Soccer roundup: Unión Española lead pack with only two games to goUnión Española 3-1 AntofagastaEspañola started this weekend’s round on top of the division, leading Universidad Católica by the narrowest of margins on goal difference. The two teams were tied on 29 points Saturday morning, but with Católica’s dramatic capitulation in Wednesday’s Copa Chile final, the stage was set for Española to pile further pressure on its cross-town rival.
Española’s recent form, however, was distinctly lacking in momentum. Before last week’s comfortable win over the Santiago Wanderers, Española notched up seven points from a possible 15 in its last five league games.
Antofagasta, meanwhile, is still a team battling for survival and would have looked at this game as a golden opportunity to ensure top-flight football for next season with San Marcos playing Iquique later that day. After two consecutive victories, a shock win for Antofagasta would have kept them in pursuit of Santiago Wanderers, who lost Friday evening to Huachipato.
Any doubts though over either Unión Española’s title-challenge or supremacy over its northern rivals in this tie were quickly laid to rest. Española opened the game with a flurry of near chances from deep inside their opponent’s penalty area.
After 18 minutes, Patricio Rubio looked to have capitalized on this early spell of pressure as he scored a simple tap-in after Antofagasta goalkeeper, Fernando Hurtado, failed to cope with a Christian Cuevas strike that had crashed off the post from outside the area. The linesman, however, was quick to disallow the goal, ruling Rubio offside.
Ten minutes later Hernandez Oscar Lopez won the ball back from Michael Silva with a robust challenge deep inside Antofagasta’s half. Lopez laid the ball to Rubio who played a perfect cross into the box for Gustavo Canales who timed his jump to perfection, heading home past on-rushing Hurtado with a clinically executed lob.
Rubio was involved in Española’s dominating attacking play later in the first half as he looked to double the score with an elegant bicycle-kick that failed to combine style with direction. Rubio, Española’s top scorer, has only found the net once in his last five games for the club and, early in the second half, his profligacy looked as if it would cost Española as Antofagasta found an equalizer when Erick Pulgar caught an early Ronald González cross.
In the 65th minute González was involved again in the run of play, though this time it was for all the wrong reasons. The Antofagasta number seven was penalized for a sloppy challenge on Dagoberto Currimilla right on the edge of Antofagasta’s penalty area. Puga promptly awarded a freekick that Canales stepped up to rifle into the back of the net.
Ten minutes later, Canales would find himself poised to benefit from another dead-ball situation after Pulgar brought him down in the penalty area. Canales looked to have made the most of the challenge, though the referee’s decision was decisive. The former Universidad de Chile forward tucked the penalty away into the bottom right-hand corner of Antofagasta’s goal after sending Hurtado the wrong way.
Canales’s third goal sealed the tie and Española ran out 3-1 winners. The veteran striker might just carry Española to its seventh league title if he continues to show the type of instinct and calm that won him his hat-trick against Antofagasta. His experience will be crucial in the pressure of the weeks to come.
However, despite snapping a run of poor form, missed opportunities may haunt Española as it goes into these last intense weeks, knowing the chance to wrap up the title comfortably was squandered weeks ago.
Audax Italiano 1-2 Universidad CatólicaUniversidad Católica went into its away game against Audax on Saturday afternoon with the result of Española’s win already registered on the league table. It looked to be make or break for a Católica side still struggling to come to terms with its devastating mid-week loss to Universidad de Chile in the Copa Chile final. Only a win in the game against Audax would keep it in contention for the league title and its only chance of silverware for the season.
The pressure looked to be getting the better of Católica in the early phases of a game that saw Audax pushing aggressively to draw first blood. Católica looked particularly weak down the left flank and, in the 35th minute, the space left down this side of the pitch allowed Audax to combine well with a move capped off by a Gamadiel García cross from deep. Sebastian Saez got in front of his marker, Cristian Alvarez Valenzuela, to give Audax the lead. Saez showed the kind of aggressive instinct that has made him the league’s top scorer with 13 goals to his name.
Católica had a seemingly certain goal-scoring opportunity denied in the dying phase of the first half when Sixto Peralta had his shot saved by a well-positioned Alejandro Sanchez. Maybe it was the Argentine striker’s inability to convert his chance that forced his manager to take him off at half-time, or maybe it was simply Martin Lasarte’s sober recognition that Católica needed more up front if it was going to take back the initiative and save its season. Either way, the coach’s decision to bring on both Carlos Villanueva and Milovan Mirosevic at the start of the second half proved decisive.
Five minutes after coming on Mirosevic scored. Ismael Sosa followed a surging run with a shot that struck the inside of Sanchez’s post in the 50th minute. The ball rebounded to Mirosevic who found himself in space. The Chilean striker could only find the cross bar though with a split-second reaction header that saw Sanchez scrambling back towards his goal. Fortune was on Mirosevic’s side, however, as he collected the second rebound and buried the ball with a header that was far better placed than his first.
Mirosevic’s tenacious refusal to be denied the equalizer would fuel his side in its search for a winner. The goal looked to have settled Católica who poured forward both wings, stretching Audax in the middle of the field, forcing it to leave the kind of space that both Villanueva and Sosa would fail to exploit in quick succession. Another glorious chance would also fall to Mirosevic who found himself free in the box after some clever link-up play between Villanueva and Sosa. Sanchez, however, was able to make a comfortable save from the striker’s weak half-volley.
Católica’s speedy one-touch attacking would eventually breakdown Audax on the 65th minute after Nicolás Castillo released Villanueva who slotted home from an angle that left Sanchez helpless. With both Villanueva and Mirosevic on the score sheet, Lasarte’s half-time substitutions looked to have given Católica a crucial win. Fans of “Los Cruzados” must have been wondering why the Uruguayan manager couldn’t be this daring in their Copa Chile final against Universidad de Chile.
However, despite Católica’s determination to attack, the game finished 2-1. Católica pushed forward in numbers knowing that its goal-difference is likely to be crucial in a league that will go right to the wire. Whether Fernando Meneses late penalty miss or the strikers’ collective failure to capitalize on Católica’s 24 shots on goal will cost the team remains to be seen, but if Católica’s dominance in the face of pressure and uncertainty is anything to judge them by, then it could still be a threat to Unión Española’s ascendancy.
Ñublense 1-3 Universidad de ChileCatólica’s archrivals and Copa Chile winners, Universidad de Chile, went up against Ñublense on Sunday. Both teams have all to play for with “La U” in fourth place and still in contention for the top spot, let alone the top three, while Ñublense was looking for the crucial points that would ensure its survival in the top flight.
However, despite there being so much at stake for both sides, the teams couldn’t have been less evenly matched. Ñublense had only won three of its last 15 home games going into this match while Universidad de Chile is on a sparkling run of form. Besides taking the Copa Chile trophy already this season, it’s beaten both its main rivals — Colo Colo and Católica — in its last two games with a string of results that has seen it lose only one of its last ten league games.
The Universidad de Chile trio made up of Juan Duma, Charles Aránguiz and Isaac Díaz have seemed unstoppable lately, scoring a combined total of 18 goals this season — more than Ñublense’s entire league total. It was, however, Ñublense that took the lead through Benjamín Ruíz who shrugged off Sebastian Martinez deep inside the Universidad de Chile penalty area to fire his shot home from a tight angle. The ease with which Martinez gave into Ruíz may have been symptomatic of some late-night Copa Chile celebrations, though Universidad de Chile was quick to banish any thought of a lingering hangover.
On the 23rd minute, Díaz equalized for Universidad de Chile after getting on the end of an exquisite low cross from Sergio Velázquez who had found space down the right. Díaz, who left Ñublense for Universidad de Chile at the end of last season, showed no mercy to his old team, beating Andrés Reyes at the far post, but Lucas Giovini – the Ñublense goalkeeper – should have done far better. He looked to have a hold of the ball before spilling it into his own goal.
Only five minute later Aránguiz was brought down on the edge of the area and the Universidad de Chile winger gave his team the lead with the resulting free kick. Aránguiz’s strike was exquisite. He hit it with the kind of vicious swerve that allowed him to dip his shot over the wall and into Giovini’s top-right-hand corner, leaving the goalkeeper with nothing to do but pick the ball out of his own net. Giovini’s look of stranded bewilderment said it all.
The third and final goal was just as brilliant. Breaking, effectively from the second-half kick-off, Universidad de Chile surged down the left-flank with some one touch passing between Gustavo Lorenzetti and Eugenio Mena. Mena then put in a great cross that was cleared awkwardly. The ball fell to Duma standing on the edge of the area, poised to take the shot. The ensuing volley was unstoppable and is an example of the kind of clinical play that has made Duma the stand out player of the season’s closing phase.
Díaz had a goal – perhaps wrongfully – disallowed later in the game but it changed nothing. Ñublense looked to have been beaten the moment Aránguiz stepped up to strike his free kick. If Universidad de Chile can keep up this kind of confident, free-scoring style of play, then it will certainly find itself in contention for the title. Next week it plays Católica and a win will see it leapfrog its rivals in the league.
Colo Colo 1-2 O’HigginsO’Higgins — third-placed in the league — who look to be quietly building momentum, took on Colo Colo this weekend, a team who has made no subtlety of its implosion. O’Higgins, despite its position, has failed to register consecutive wins since March in a run of form that could easily trail off into mediocrity if it fails to bring home the maximum number of points in the weeks to come. Its victory over Colo Colo is a step in the right direction, though, as O’Higgins looked as comfortable as it did clinical.
Gonzalo Barriga opened the scoring for O’Higgins early in the first half. The striker found space after a deflection rebounded to him on the left of the Colo Colo area. Mirko Opazo cut across to cover the shot but Barriga’s strike scuttled along the ground awkwardly and the defender failed to make contact.
At 0-1, O’Higgins effectively had “Los Albos” beaten. The home side succumbed to the kind of defensive inconsistency and panic that has plagued its season. Less than ten minutes after scoring its first goal, O’Higgins doubled its lead when Claudio Baeza’s misplaced pass was intercepted by Lucas Acosta, who wasted no time in breaking forward. Catching Colo Colo outnumbered at the back, O’Higgins scored an easily taken goal with Rodrigo Rojas converting from close range.
The second half saw O’Higgins content to sit back and defend its lead for long periods of the match. Esteban Pavez came close for Colo Colo with a long-range strike that narrowly missed the target, striking the bottom of the left-hand post. It was Pavez who struck again on the 88th minute, though this time his attempt found the back of the net. The goal came from a corner that Pavez rose well to meet. His header was too well-placed for Roberto González to match and the goalkeeper could only get a hand to it.
Though O’Higgins was under fire for most of the second half, it always looked certain to defend its lead. If it can continue to grind out results in this way then it could stand to go ahead of Católica next week if “Los Cruzados” fail to get a win against Universidad de Chile. Colo Colo, meanwhile, has collected only four points from its last five games.
San Marcos 1-1 IquiqueDown at the other end of the table, San Marcos took on Iquique in the “Clásico Nortino.” Iquique has been languishing at the foot of the league for much of this season, but it is San Marcos who occupy last place on the coefficient rankings — a combination of the current and previous league — and is under threat of certain relegation. The game would prove more crucial for San Marcos whose coach, Luis Marcoleta, appealed to “the spirit and the heart” of his team’s fans before the game.
Whatever passion Marcoleta was trying to inspire failed to emerge in a game where both teams failed to take the initiative. In a relatively uneventful first half that saw Edson Puch crash a half-volley off San Marcos’s crossbar and Renato Ramos go close at the other end, both teams were unable to break the deadlock.
San Marcos scored at the start of the second half though when Daniel Briceño won the ball back near the halfway line and hit a long ball to Ramos. The 34-year-old striker’s shot found the back of the net after beating a flat-footed Iquique defense.
Despite San Marcos getting the first goal in a game it really needed to win, it was Iquique who took the initiative. Iquique, who annihilated Cobresal last week, was looking to build on a run of form that has finally seen it start to gather points after a disastrous mid-season string of results. The second-half would see Manuel Villalobos strike the post with a low, diving header and Cristian Bogado thrash a shot into the side-netting after finding himself free down the left.
Finally, in the 87th minute, Iquique benefited from its late dominance and scored. Substitute Brandon Olivares broke down the right and put in a cross that cut out the San Marcos back line, finding Villalobos who timed his run to perfection. There was nothing Pedro Carrizo could do to stop Villalobos’s header and the striker wheeled away in celebration of his fifth league goal of the season.
There was still enough time for San Marcos’s Francisco Piña to curl a shot just wide of goal and for Olivares to squander a shot from deep inside the Iquique penalty area, but the game ended 1-1, a score that really helps neither side. San Marcos will suffer most, though, forced to rue letting the win slip away as it stares into the abyss of relegation.
Cobresal 2-1 Unión la CaleraCobresal, the league’s bottom team, registered its second win of the season against a Unión la Calera team that should have done a lot better against such lowly opposition. Cobresal, for its part however, set about pouring forward from the kick-off with the kind of attacking flair that really shouldn’t have placed the team in the position it has found itself in. An Álvaro Navarro over-head kick, that narrowly missed the target, was the highlight of this early, hopeful spell for Cobresal.
Navarro finally struck in the 51st minute through a move that was far simpler, though less inspiring, in its execution. Navarro found himself in space after a long ball caught Unión la Calera off guard and the Uruguayan striker finished with ease.
However, despite its attacking dominance, Cobresal’s defensive laxity would prove to be more of a threat to itself than its opponents. Seven minutes after Cobresal took the lead, it gave it away again after failing to clear its lines. Leandro Venegas found himself unmarked and with plenty of space to head home for Unión la Calera’s predictable, though undeserved, equalizer.
Cobresal would still take the three points though as another long ball released Ever Cantero in the 80th minute. Cantero proved to be as clinical as Navarro and the goal was to be enough for Cobresal to secure a win that supporters — if there are any out there, given how few showed up for this game —will hope the team can build on in time for its crucial last game against fellow relegation candidates, Antofagasta.
Huachipato 3-1 Santiago WanderersHuachipato overcame the Santiago Wanderers in a match that saw it recapture the kind of form that led it to the league trophy last year. In a heated game that saw referee, Carlos Aranda, award ten cards and 17 fouls, Huachipato beat the Wanderers 3-1 in a match that never seemed to be in doubt for “Los Acereros.”
Huachipato captain, José Raúl Contreras, opened the scoring after controlling a long pass with grace and skill that saw him take the ball on his chest before setting himself up for a half-volley that left Mauricio Viana stranded in the Wanderers’s goal.
Ariel Colzera equalized for the Santiago Wanderers, but the balance was short-lived as Huachipato came back with two goals in quick concession. Brian Rodriguéz broke the tie on the 72nd minute before Nicolás Núñez put the result beyond doubt for Huachipato two minutes later.
This game gives the Santiago Wanderers its third straight loss. The team currently stands in sixteenth place in the coefficient rankings, and while it should have enough points to stay in the first division, its slump has certainly given fans and players alike cause for concern.
Everton 2-1 RangersEverton broke its dismal run of form — four losses in five games — with a convincing 2-1 win over fellow mid-table battlers, Rangers, who took the lead in the first minute through a Carlos Garrido header from the opening exchanges.
Despite going a goal down so early, Everton always looked to be in contention and after Angel Rojas drove a reckless shot wide, the home side was awarded a penalty in the 25th minute when Marcelo Andrés Scatolaro was judged to have blocked Emiliano Romero’s shot with his hand. José Luis Muñoz converted from the spot with a blistering shot that he struck emphatically into the top right-hand corner of Nicolás Peric’s goal.
Rangers started the second half the brighter of the two teams, with Sebastián Luna looking sharp as he led his team’s attacks with a mixture of skill and clever passing. It was Everton, however, who took the third goal and the win through a Francisco Bahamondes shot that looked as though it could have torn through the back of the net.
Bahamondes came close again late on in the game, but his shot was well saved by Peric. The Everton defender had already done enough for his side though and the game ended 2-1.
Cobreloa 1-0 PalestinoCobreloa stayed in the running for international football next year with a win over a Palestino side that will finish its league campaign safe though anonymous.
The sides played out a scrappy match that always looked a certain win for Cobreloa. Palestino did little to threaten its opponents and in the 52nd minute, Cristián Suárez broke the deadlock after latching onto a stray ball that had been spilled by the Palestino goalkeeper, Felipe Nuñez.
The game ended with Palestino having little to show for its efforts. Cobreloa, meanwhile, did well to come out of a difficult game against opponents who seemed to be intent on securing a 0-0 draw. This win will prove crucial if Cobreloa is to go on and climb the table in the weeks that remain.
mål:
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