1998 Copa Merconorte

The 1998 Copa Merconorte was the 1st edition of association football tournament Copa Merconorte held in 1998. Atlético Nacional of Colombia beat Deportivo Cali also of Colombia in the final.

Copa Merconorte 1998

Tournament details
Dates	15 September – 9 December 1998
Teams	12 (from 5 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Atlético Nacional (1st title)
Runners-up	Deportivo Cali
Tournament statistics
Matches played	75
Goals scored	218 (2.91 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Héctor Hurtado Neider Morantes Rafael Castellín Héctor Ferri Carlos Alberto Juárez (4 goals each)
1999 →

Originally, this tournament was to start on 1 September 1998 (the group stage lasting until 25 November), with 16 teams divided into 4 groups of 4. Those 16 teams included 3 Mexican teams, América, Cruz Azul and Guadalajara.

However, the Mexican Football Federation insisted on including Toluca and Necaxa, the two finalists of the 1998 Summer season, instead of América and Guadalajara, who had been chosen for their popular support. No agreement could be reached, and on 20 August the Mexican teams withdrew. The organization then decided to remove the two teams from the USA (D.C. United and Los Angeles Galaxy) as well, include a fourth Colombian team (América de Cali) and play with 3 groups of 4.^[1]

Participants

Country	Team
Bolivia (1 berth)	The Strongest
Colombia (4 berths)	América de Cali
	Atlético Nacional
	Deportivo Cali
	Millonarios
Ecuador (3 berths)	Barcelona
	El Nacional
	Emelec
Peru (3 berths)	Alianza Lima
	Sporting Cristal
	Universitario
Venezuela (1 berth)	Caracas

Group stage

According to the original draw in march of 1998, these are the groups of competition:

Group A: Sporting Cristal, Emelec, Deportivo Cali and Guadalajara

Group B: América, Universitario, El Nacional and Atlético Nacional

Group C: Alianza Lima, Barcelona, Millonarios and D.C. United

Group D: The Strongest, Caracas, Cruz Azul and Los Angeles Galaxy

Each team played the other teams in the group twice during the group stage. The three group winners and the best runner-up advanced to the second round.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MIL	EME	AME	CRI
1	Millonarios	6	3	1	2	7	8	−1	10	Advance to Semifinals		—	2–1	2–2	1–0
2	Emelec	6	2	3	1	9	6	+3	9			3–0	—	1–0	1–1
3	América de Cali	6	1	4	1	9	9	0	7			2–1	2–2	—	1–1
4	Sporting Cristal	6	0	4	2	5	7	−2	4			0–1	1–1	2–2	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ATL	ALI	STR	BAR
1	Atlético Nacional	6	3	2	1	14	7	+7	11	Advance to Semifinals		—	3–1	2–3	4–0
2	Alianza Lima	6	2	2	2	8	6	+2	8			1–1	—	4–0	2–0
3	The Strongest	6	2	2	2	5	9	−4	8			0–2	0–0	—	1–0
4	Barcelona	6	1	2	3	5	10	−5	5			2–2	2–0	1–1	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CAL	NAC	CAR	UNI
1	Deportivo Cali	6	3	2	1	7	3	+4	11	Advance to Semifinals		—	2–0	1–1	2–1
2	El Nacional	6	3	1	2	6	6	0	10			1–0	—	2–1	1–1
3	Caracas	6	2	1	3	6	8	−2	7			0–2	1–0	—	0–2
4	Universitario	6	1	2	3	6	8	−2	5			0–0	1–2	1–3	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Ranking of second placed teams

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	C	El Nacional	6	3	1	2	6	6	0	10	Advance to Semifinals
2	A	Emelec	6	2	3	1	9	6	+3	9
3	B	Alianza Lima	6	2	2	2	8	6	+2	8

Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points in all group matches; 2) total goal differential; 3) total goals scored; 4) lots drawn by CONMEBOL.

Semifinals

First leg

El Nacional	1–2	Deportivo Cali
Chalá 61'		Gaviria 31' Bonilla 47'

November 19

Olímpico Atahualpa, Quito

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Millonarios	0–2	Atlético Nacional
		Zambrano 62' Morantes 77'

November 19

El Campín, Bogota

Second leg

Deportivo Cali	1–2	El Nacional
Escobar 69'		Valencia 59' Ferri 83'
Penalties
Zapata Bedoya Córdoba Dudamel Patiño Mosquera	5–4	Alvarado Ordóñez Ferri Burbano Arroyo Carcelén

November 26

Olímpico Pascual Guerrero, Cali

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Atlético Nacional	1–2	Millonarios
Grisales 64'		Toro 71' Ramírez 81'

November 26

Atanasio Girardot, Medellín

Finals

First leg

Atlético Nacional	3–1	Deportivo Cali
Vásquez 29', 73' Perea 61'		Zapata 49'

December 3

Atanasio Girardot, Medellín

Second leg

Deportivo Cali	0–1	Atlético Nacional
		Moranes 90'

December 9

Olímpico Pascual Guerrero, Cali

Champion

Copa Merconorte 1998 Winners
Atlético Nacional First Title