Melgar was imposed this Thursday by 3-1 to Cuiaba in the last match of group B of the South American Cup and qualified for the round of 16 with 12 points and a better scoring balance than that of the Argentines from Racing, who also reached the same income.
The Argentine formation, which reached the last day as the first and main favorite for the classification, fell at home 0-1 against the Uruguayans of River Plate and in the scoring balance he reached a positive of two, lower than the four that Melgar completed.
For the first time in its history, the Peruvian red and black team sealed its passage to the round of 16 of the South American in a game played at the Monumental stadium of the National University of San Agustín, in the city of Arequipa.
The pupils of the Argentine Nestor Lawrence they went ahead in the 38th minute with a goal from Jean Pierre Archimbaud, who finished with his left foot after receiving a corner kick from Martín Pérez Guedes.
Cuiabá adjusted his attack to match the Arequipeños, but Joaquim and Marquinhos played a dangerous game, which earned them yellow cards.
During the first 45 minutes, Johnny Vidales was in charge of Melgar’s artillery with shots from outside the area and assisting his teammates, while the Colombian Kevin osorio he did the same for Cuiabá, who remained rather defensive.
After going through the changing rooms, the scorer of Melgar, Bernardo Cuesta, he entered for Vidales eager to increase the score, but a few minutes later he was reprimanded for committing a foul on Joaquim.
However, after 61 minutes of play it was Gustavo Nescau who made it 1-1 for Cuiabá with an accurate header after connecting a cross into the area by Igor Cariús.
The current leader of the Peruvian League 1 did not lower his arms and at 85 minutes, when everything seemed lost, Cristian Bordacahar also headed the second for the red lions with an assist of Kenji Cabrera.
Bordacahar he repeated with another header in the 89th minute after a pass from Cuesta, which finalized the result in Arequipa.
Almost in parallel, the Uruguayan River Plate scored their goal in Argentina, which, against all odds, allowed the Peruvian team to rise to the first position of their group and, thus, access to the round of 16 of the tournament.
The group stage of the Copa Sudamericana ends this Thursday and the leaders of each of the five groups qualify for the round of 16, accompanied by the third in each group of the Liberators.
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