Monday, April 25, 2016

Liverpool find dramatic winner, Peñarol comeback

Uruguay's round 9 of the Clausura had a lot to offer throughout the past weekend. From outsider wins to favourite comebacks, here is the summary of all the games.

Once again Liverpool's hero: Junior Arias. (Photo: AUF)
Junior Arias was Liverpool's hero in a 0-3 away win against Sud América a week ago. On Saturday, the striker worked his magic again, scored twice and gave Liverpool a dramatic 3-2 win over Racing Club. Up until the 83rd minute, visiting Racing looked like it would surely take some points home with them, having a 1-2 lead after goals from Ignacio Ithurralde (4') and Juan Pablo Rodríguez (75'). Liverpool had tied the game quickly inbetween, through Arias' first goal of the day (14'). 

Once more it showed that Liverpool are masters of the late goal. Five of their eleven goals this season were scored between minute 75 and 90. Two of them on Saturday. First, substitute Jhonatan Candia's penalty equalized the game (83'). Finally, after 97 minutes, Junior Arias was there to give the home team the dramatic win with his 8th goal of the season. A long ball forward was headed down by Candia, right towards Arias. The striker let it drop onto the pitch once, stopped it with his chest and fired it into the top left corner with his right foot. A very late goal of the day candidate. 

Liverpool have now won 3 of their last 4 games, collecting 10 points in the process, after starting the season with 5 straight losses. Slowly but surely, they are moving up the ranks and find themselves in 11th now. Racing is 12th and experience a clear downward trend with 1 point from the last 5 outings.

Sub for a comeback: Rossi replaces Forlán. (Photo: AUF)
As I predicted in my matchday preview, Peñarol got in trouble in their first game since midweek's Copa Libertadores action. Rentistas held a 1-0 lead until the 72nd minute, then the visitors in yellow and black turned it on and got away with a 1-3 win.

Yoel Burgueño gave the outsiders the lead after 38 minutes with a long shot from distance that ended up fooling everybody, goalkeeper Gastón Guruceaga included. Peñarol was down at halftime and threatened to lose sight of top spot in the league. At the end of the day, it was two second half substitutes that turned their fortunes around late. Diego Rossi had entered the pitch for Diego Forlán, Maxi Rodríguez came on for Nicolás Albarracin. Those two ended up scoring three goals in a matter of minutes. 

Rossi produced a nice solo through Rentistas' backline, was not attacked enough and therefore banged home the equalizer (72'). Only two minutes later, Maxi Rodríguez produced his first of two strikes. He surprised Rentistas' goalkeeper Guillermo Reyes with a lob from at least 35 metres that found the back of the net. In the last minute, a low shot from the edge of the area ended things last night and gave Peñarol a late, but deserved win. 
 
The 1-0 win from Nacional over Fénix has its own article, if you missed it. 

Montevideo Wanderers surprised this weekend. Or was it Defensor Sporting that did after all? Either way, the league's top striker Gastón Rodríguez played for 90 minutes but was held to zero goals by visiting Defensor. With a 0-0 draw, Wanderers missed the chance to reach closer contact with Uruguay's top sides. Defensor still did not manage to win for the fourth time in a row, but show themselves improved defensively after giving up a lot of goals in previous weeks. 

Plaza Colonia win again. (Photo: AUF)
League leaders Plaza Colonia stay league leaders following a 2-1 win over struggling El Tanque Sisley. An undisciplined away team could not hold on to its 0-1 lead after a penalty strike from Yuri Galli (28'). Instead, El Tanque collected two red cards, one straight red for Claudio Dadomo shortly after the second half had started, one for two yellows for defender Sergio Felipe (83'). Plaza Colonia meanwhile showed their comeback qualities, even if it was against a tumbling opponent. Germán Rivero equalized inside the first half still (39'), heading in a high cross from the left. After 63 minutes, Plaza had gotten their second goal through Nicolás Milesi's looping header (63'). Against 10, later 9, opponents, the side from Colonia del Sacramento had no trouble to bring their advantage across the finish line.

River Plate finally convinced again in the Primera División, beating Danubio 0-3. Ángel Rodríguez produced an absolute stunner into the top corner to give River a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. As time went on, the visitors continued to be the better team against their last place opponent, who then weakened itself with a red card. After 57 minutes, Cristian González was sent off by the referee. Montevideo's River now had it even easier and added two more goals, both via penalty, both from Michael Santos (64' & 90'+2).

A late penalty remained the only goal in the game between Villa Teresa and Sud América. Previously, both teams had rocked the same 3-2-3 record, now the fourth win belongs to Sud América. Maximiliano Arias scored the decisive penalty in the third minute of added time. The win was even more admirable for the visitors, as they were without Julián Perujo ten minutes into the second half after he had picked up his second yellow card of the day. Sud América climb up to 6th in the table, while Villa Teresa remains 11th. 

Finally, a surprise between CA Juventud and CA Cerro: Cerro can do more than just defend. Against somewhat-in-form Juventud, they came away with a 1-3 win on their ground. Maureen Franco got things started when he scrambled the ball across the goal line (15'). Juan Boselli managed to tie it up after 37 minutes in a bid to keep Juventud's unbeaten run going. Cerro had other plans in the second half. A freekick variation fooled everyone at the back and presented Hugo Silveira with an open net that he would not miss (51'). Andrés Ravecca added the insurance marker after 76 minutes with a flying header. Cerro, after some weaker performances, are back on winning ways and find themselves just three points behind Plaza Colonia.

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