The Guarani Paraguayan coach, coached by Spanish coach Fernando Jubero, scored in the last minute and defeated 1-0 at home against America Brazilian, who made his absolute debut in the Libertadores Cup and now he is moving away from Phase 3 of the South American tournament.
The team from Belo Horizonte, which with 109 years of history is participating in the Libertadores for the first time, received Josué Colman’s goal at the end of the game and will now play their classification in the Paraguayan capital.
After some timid attacking attempts by the locals, the first goal play had two Colombians as protagonists in the 9th minute: the creative Juan Pablo “El Indio” Ramírez in the execution of a well-defended free kick by his compatriot Devis Vásquez, visiting goalkeeper.
Then it was Mateusinho, Patric, striker Wéllington Paulista and Ramírez himself who eagerly sought to open the scoring for the “Coelho” (rabbit) in a first half that ended with a blank scoreline.
In the second half the local team, led by Marquinhos Santos, did not let up and Felipe Azevedo, Lucas Kal, Juninho and Wéllington Paulista always prowled Vásquez’s goal.
Reserves Everaldo and Pedrinho came off the bench also hungry for a goal, but the host team got the scare with a shot off the crossbar in the 73rd minute by Marcelo González that compromised local goalkeeper Jailson.
When everything seemed that it was going to end 0-0, the visitor, in another of his few attacking moves, managed to turn into a counterattack that was well made profitable by Colman, whose shot was deflected a little by defender Iago Maidana, which confused Jailson.
The second leg will be played on March 2 at the Defensores del Chaco stadium, in Asunción.
DATA SHEET
America-Guarani 0-1
0 – America: Jackson; Patric (m.87, Raúl Cáceres, Éder, Iago Maidana, Marlon; Lucas Kal, Juninho, Juan Pablo Ramírez (m.66, Pedrinho); Mateusinho (m.83, Henrique Almeida); Felipe Azevedo (m.66, Everaldo ) and Wellington Paulista (d.87, Rodolfo).
Coach: Marquinhos Santos
1 – Guarani: Davis Vasquez; Rodi Ferreira, Marcos Cáceres (m.22, Julio González), Roberto Fernández, Guillermo Benítez; Marcelo González, Rodrigo Fernández, Jorge Mendoza (m.63, Sergio Bareiro), Josué Colmán; José Núñez (m.56, Alejandro Samudio) and Fernando Fernández (m.57, Ángel Benítez).
Coach: Fernando Jubero.
Goal: 0-1, Joshua Colman (d. 91)
Referee: Colombian Wilmar Roldan. He admonished Patric and Éder and Ángel Benítez and Samudio.
Incidents: First leg match corresponding to the second phase of the Copa Libertadores, played at the Independencia stadium, in Belo Horizonte.
