Defending champions Corinthians open their defence of the title against a struggling El Nacional side from Ecuador who suffered financial struggles in the club and lost many of its Championship winning team of the 2020 season. In contrast Corinthians retained all but one of its many regular stars from the 2020 Brasílerio Feminino and Paulista Feminino championship winning squads when goalkeeper Lele left to join SL Benfica.
America de Cali runner up in Liga Dimayor Femenina 2020 are lead by star player Cat Usme and starlet Gisela Robledo scorer of a hatrick in the 2019 edition at just 16 years old. America drafted in experienced players Diana Ospina, Daniela Arias amongst six reinforcements to bolster their squad.
Universitário from Peru will be America de Cali’s opening opponents are one of a few teams in the tournament hit hard by the covid pandemic left with little if any football over the year of 2020.
Group B
Deportivo Tropico enter the tournament in optimistic mood following there recent Copa Simon Bolivar Femenino title. However they will face very tough opposition in Argentine champions Boca Juniors, Chile champions Santiago Morning and Brasil runner up Avai Kindermann
Boca suffered a big blow when they lost star player Lorena Benitez who suffered a ACL injury in the recent She Believes Cup. However they will be confident to progress from the group and aim for a minimum of the final four. They clinched the Torneo Transicion title with a crushing 7-0 victory over arch enemy River Plate in the final on January 19.
Santiago Morning reigning double champion of Chile enter the tournament confident with a squad featuring many of Chile national team, retained their title defeating U de Chile 2-0 in the final last December with Karen Araya sealing the game in the 85th minute.
Avai Kindermann runner up in the Brasileiro Feminino 2020 suffered a triple loss to their squad key players Duda, Julia Bianchi and Bruna Calderan all left to Palmeiras. Patrícia, Larissa and Franciele came from Santos as reinforcements and they retained their excellent strike partnership of Catyellen and Letícia both regular scorers featuring high in the list of top scorers in the championship, they will be tough opposition in what could be seen as the group of death in the tournament.
Group C
Santa Fe champion of Colombia suffered a major blow to its hopes when they lost Liga Dimayor Femenina 2020 top scorer by far Ysaura Viso to injury for the tournament. Also a blow was the loss of Lina Salazar. However they will be favourites to advance from the group with the experience of Kena Romero, GabrielaHuertas, Nubiluz Rangel they will look to Ivonne Chacon as their main target for goals. They may prove to be a difficult team to break down as the tournament progresses with solid defence.
River Plate enter the tournament on the back of a 0x7 crushing defeat by rivals Boca in the final of the Trancision Tournament. They will look to bounce back in a group with Atlético the champion of Venezuela who won the Torneo Invitacional tournament held in late January. Sol de America make up the group who along with Libertad Limpeño qualified for the tournament in 2019 and with no domestic football in Paraguay in 2020 it is very difficult to judge progress and where they are at entering the tournament.
Group D
Ferroviaria qualified as champion of Brasil in 2019, they where Libertadores runner up in 2019 losing out to Corinthians in the final. Most of the team is still intact however they lost the 2019 tournament top scorer Nathane who moved to South Korea in the 2020 season playing with Hwacheon before returning to Brazil to join Gremio, and Maglia a key player who also recently joined Gremio. They will still be difficult to beat and have developed a battling habit and taking games to penalties. They won the QF SF and Final in the Brasileiro Feminino 2019 with penalty shoot out victories but lost out on penalties in the 2020 edition quarter final to Palmeiras.
U de Chile invested in 2020 and bore the fruits leading them to the runner up of the 2020 Torneo Transicion and a Libertadores play off Qualifying victory over Colo Colo to clinch their spot in the tournament, they will be expected to advance out of the group.
Libertad Limpeno qualified as champion of Paraguay in 2019, but with no opportunity to play in 2020 it is another team hard to gage its status, they will rely on Mariane Pion, Karina Vega, Fábiola Sandoval key players in the squad.
Penarol qualified as champion of Uruguay in 2019 but lost out to Nacional in the 2020 edition, they will be lead up front by young talent Belen Aquino in a difficult group for them.
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