Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Olimpia is with a broken compass and Marathon presented his candidacy for the title of the 2020/2021 Apertura tournament. El León won 1-0 at the National Stadium on Sunday, but the Sampedranos triumphed on the total scoreboard (3-2) in the group final and by taking the lead in the rounds made sure they played the final.
In the first leg, the Green Monster won 3-1 against Yankel Rosenthal.
DISPUTED
In the starting team’s purslane, he emphasized the absence of a born attacker, as Héctor Vargas surprised by leaving Bruno Volpi and Ryduan Palermo on the bench, while Marlon ‘Machuca’ Ramírez and Edwin Solani Solano were attentive from the opening whistle.
As expected, the Lion quickly attacked. And he found a team from San Pedro that was well ordered and played with the rival’s desperation.
However, the first chance of scoring occurred during the visit. After a corner kick, the ball went to Luis Vega, but his left footed shot went over the Olympic goal in minute 9.
The whites kept looking for damage to the sides and José looked to finish Mario Pinto, goalkeeper Denovan Torres bounced back and Jerry Bengtson just fired.
Marathon stayed true to his style. And he had better control of the ball as the minutes went by, the Leo began to despair and more because of the absence of arrivals in the rival area.
At 36, after the arrival of Maylor Núñez and a series of rebounds, central Mathías Techera pulled the ball out of his zone.
Everything got better at the end of the first part. Maylor came back, crossed and Pinto hooked before finishing straight, but Denovan Torres completely stretched and avoided the party. Then Selvin el Pibe Guevara almost beat Edrick Menjívar with a powerful shot that controlled the León goalkeeper in two halves.
SECOND TIME
Olimpia looked different, the path was not clear to them before the purslane defense.
Carlos Pineda bounced it off the rival frame, let it escape at minute 53 and three minutes later Edwin Solani failed hand-to-hand in the shot, Johnny Leverón arriving in time.
Denovan Torres gave a show in goal, covering the shots to Alejandro Reyes and Yustin Arboleda.
Jerry Bengtson crashed the ball into the post and Techera got the ball out in time when Eddie Hernández arrived with goal at the appointment.
Reyes already executed a free kick in injury time, no one touched the ball and went to the nets, the 1-0 did not suit the León who had to win with two goals difference to enforce penalties and three scores difference to the group final to win.
After the whistle from referee Óscar Moncaca, there was a line on the field involving the players and coaching staff of each team.
The semi-finals start next Wednesday and if Marathon wins the competition final, they will be crowned champions. Otherwise you will have to contest the final with Motagua, Olimpia or Vida.
-DATA SHEET:
OLYMPIAD: Edrick Menjívar, Maylor Núñez (Jorge Álvarez, min. 55), Elvin Casildo (German Mejía, min. 59), Johnny Leverón, Samuel Córdova, José Mario Pinto, Deiby Flores, Carlos Pineda (José Alejandro Reyes, min. 55), Edwin Rodríguez, Jerry Bengtson (Yustin Arboleda, min. 71) and Eddie Hernández.
Trainer: Pedro Troglio (ARG).
MARATHÓN: Denovan Torres, John Paul Suazo, Mathías Techera, Bryan Johnson, Luis Vega, Kervin Arriaga, Luis Garrido, Allan Banegas, Marlon Ramírez (Cristian Moreira, min. 77), Edwin Solani Solano (Carlos Perdomo, min. 85) and Selvin Guevara (Axel Motiño, min. 59 – Ryduan Palermo, min. 85).
Trainer: Héctor Vargas (ARG).
REFEREE: Oscar Moncada.