It didn’t just happen in Sao Paulo: the story of Cobresal’s Paraguayan rival that traveled to Chile and ended with three expelled

Sao Paulo emerged victorious from its passage through San Carlos de Apoquindo. They authoritatively beat Universidad Católica 4-2 in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana Round of 16. However, there was a black spot in the team’s performance. Rogerio Ceni in the foothills: the three expulsions .

The double yellow that Igor Vinícius saw, at 51′, seemed normal in a Cup match. But the expulsion of Rodrigo Néstor in the 73′, for a hard tackle on Marcelino Núñez, added to the red by the Argentinian Jonathan Calleri in the 87′, they showed a lack of control of Sao Paulo which UC did not have knew how to take advantage. Undoubtedly something very rare in modern football. When was the last time a Chilean team was seen with such a numerical advantage on the pitch in an international tournament? How long has it been since a similar scenario happened to UC? Here are the answers.

In August 2014, Cobresal was paired for the first phase of that year’s Copa Sudamericana against General Díaz of Paraguay. The Miners fell 2-1 in the first leg as visitors. A week later, they received those of Luque at the El Cobre stadium, hoping to reverse the series, not knowing that they were going to witness an unusual situation.

The Paraguayans made the team managed at the time by José Cantillana suffer. Roberto Gamarra opened the account after 4 minutes. Matías Donoso quickly equalized in the 24′, after a fine assist from Víctor Hugo Sarabia. However, a lethal visit resulted in a goal by Víctor Genes in the 34′; it was 2-1 for General Díaz.

It was precisely there, at the worst moment of Cobresal, that the unthinkable happened. After an offside in the 37th minute, defenders Gustavo Toranzo and Ángel Vera went to blows, to the disbelief of the Chilean players and the 800 spectators who arrived on the Salvadoran field this afternoon. Judge Gery Vargas, from Bolivia, decided to apply the rules and expelled the two footballers. In this way, the Paraguayans ended up with two less.

But Las Águilas’ lack of control didn’t stop there. At minute 64, it was Cristian Sosa who saw the red card, but this time for attacking a white and orange player. Unfortunately, despite their presence at home and with three more players for almost 30 minutes, the Chileans could not make the difference against a decimated foreigner. Only a long shot from Johan Fuentes made it 2-2 on 85′, but the miners still needed two goals, following two visiting goals from General Díaz.

In this way, Luque’s team obtained a rare qualification for the second round of the Copa Sudamericana, where they were narrowly eliminated against Atlético Nacional, who were runners-up in this edition of the contest (the champion was River Plate).

Focusing the analysis on the Catholic University, since 2010 they are not in a similar situation, with a rival with three expelled. He visited Santiago Morning, at the municipal stadium of La Pintana, in front of 2,101 participants.

On August 15, the Crusaders won 2-0 with goals from Milovan Mirosevic, from the penalty spot, and Roberto Gutiérrez, who scored at 10 and 45 minutes respectively.

Already in the second semester and looking for a discount, the bus team went out of control and suffered the expulsion of Fidencio Oviedo (72 ‘), Washington Torres (79 ‘) and Damián Nieto however, the latter saw red once the match was over.