A brace from the Argentine Martín Prost and a goal from the Uruguayan Rodrigo Amaral sealed the victory of the The Strongest Bolivian 3-0 against Colonia Square of Uruguay to get the pass to the third phase of the Libertadores Cup.
The difference was enough to reverse the 2-0 in the first leg in Uruguay and that now puts those led by the Argentine coach Cristian Díaz waiting for the winner of the tie between the Catholic University of Ecuador and the Bolivian Bolívar. The goals for Tigre de La Paz came in minute 2 thanks to Amaral and complemented by Prost in minutes 6 and 59.
The Strongest had a dream start with Amaral’s goal that fought a play at the door of the area and ended with a corner shot.
The second arrival was four minutes later and was born after a combination between Amaral and Henry Vaca that ended with Prost’s lunge. Those two goals left the Uruguayan team without reaction, which had difficulty regaining calm against The Strongest who bet on doing damage with Vaca’s overflows on the right and Amaral’s good foot in the middle.
In the 26th minute, a good shot by Nicolás Dibble that hit the goal post defended by Bolivian Guillermo Viscarra was the only risk action of the Uruguayan squad. Then, Prost wasted two very clear chances.
In the second half, the visiting team sought to move the game away from their home ground, but a mistake by goalkeeper Guirin left the ball served for Prost to push it at will to make it 3-0.
That goal prompted the coaches to change the way they approached the game: the visiting coach Eduardo Espinel played it hard to find the rival goal while Díaz bet on keeping the difference.
DATA SHEET
The Strongest-Plaza Colonia 3-0
3 – The Strongest: William Vizcarra; Diego Wayar (d. 67: Saúl Tórres), Ismael Banegas, Gonzalo Castillo, Juan Pablo Aponte; Henry Vaca (d. 82: Jaime Arrascaita), Luciano Ursino, Fernando Saucedo, Rodrigo Amaral (d. 71: Jeyson Chura); Martín Prost (d. 82: Jair Reinoso) and Enrique Triverio.
Coach: Cristian Diaz
0 – Colony Square: Nicholas Guirin; Agustín Heredia, Nicolás Ayala, Eddy Greising (d. 46: Ezequías Redín), Federico Barrandeguy; Yvo Calleros, Emilio Zeballos, Álvaro Fernández (d. 83: Leandro Suhr), Vítor Rosa (d. 62: Agustín Pérez); Juan Cruz Mascia (d. 62: Daniel Bahía) and Nicolás Dibble (d. 83: Cristian Rodríguez).
Coach: Eduardo Espinel
Goals: 1-0, Rodrigo Amaral (m. 2); 2-0, Martin Prost (m. 6); 3-0, Martin Prost (m. 59)
Referee: Colombian Jhon Ospina admonished Triverio, Greising, Wayar, Mascia, Redín, Amaral, Castillo, Fernández and Ursino.
Incidents: game played at the Hernando Siles stadium in the Bolivian city of La Paz at 3,650 meters of altitude
