Close enough: Melgar were just eliminated after losing 4-5 on aggregate.
After losing 0-5 away in Colombia last week, noone gave FBC Melgar any sort of chance in the return leg this Tuesday night. And how wrong they were. The Peruvians came so close to actually forcing extra time against Atlético Junior, that it should count as a sensation in itself. 4-0 was the final result in a game that was dominated by Melgar at all times and nearly had a happy ending. The fact that they even believed in their chance after what happened last week shows you a lot about South American football and that absolutely everything is possible. Do not count out anyone at any time. By halftime, a 2-0 lead through two goals from Bernardo Cuesta looked nice, but more chances were wasted and those are what was missing at the end. Since the hosts scored two more by the 83rd minute, everything was set for a sensational finish, but the Colombians just crawled across the finish line. Never had they expected a run for their money as shown by Peru’s Melgar on that day.
Atlético Junior, after their scare, face Colombian countrymen Deportes Tolima in the second round. It took them penalties to beat Venezuela’s Carabobo FC 3-1. The two legs were not all that exciting after a total of zero goals in 210 minutes.
Lots of reason to party: Sportivo Luqueño destroyed Aurora at home.
The one Bolivian team that did not get smashed in the first leg (see last article) happily made up for it in the second leg. Aurora lost in Paraguay to Sportivo Luqueño by a scoreline of 1-5 (2-7 aggregate). The favorite did not leave any doubts in the process leading 2-0 by halftime and 4-0 after an hour. Guido Di Vanni scored two goals in the second leg. In the next stage, Luqueño faces…
…Deportivo La Guaira who needed just one goal to eliminate Ecuador’s Universidad Catolica. Edgar Pérez Greco scored in the 41st minute, and after a 1-1 draw in the first leg away from home, it was enough to see the Venezuelans through.
The other Universidad Católica, the one from Chile, did a better job and kicked out Uruguay’s Danubio FC. The game was opened up by a weird own goal of defender Matías de los Santos, who headed the ball back over the top of his goalkeepers hands right into the top corner. The Uruguayan hosts fought back and got level with a goal from Juan Olivera (50th), but it was all over when the defense failed completely ten minutes from the end and Mark González scored to shoot Universidad into the next round.
The Chileans are going to play against Libertad in the second round. Paraguay’s 2014 double champion converted two penalties during the second leg and sneaked by the Santiago Wanderers who posed a challenge (2-1 agg.).
Club Bolívar, despite winning 2-0 against Defensor Sporting, are out of the Copa Sudamericana as well. The 3-0 burden from the first leg was simply too much to recover from. William Ferreira scored both goals for the Bolivians.
Continuing the theme of double goalscorers is Ariel Núñez. The 27 year old Paraguayan striker scored twice in Olimpia’s 2-0 win over Huachipato. Since he already scored in the first leg, Olimpia was absolutely cruising through the first round, beating their opponents from Chile 4-0 on aggregate.
In the last first round tie, which is already finished, LDU Quito saved Ecuador and got by Venezuela’s Zamora. While I expected some more of the team that already played in the Libertadores during the first half of the year, they disappointed in the second leg especially. A 2-0 loss in Ecuador’s capital meant game over, since all they managed in their own stadium before was a 1-1 draw.
Notes from around the Copa Sudamericana:
Not only the first round is still in progress, the Brazilians already started the second, in which they enter the competition. Here are the results from last night:
Brasília 0-0 Goiás
Ponte Preta 1-1 Chapecoense
Bahia 1-0 Sport Recife
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