Quimsa (74-57).

Coach Flavio dos Santos Soares needs men like Wesley Ferreira, Gegé, Leonardo and outsiders Che Bob and Dominique Coleman, to be effective in leaving behind the irregularity shown so far.

FIBA