Reigning Chilean champion loses 3-1 at home.
After defeating Brazilian squad Gremio last week in a thrilling upset, Chile’s Huachipato dropped its second match in the Copa Libertadores to Caracas by a score of 3-1.
Three minutes into the game it looked like Huachipato could continue its streak. Only a close, but correct, offsides call stopped Braian Rodríguez from scoring the first goal of the match. Most of the first half was dominated by the Chilean side in similar fashion.
But soon Caracas began to respond with fast counter attacks aimed at the weak points of Huachipato’s defense. After a long pass across three-quarters of the field, Caracas’ Daniel Cure took a quick shot at the goal of Nery Veloso. The 25-year-old keeper looked as unprepared as his defense for this attack and let the ball slip out of his hands, giving Caracas a 1-0 lead in the 23th minute.
Huachipato tried to claw its way back into the game and even managed to give its striker Rodríguez a couple of good chances to even the score, but without any success. Instead, in the additional time of the first half Huachipato’s defense was fooled by a copy of the first goal. This time Caracas keeper Alaín Baroja connected to Louis Angelo Peña over a distance of more than 200 feet. Peña saw daylight and sealed things at 2-0 before halftime.
After switching sides, Huachipato seemed more and more insecure and the number of intercepted passes grew while scoring chances diminished. Caracas’ Peña used this phase to improve his scoring statistics and turn Huachipato’s keeper Veloso into something of a Greek tragedy. Standing a couple of feet too far from the goal, a slight lob into the left upper corner was enough to defeat the Chilean side’s last man again and make it 3-0 for the away-team.
In the 63th minute Huachipato’s Miguel Aceval narrowed the gap thanks to a free-kick and gave his team a wake-up call. However it was too little too late for the Chilean squad and it was not able to snap Caracas’ defense again before the final whistle.
The team has fallen back to third place in its group. Chance for redemption will come against Fluminense Feb. 27.
By Haluka Maier-Borst (mborst@santiagotimes.cl)
Copyright 2013 - The Santiago Times
After defeating Brazilian squad Gremio last week in a thrilling upset, Chile’s Huachipato dropped its second match in the Copa Libertadores to Caracas by a score of 3-1.Three minutes into the game it looked like Huachipato could continue its streak. Only a close, but correct, offsides call stopped Braian Rodríguez from scoring the first goal of the match. Most of the first half was dominated by the Chilean side in similar fashion.
But soon Caracas began to respond with fast counter attacks aimed at the weak points of Huachipato’s defense. After a long pass across three-quarters of the field, Caracas’ Daniel Cure took a quick shot at the goal of Nery Veloso. The 25-year-old keeper looked as unprepared as his defense for this attack and let the ball slip out of his hands, giving Caracas a 1-0 lead in the 23th minute.
Huachipato tried to claw its way back into the game and even managed to give its striker Rodríguez a couple of good chances to even the score, but without any success. Instead, in the additional time of the first half Huachipato’s defense was fooled by a copy of the first goal. This time Caracas keeper Alaín Baroja connected to Louis Angelo Peña over a distance of more than 200 feet. Peña saw daylight and sealed things at 2-0 before halftime.
After switching sides, Huachipato seemed more and more insecure and the number of intercepted passes grew while scoring chances diminished. Caracas’ Peña used this phase to improve his scoring statistics and turn Huachipato’s keeper Veloso into something of a Greek tragedy. Standing a couple of feet too far from the goal, a slight lob into the left upper corner was enough to defeat the Chilean side’s last man again and make it 3-0 for the away-team.
In the 63th minute Huachipato’s Miguel Aceval narrowed the gap thanks to a free-kick and gave his team a wake-up call. However it was too little too late for the Chilean squad and it was not able to snap Caracas’ defense again before the final whistle.
The team has fallen back to third place in its group. Chance for redemption will come against Fluminense Feb. 27.
By Haluka Maier-Borst (mborst@santiagotimes.cl)
Copyright 2013 - The Santiago Times
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