América de Cali had a pale debut in group H of the Copa Libertadores on Wednesday when they fell 0-2 at home against Cerro Porteño from Paraguay at the Alfonso López Stadium in Bucaramanga.
Anecdotally, the same result from the first date of the continental tournament last year, when the Reds lost to Gremio, to Porto Alegre, to Pascual Guerrero.
For FUTBOLRED, here are the details that marked the Colombian champion’s defeat on his debut in the Conmebol match:
He didn’t know how to solve the rival’s strategyFrancisco Arce has certainly watched the videos of the BetPlay I League in which America suffered with Medellín, Millonarios and Equidad, as he took a similar approach, blocked Juan Cruz Real and took a major loot for Paraguay.
With two impregnable blocks, he didn’t suffer the game despite his rival’s possession, but scored two crucial goals at key moments to secure an important victory outside his territory. His brief touches and transitions were deadly to overcome a delay that looked vulnerable.
Time was up and the Argentinian coach was unable to turn Arce’s board. Beat those concerns amid a string of mistakes that came from the bank.
Permeable and Reaction-Free Defense: Playing with Pablo Ortiz as a left back is giving up the ability to open that arm to attack, but also, due to natural position, he tends to throw himself in the middle and give space to the attacker standing there .
This time it was no exception and Robert Morales took the opportunity to score the first goal. Then there was an advantage in a move from Mateus Goncalves and Ángel Cardozo punished the slowness and lack of reaction after the rebound of Joel Graterol.
The ‘devils’ were very bad in their winnings, their pressure was weak and they gave a lot of room to the ‘Guaraní’ cast, especially on the two goals.
It clashed and bounced back with that visiting double block: Cerro Porteño showed greater hierarchy throughout the attack, was well-restrained, and caused the scarlet tips to shipwreck during his few attempts. Mathías Villasanti and Claudio Aquino looked solid and did not let America play in the middle.
Possesses without damage: Having the ball is useless if it is not used in the rival goal. That was what América did, who held the ball for the entire match without being deep and therefore created very few chances in the portico of the practically unrequested Brazilian Jean Fernandes.
Quite the opposite of what Cerro Porteño did, which apart from finishing six times without stringing more often, scored two goals at key moments.
Very bad at attack: It was expected that key and experienced players such as Yesus Cabrera, Rafael Carrascal, Duván Vergara, as well as the youth Santiago Moreno, would be able to take advantage of their ability to unbalance the Paraguayan team’s fierce defense at ground level, but their physical play .
Perhaps the clearest option was to draw at minute 80, Moreno did not finish in the face of Jean Fernandes and made a mistake in the receiver of the pass, as instead of handing the ball to Gustavo Murillo, who came from behind, took off he. it on Yesus Cabrera, who had two players on top.
He played desperation: With the scoreboard against, Juan Cruz Real did not finish the match well and ended up playing the ollazo, whatever it came out, but Cerro Porteño had stopped so well that he was only compromised in the action already referred to by Moreno, who was eventually evacuated .
Changes delayed and offered no solution: The need for victory was the Colombian champion, who, despite falling behind, had no response from the bench. He joined Peruvian Aldaír Rodríguez at the age of 57, but the Inca forward is still far from the mark and the submissions from Héctor Quiñones and Guillermo Murillo at 69 did not serve to change a dark panorama in the match against Cerro .
Marco Antonio Garcés
Correspondent Futbolred Cali
On twitter: @marquitosgarces