The Copa Sudamericana has finally started last night and 47 teams from all over South America will fight for the second biggest continental club title. If you missed the preview, you can find it here.
Successful part time worker: Roberto Gutiérrez came on late and scored the winner for Universidad Católica.
One of Chile’s most famous clubs, Universidad Católica hosted Uruguay’s Danubio in the capital Santiago to kick things off in the first round. The game itself was not the absolute greatest, but the Chileans managed to come away with a 1-0 win and go to Uruguay with the narrow advantage. The lone goal came pretty late, scored by substitute Roberto Gutiérrez. In addition, Danubio were down to 10 men at the time, after right fullback Peña had been sent off. Still, it was a deserved victory, after U Católica outshot the visitors 10-2.
The other Universidad Católica in the competition, the one from Ecuador, faced Deportivo La Guaira, winner of the Copa Venezuela. The game was very evenly contested and subsequently had no winner. Goals from Facundo Martínez (penalty) and Daniel Benítez meant things ended in a 1-1 draw. A good result for the Venezuelans, who will have every chance to advance at home next week.
An according to the statistics even match finished goalless between Venezuela’s Carabobo FC and Colombia’s Deportes Tolima. 7-8 shots, 16-17 fouls, 232-219 passes. Maybe there was not meant to be a winner here. Advantage Tolima next week?
While we are talking of advantages, Club Nacional anyone? The Uruguayan champions smashed Oriente Petrolero away in Bolivia by a scoreline of 0-3. To be fair, the goals were handed to them on a silver platter. After a corner, Alonso could not direct the ball into the net, but centerback Aja did the job for him, taking it out of the air nicely and finishing it in a very composed manner. Right before halftime, Leandro Barcia used a huge blunder of goalkeeper Marcos Argüello. The Bolivian did not manage to catch the ball after his teammate ran into him, so Barcia said thank you and lobbed it over both of them. Finally, in the 71st, Nacional added a third via own goal from Ronald Raldes. Oriente was down a man through a red card by then already.
The last matchup of the night featured Peru’s iconic side Universitario de Deportes. La U, as they are called, beat their guests from Venezuela, Deportivo Anzoátegui, in convincing fashion. During the 3-1 success, the Peruvians also scored a goal from a fantastic combination that I will link below. Henry Giménez (13’), Ángel Romero (28’) and Germán Alemanno (57’) gave the hosts a 3-0 lead, before Edwin Aguilar gave the Venezuelans slight hope for the second leg by getting one back. That return leg will be have to played without defender Diego Araguainamo, who was sent off for two yellow cards.
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