Mexico’s América defeated Olimpia of Honduras 1-2 on Tuesday in the first leg of the first round of the Champions Cup of the Confederation of North, Central American, and Caribbean Association Football(Concacaf).
The first half was back and forth, with the Honduran team, coached by Uruguayan Eduardo Espinel, partially dominating the first 35 minutes.
Dávila gave América the lead
Striker Jorge ‘Toro’ Benguché became the main threat to the Mexican defense, generating most of the chances on the right flank.
Benguché struck first in the 10th minute with a powerful shot that grazed the right post.
He tried his luck again in the 28th minute, when a left-footed shot was deflected by América goalkeeper Luis Malagón.
With a spectacular stretch to the lower left post, he sent the ball to a corner kick.
When Olimpia seemed to control the game, the Mexican team managed to open the scoring in the 47th minute with Víctor Dávila.
Dávila took advantage of a corner kick and, with a left-footed shot from the center of the box, beat goalkeeper Edrick Mejívar to make it 0-1.
This forced the Hondurans to look for a reaction in the second half.
Juárez sealed América’s win at the end of the game
Jorge Álvarez equalized the score in the 50th minute with a powerful shot from outside the area that went into the upper right corner, after an assist from José Pinto.
Just two minutes later, U.S. referee Ismail Elfath disallowed a goal by Benguché, who is the top scorer in the Copa Centroamericana with eight goals, for an offside call.
América, under the direction of Brazilian André Jardine, continued to press.
Finally, they found the winning goal in the 88th minute with a shot by Ramón Juárez to make the final score 1-2.
The second leg will be played on February 11 in Mexico, where Olimpia will seek to reverse the result.
Technical data
The firts half was end-to-end
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Olimpia: Edrick Menjívar, Kevin Güity, Clinton Bennett (Santiago Ramírez, m.89), Emanuel Hernández, Facundo Queiroz, Carlos Sánchez, Jorge Álvarez (Raúl García, m.89), Edwin Rodríguez (Jerry Bengtson, m.79), Agustín Mulet, José Mario Pinto and Jorge Benguché.
Coach: Eduardo Espinel.
2. América: Luis Malagón, Sebastián Cáceres (Miguel Vázquez, m.92), Ramón Juárez, Kevin Álvarez, Cristian Borja, Jonathan dos Santos (Alan Cervantes, m.92), Rodrigo Dourado, José Raúl Zúñiga (Alex Zendejas, m.61), Alexis Gutiérrez (Brian Rodríguez, m.61), Erick Sánchez and Víctor Dávila.
Coach: André Jardine.
Goals: 0-1, minute 47: Víctor Dávila. 1-1, 50th minute: Jorge Álvarez. 1-2, 88th minute: Ramón Juárez.
Referee: Ismail Elfath (U.S.). Yellow cards for Olimpia’s Agustín Mulet and Facundo Queiroz, and Rodrigo Dourado for América.
Incidents: First leg match of the CONCACAF Champions Cup played at the Estadio Nacional José de la Paz Herrera, in Tegucigalpa.
With information from EFE
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