The goalkeeper Andrés Mosquera saved two penalties and was the figure of the Sports Independent Medellin (DIM), which fell 2-1 with the America of the ex Barcelona player Iago Falqué in the second leg of the first phase of the South American Cup but they qualified for the group round by winning the series on penalties 1-3.
In regular time of the game played at the Pascual Guerrero stadium in Cali, the local goals were the work of midfielder Carlos Sierra and Adrián Ramos, while Argentine Luciano Pons provisionally equalized for the Powerful, and central defender Andrés Cadavid missed a penalty.
In the DIM, the goals from the penalty shootout were the work of Cadavid, who claimed responsibility; Argentine Adrián Arregui, and Raúl Loaiza, who scored the final, while Jean Pineda failed. Larry Angulo scored in the penalty shootout for the Red Devils and the Argentine Alejandro Quintana, Daniel Hernández and Elvis Mosquera missed.
The first few minutes of the game were very close and the visitors tried to do damage with the space left by the locals with the elusive Vladimir Hernández. However, América opened the scoring in the 8th minute in a counterattack that Venezuelan goalkeeper Joel Graterol started and reached Esneyder Mena on the left side, from where he sent a center that Iago Falqué badly controlled but was left to his teammate Sierra , who, falling down, took an unstoppable left-footed shot for goalkeeper Mosquera.
The equalizer came just 15 minutes later when Argentine Arregui took a free kick at risk and enabled his compatriot Pons, who with his feints got rid of his rival in the area and scored his first goal in international tournaments with the Powerful.
Despite the equality, the locals continued to attack led by Falque, who had two clear scoring options and played his best minutes since making his debut with the Red Devils last month.
Jorge Segura (America) disputes the ball with Vladimir Hernández (DIM)
In the second half, América came out like a tractor and kept looking for the goal with which they equalized the series, but Medellín had the first clear goal when center back Jorge Segura shot down Hernández in the area.
However, the Venezuelan Graterol got bigger and saved the penalty, which was a very strong shot from central defender Cadavid at minute 56.
That was how, just seven minutes later, it was 2-1 in a counterattack led by winger Elvis Mosquera, who sent a cross for Ramos that appeared, after a sprint of more than 30 meters, between the two central defenders and, with a header He sent the ball into the back of the net.
As the minutes passed, it began to rain and the match lost pace until the referee blew the whistle for the end of regular time and everything was decided on penalties, where DIM got the classification.
DATA SHEET
America Cali-Independent 2-1
2 – America of Cali: Joel Graterol; Éber Moreno (m.46, Joider Micolta), John García (m.46, Edson Acevedo), Jorge Segura, Elvis Mosquera; Juan Camilo Portilla, Carlos Sierra (m.61, Larry Angulo), Iago Falque (m.62, Iago Falqué); Deiner Quiñones (m.61, Alejandro Quintana), Esneyder Mena and Adrián Ramos
Coach: Juan Carlos Osorio
1 – Independent Medellin: Andres Mosquera Marmolejo; Juan Guillermo Arboleda (m.66, Felipe Pardo), Víctor Moreno, Andrés Cadavid, Germán Gutiérrez; David Loaiza, Adrian Arregui; Juan David Mosquera, Vladimir Hernández (m.66, José Hernández), Jean Pineda, and Luciano Pons (m.45+4, Diber Cambindo).
Coach: Julio Comesana
Goals: 1-0, Carlos Sierra (m. 8); 1-1, Luciano Pons (m. 23); 2-1, Adrian Ramos (m. 63)
Referee: The Venezuelan Alexis Herrera. He admonished Germán Gutiérrez and Jorge Segura
Incidents: Match corresponding to the second leg of the first phase of the Copa Sudamericana, played at the Pascual Guerrero stadium in Cali
