Fly high. América from Mexico beat Olimpia from Honduras 1-2 in the first leg of the first round of the Champions Cup of the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean Football (Concacaf) played at the José de la Paz Herrera National Stadium, in Tegucigalpa.
The first half was back and forth, with partial dominance of the Honduran team, led by Uruguayan Eduardo Espinel, during the first 35 minutes.
Striker Jorge ‘Toro’ Benguché became the main threat for the visiting defense, generating most of the attacks from the right wing.
Benguché first warned in the 10th minute with a powerful shot that grazed the right post and tried his luck again in the 28th, when a left-footed shot was deflected by goalkeeper Luis Malagón with a spectacular stretch to the lower left post, sending the ball to a corner kick.
When the Olimpia “Lions” seemed to control the match, the Mexican team managed to open the scoring at 47 with Víctor Dávila, who took advantage of a corner kick and, with a left footed shot from the center of the area, beat goalkeeper Edrick Mejívar, making it 0-1 and forcing the “catrachos” to look for a reaction in the second half.
Midfielder Jorge Álvarez equalized the score in the 50th minute with a powerful right-footed shot from outside the area that slipped into the upper right corner, after an assist from José Pinto. Great goal from “three fingers” to temporarily level the score.
Just two minutes later, the American referee, Ismail Elfath, annulled a goal by Benguché, who has just become the top scorer in the Central American Cup with 8 goals, due to offside position.
The “Águilas” of América, under the direction of Brazilian André Jardine, continued to press and, finally, found the winning goal in the 88th minute with a shot by Ramón Juárez that sealed the final 1-2.
The Uruguayan Brian Rodríguez started the play from the left, threatening rivals, and after his shot was half-rejected by Menjívar, Juárez emerged to nest the ball a few meters from the Central American fence.
The second leg of this first round of the Concacaf Champions Cup will be played next Wednesday, February 11 in Mexico, where the “albos” of Olimpia will seek to reverse the result. A very complicated task.
This is how they aligned
– Olympia (1): Edrick Menjívar, Kevin Güity, Clinton Bennett (Santiago Ramírez, m.89), Emanuel Hernández, Facundo Queiroz, Carlos Sánchez, Jorge Álvarez (Raúl García, m.89), Edwin Rodríguez (Jerry Bengtson, m.79), Agustín Mulet, José Mario Pinto and Jorge Benguché.
– DT: Eduardo Espinel.
– America (2): Luis Malagón, Sebastián Cáceres (Miguel Vázquez, m.92), Ramón Juárez, Kevin Álvarez, Cristian Borja, Jonathan dos Santos (Alan Cervantes, m.92), Rodrigo Dourado, José Raúl Zúñiga (Alex Zendejas, m.61), Alexis Gutiérrez (Brian Rodríguez, m.61), Erick Sánchez and Víctor Dávila.- DT: André Jardine.
– Goals: 0-1, m.47: Víctor Dávila. 1-1, m.50: Jorge Álvarez. 1-2, m.88: Ramón Juárez.
– Referee: Ismail Elfath (American). He cautioned Agustín Mulet and Facundo Queiroz, from Olimpia, and Rodrigo Dourado, from América.
– Incidents: Concacaf Champions Cup match at the José de la Paz Herrera National Stadium, in Tegucigalpa.
