The Deportivo Táchira beat Caracas FC this Saturday in the grand finale of Venezuelan soccer and won the ninth championship in its history, after a match that was defined on penalties by not scoring any goal in regulation time or extra time. The special edition of the Venezuelan soccer classic did not have much success and, after 120 minutes of play, the Russian penalty roulette gave life to Táchira, who scored four, for the two that Caracas got. In a peculiar match, in which Deportivo Táchira was playing at home despite the duel being played on Caracas soil, the two teams jumped onto the pitch with more will than ability to open the rival’s lines. Both teams tried for the first 45 minutes to impose their strength as a group, beyond individual sparks, and, despite there were rough moments, neither of them was able to impose their rhythm on the rival. They went to the locker room with the same result with which the game began, with the defenses as protagonists and only a few flashes of the Nigerian Samson Akinyoola, who put the defense of Táchira in little trouble, and of the Panamanian Freddy Góndola, which made them sweat behind Caracas.
Around the dressing room, the teams began to find gaps in the defenses of the rivals, more due to errors from the rear than due to the hits of the attackers. Dangerous occasions followed but none of the teams had the talent or the good work to score the first goal, while the game was getting rough. In the absence of good opportunities, physical shocks became the protagonists until, in the 79th minute, the Ghanaian Kwaku Bonsu Osei, from Caracas, was sent off for double yellow after hitting an opponent in the face in a childish way.
Not even with one more player was the scoreboard opened. Neither team was able to make good plays, so the game went into extra time. To the lack of success was added the fatigue during the 30 minutes of extra time, in which several footballers seemed to be annulled by fatigue. With the players fused and almost without ideas, the 30 minutes added were an ordeal for the muscles of the footballers and for the spirits of the fans.
At the penalty shoot-out, Richard Celis and Edson Castillo scored the first two shots for Caracas, while the goalkeeper from Tachira saved the third – shot by Jorge Echeverría – and Carlos Rivero hit the wood the fourth. On the black side, Lucas Gómez, Maurice Cova, Pablo Camacho and Marlon Fernández scored all four penalties in four attempts.
