America of Cali tied 1-1 against University of Chile and then prevailed in shots from the penalty spot, to qualify for the semifinal of the women’s Copa Libertadores.
the goalkeeper Natalie Giraldo She was the heroine of América, by stopping Fernanda Pinilla’s charge and giving her team the classification. The rival will be Palmeiras, who this Sunday eliminated Santiago Morning.
The initial pressure was from the scarlet team that began to play their game, but without much clarity in the final meters. While the university team tried to hold on defense and had some approaches through the dead ball.
After 10 minutes, the red devils began to arrive with danger and had three opportunities. The first with a cross from Catalina Usme from a free kick, but goalkeeper Vanina Correa stopped. Then with a moving shot from Mariana Zamorano, but it had the same finish and finally a good collective sequence, which ended with a cross shot from Fabiana Yanten, but the goalkeeper rejected it with her fists.
At minute 30, the Valle del Cauca players knocked on the opposite door again with a shot from outside the area by Catalina, but Vanina managed to scratch her to send her to the corner kick. Seven minutes later, the australes approached again with a set piece by Ana Huertas, but she went over Natalia Giraldo’s horizontal.
The goal that put pressure on America
In the last play of the first half, the University of Chile had a free kick very close to the rival area, Yessenia López executed the charge and scored the 1-0, hanging the ball to the upper left corner of the Colombian goalkeeper, with which she finished the initial stage.
For the second half, America made the first change. Ingrid Vidal entered by Leury Basanta. Then the australes responded with the entry of Bárbara Sánchez for Llanka Groff. In those first minutes, the dynamic of the game was maintained, but the
from the south of the continent were firmer in defense and more easily approached Giraldo’s goal.
Given the little response from both teams, the coaches continued to make changes. In the scarlet Wendy Bonilla and Daniela Castellanos entered by Mariana Muñoz and Sara Martínez. In the Chileans, Sonya Keefe jumped into the field for Rebeca Fernández.
About 73 minutes in, Catalina centered a ball into the heart of the area from a free kick, defender Karen Fuentes tried to deny it, but ended up putting it into her own goal for the partial 1-1. Seconds later, the Scarlets had to make a forced change, Tatiana Castañeda came out for Anlly Iglesias.
It is the third time that America has reached the semifinal of the women’s Libertadores. He had already achieved it in 2019, when he eliminated UAI Urquiza from Argentina, and in 2020, when he knocked out Boca Juniors in the quarterfinals. In that edition he was a finalist.
Deportivo Cali had already qualified for the semifinals by defeating Ferroviaria 2-1 and will face Boca Juniors in that phase, who left out the defending champion, Corinthians.
Juan Andres Arias
Football Correspondent
Cali
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