The tenth date of the first professional contest of the oval at the South American level today found the Paraguayan and Colombian franchises at the Charrúa stadium in the Uruguayan capital.
And it was played as the finals are played. Clenched teeth, intensity from start to finish, nerves, anxiety, mistakes, penalties and missed opportunities…
The fringed team let the game go time after time, as a result of errors in decision-making, or an unforced error, or penalties that took them out of the rival field. Perhaps his greatest enemy has been the management of the Line which, curiously, was how his only try came about.
Five lost lines, all in extreme situations (of attack or defense) ended up costing him the semifinal.
Cafeteros Pro stoically withstood many attacks, defended bravely and managed to get out of extreme situations to play the last two minutes all or nothing, in the final 10 meters of Olimpia Lions.
He tried so hard, that when Leonardo Gea Salim dove into the ingoal, the time was up and so the job was done.
Before that, a time for each one, with predominance of the one with the wind in their favor, and that both used it as a fundamental tool to put pressure on the rival, forcing him to play from behind and in his field, well away from the equal rival.
The entire game, however, can be summed up in those final two minutes, with Olimpia Lions shooting themselves in the foot, wasting an unbeatable chance to leave their field and play the last minute away from ingoal, and Cafeteros Pro, taking advantage of every ball, every centimeter, each hole in the defense to be won, with that try sought with great energy, the necessary points that, ultimately, took them to the semifinal.
Colombian triumph, Paraguayan disappointment, learning for all involved that defining matches last from whistle to whistle, without minutes or seconds.
DETAILS
Pro coffee growers (11): 1. Javier Corvalán, 2. Boris Wenger, 3. Carlos Angulo; 4. Gregorio Hernandez, 5. Federico Lavanini; 6. Felipe Puertas, 7. Diver Ceballos, 8. Juan B. Mernes; 9. Eliseo Morales Abraham, 10. Julián Hernández; 11. Andrés Álvarez, 12. Manuel Alfaro, 13. Leonardo Gea Salim, 14. Manuel de Marco; 15. Franco Giudice (c).
Reserves: 16. Tomás Bartolini, 17. Diego Posada, 18. Brian González, 19. Eliseo Fourcade, 20. Joaquín Sánchez Barroso, 21. José Ignacio Gálvez, 22. Marcos Amorisa, 23. Valentín Fernández.
Trainer: Nicholas Galatro.
Tries: Gea Salim
With: –
Pen: Morales Abraham (2)
Yellow: J. Hernandez
Olimpia Lions (10): 1. Daniel Cabral, 2. Juan Ignacio Sánchez, 3. Luis E. Quinteros; 4. Lorenzo Colidio, 5. Mariano Garcete Elli; 6. Álvaro Biscay, 7. Ariel Núñez, 8. Mariano Romanini; 9. Ignacio Inchauspe (c), 10. Nicolás Hogg; 11. Julián Quetglas, 12. Sebastián Urbieta, 13. Francisco Diez, 14. Agustín Cortés; 15. Diego Walter.
Reserves: 16. Emilio Gorostiaga, 17. Manuel Stuchetti, 18. Franco Giacoppo, 19. Agustín Toth, 20. Nicolás Sánchez, 21. Facundo Villalba, 22. Juan D. González, 23. Ramiro Amarilla.
Coach: Ricardo LeFort
Tries: Sanchez
With: Walter
Pen: Walter
Yellow: Colidium
Referee: Francisco Gonzalez
