Paraguay beat Ecuador 1-2 on Wednesday in the last day of Group A of the Copa América Femenina in Colombia with a goal in the 91st minute from Lice Chamorro and entered the final stages of the continental tournament.
La Albirroja, who withstood the rival onslaught in the last minutes, also assured, at least, to play one of the playoffs to Australia-New Zealand 2023, where she hopes to participate for the first time in a women’s world cup.
Ecuador, for its part, ended its participation in the continental tournament with three units and a project underway that has a great future.
The Paraguayans, led by Marcello Frigerio, went ahead with a goal from Jessica Martínez, a former Real Madrid player, but La Tri, coached by Brazilian Emily Lima, equalized with a goal from defender Kerlly Real.
Chamorro unbalanced the balance in the 91st minute. The first minutes were very fought in the center of the field, where neither team managed to impose conditions and the options did not appear.
However, Paraguay had the first arrival at 16 in a corner kick charged by Camila Arrieta that almost ended in an Olympic goal and that was left to Rebeca Fernández on the rebound, who took a very strong shot that Andrea Morán saved.
In that confusing start, it was 0-1 in a play in which Arrieta sent a long cross from the left side that reached Martínez, who celebrated his third goal in the tournament with a header.
However, Ecuador equalized before the break on a free kick that the Paraguayans could not clear and was left to Real, who sent the ball to the back of the net and made La Albirroja’s end of the first half bitter.
Despite the fact that Paraguay almost scored the second in a great team play that ended with a shot by Fernández that Morán saved, the Ecuadorians were the ones who sought victory but found an unbeatable Alicia Bobadilla.
In this context, those led by Frigerio got the 1-2 in the 91st minute in a play by Ramona Martínez on the right, from where she sent a center that Chamorro took advantage of to head in and celebrate the classification furiously.
Paraguay, with its victory on Wednesday, secured its place in the semifinals as second in Group A and, possibly, will have to face the favorite Brazil, which is first in Group B, at that stage.
EFE
