Nacional Potosí beat Oriente Petrolero 4-1, this Friday night, for the 28th date of the Clausura tournament of the Professional Division of Bolivian soccer. The match was played at the Víctor Agustín Ugarte stadium in Potosí.
With this result, the local secured its place in an international tournament, which could be Sudamericana or Libertadores, depending on where it is positioned in the accumulated table, while the visit was left out of the race to obtain a place in one of the tournaments of the Conmebol in 2025.
Only 4 minutes passed for the first clear scoring opportunity for Rancho Guitarra. Hugo Rojas made a deep pass for Víctor Ábrego, who was left alone, but sent his shot over the crossbar before the desperate departure of U-23 goalkeeper Joel Bernal.
The Potosinos, who showed greater dynamism and ambition, opened the account in a play that was born from a corner kick. The defense did not clear and Ábrego (10′) appeared unmarked, on the front line of the large area to hit him with his left foot, under the gaze of Dieguito Rodríguez, who did not react in time.
The red band team was aiming for the second goal with attacks led, above all, by Ábrego, Martín Prost and Carlos Alberto Preciado, but surprisingly it was the refinery team that reached equality.
A quick counterattack, in which Diego Josué Hoyos failed to clear, was very well taken advantage of by Miguel Villarroel (18′), who based on speed reached the area and before the departure of Saidt Mustafá, placed the ball over the archer’s body. The game was tied as at the beginning.
After the goal, Nacional Potosí continued with the same dynamic of insistently searching for the rival goal. They had opportunities, one of the clearest was a free kick from Preciado (34′), which crashed into the left post of Bernal’s goal.
Prost (42′) also had his own thing with a powerful shot at the entrance to the area, but was met with resistance from Bernal, who was becoming a figure.
At the beginning of the second half, the Santa Cruz team started well and even had two dangerous attacks on Mustafá’s goal, but when they seemed to control the game, they received a goal that left them reeling.
Hugo Rojas (54′), a former Oriente Petrolero, took a powerful shot from outside the area and placed the ball next to the right post of the goal defended by Bernal, who could do nothing.
The refiner did not give up, his obligation to add made him continue trying to score, but this time the home team came out on a counterattack and a pass from Rojas to Martín Prost (59′) ended with the goal of the Argentine, who placed the ball for on the goalkeeper.
Minutes later, Ábrego (68′) scored the second of his personal tally. The goal was validated after much suspense, because the play was analyzed by the VAR due to suspicions of offside by Prost, who was the one who made the assist.
The representative of Villa Imperial scored a fifth goal, which was annulled by Cochabamba referee Juan Carlos Huanca. Prost (79′), scorer of said goal, was clearly offside.
The same thing happened with a goal that Erik Correa scored (89′) near the end of the game. The Colombian was in an advanced position and the goal was disallowed.
The match ended with the score 4-1 and although Oriente Petrolero has nine points left to play, it is no longer enough to get into the top six of the accumulated table, which are the ones that will play in the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana. , since it has 45 points, while GV San José and Blooming, which are fifth and sixth, respectively, have 55 units.
