Talcahuano (Chile), April 24 (EFE).- With a goalless draw against the Bolivian The Strongest, Huachipato retained the lead this Wednesday, with a minimal difference, within group C of the Copa Libertadores, which poses a fight embodied by advancement to the round of 16.
It is a tight scenario in the table with Huachipato first with five points, followed by The Strongest and Estudiantes de La Plata with four points and at the bottom of the table the Brazilian Gremio with three, after their victory over the Argentine team in this third date.
The result was a better reward for the Bolivian team, whose goal was unsuccessfully bombarded by the steel team that distributed 16 total shots without being able to breach the defensive wall that the visit planted, on the field of the CAP Acero stadium in Talcahuano.
As in the first half, those led by the Argentine Javier Sanguinetti were the broad dominators of the game, threatening to break the scoreboard due to the passivity of the tabby team, who mostly used the counterattack as a tactic to cause damage.
The newly admitted Sebastián Sáez was in charge of commanding the artillery of the Chilean team in the second half, but he also had no luck or precision. The 39-year-old Argentine striker had a header a few minutes after entering and then two other options with deflected shots.
The Bolivian goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra saw the ball fly over his area with shots from all tenors and had no problem with those in which he had to intervene to preserve the zero.
The wear and tear of the locals, as time went by, allowed The Strongest to have more options to seek a golden victory during their visit and they tried with shots from Joel Amoroso and Carlos Roca.
Huachipato also failed in the first half in its objective of breaking the zero on the scoreboard, despite its clear dominance of the game, and its intentions to search for the rival goal from the first minutes with a shot by Julián Brea.
With a lot of intensity and speed on both sides, the black and blue team turned on the tiger team that spent more time in their area but knew how to sustain the pressure exerted by the locals to not allow the goal.
The steel players took a total of eight shots at the Aurinegra goal between shots and headers from Cris Martínez, Felipe Loyola, Imanol González, Maximiliano Rodríguez and Brea, but one by one they went off target or were blocked.
Applied in defense, The Strongest barely had a chance in 45 minutes in a counterattack that central defender Adrián Jusino ended with a shot in front of the goal that he sent over the crossbar.
The worst news for the Bolivian team was the departure of Jaime Arrascaita injured, just in the 12th minute of the duel, due to a blow he received when he fell on the field after a ball dispute.
. Datasheet:
0. Huachipato: Martin Vine; Philip Loyola (m.79, Maximilian Gutierrez), Benjamin Gazzolo, Imanol Gonzalez, Leandro Diaz; Jimmy Martinez, Claudio Sepulveda (m.79, Benjamin Ampuero), Gonzalo Montes; Julian Brea m.46 Sebastian Saez), Maximilian Rodriguez (m.84, Dylan Oyay Cris Martinez.
Coach: Javier Sanguinetti.
0. The Strongest: William Viscarra; Darius Aimar, Maximilian Caire, Adrian Jusino, Daniel Lino (m.68, Charles Rock); Joel Amoroso, Leonel Lopez, Luciano Ursino, Jaime Arrascaita (m.12, Daniel Rojas – m.88, Alvaro Quiroga); Bruno Miranda (68, Bryan Angle), Gabriel Sotomayor (69, Rodrigo Ramallo).
Coach: Pablo Lavallén.
Referee: Uruguayan Andres Matonte warned Caire and Lino for the visit and Gonzalez and Martinez by the locals.
Incidents: Third date of group C of the Copa Libertadores played at the Huachipato-CAP Acero Stadium in Talcahuano. EFE
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