The 300th edition of the Valle del Cauca classic painted for a historic win for America in the first half, then it was asking for time and in the end, the reds scored two goals that gave them peace of mind to celebrate a new and resounding victory against Deportivo Cali.
The 5-2 win this Sunday at Pascual Guerrero left América very close to securing qualification for the semifinal home runs, while Cali stopped dead after three consecutive victories, without the possibility of fighting for the entry to eight and again thinking about the fight not to be relegated.
America was far superior in the first stage. He scored three goals and was able to score a couple more. A player from Iago Falque left Carlos Darwin Quintero facing the goal, who played with subtlety to beat goalkeeper Kevin Dawson and score 1-0, after 22 minutes.
Two minutes later, a beautiful play of touches ended in a cross by Edwin Velasco and a good definition by Andrés Sarmiento to increase América’s advantage.
The game went from victory to partial rout at 40, when Iago Falque finished off from outside the area and hung it at an angle. The result reflected the enormous superiority of America.
The goal that gave Cali encouragement
Cali, who had barely gotten close to the rival goal, found the possibility of discounting thanks to a penalty from Kevin Andrade to Kevin Viveros. Kevin Velasco charged hard and through the center, but goalkeeper Diego Novoa saved him.
However, the VAR called judge Carlos Betancur and warned him that Novoa did not have both feet on the line and the center-back ordered it repeated. This time, Velasco did not fail: 3-1 at halftime.
Cali cheered up in the second half and made America look bad at times. He ended up discounting after 34 minutes with a great goal from a free kick from Velasco. But there was still a lot of story to tell.
In the 89th minute, Cristian Barrios scored after a rebound from Dawson, but the lineman raised the flag for an alleged offside. The VAR detected that everything was legal and again, the classic was a red win.
And if something was missing for the euphoria of more than 35,000 spectators at the Pascual Guerrero, he was the fifth in America, converted by Barrios again: he received a tremendous pass from Luis Sánchez, headed it off before a bad start from Dawson and almost fell and without an angle, he put it left-handed. The red party was total.
Jose Orlando Ascencio
sports deputy editor
@josasc
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