Wanderers took advantage of the irresponsibility of the UC

Santiago Wanderers won the first leg of the regional quarterfinals in the Copa Chile 2024 in agonizing fashion. César Valenzuela scored in the last minute and UC will have to turn the result around in Rancagua. Sebastián Pérez and Agustín Farías were expelled.

The match began with Santiago Wanderers who tried to be the protagonist of the actions, handling the ball across the width of the playing field. However, UC responded with quick builds in attack that complicated the “Caturro” fund.

Eduardo Miranda excelled with three interventions with shots outside the area, courtesy of Agustín Farías and César Pinares. Then, the goalkeeper flew again, blocking a header from Gonzalo Tapia towards his goal.

The local modified its proposal, and began to pressure the departure of Católica. This translated into a theft of the ball from Gary Kagelmacher by Enzo Ormeño, but found the quick exit of Sebastián Pérez. Then, Daniel González slept on the mark and Carlos Muñoz enabled Andrés Vilches that he could not specify.

The “Dean” followed his strategy and complicated UC football, which had a poor first half. Cristian Cuevas was quickly reprimanded and conditioned his offensive adventures, while Agustín Farías had a poor first half, and was also reprimanded.

A free kick caused by Farías himself caused the clearest scoring chance of the first 45 minutes. A free kick taken by Marcelo Cañete crashed into the top post of Pérez’s goal.

For the second half, both technicians made modifications. Jaime García brought in César Valenzuela, while Nunes brought in Guillermo Soto. Things started badly for UC, since just one minute after action resumed, Clemente Montes suffered physical problems and was replaced by Milan Tudor.

Católica had its first chance at 50 of the complement, with a great play by Alexander Aravena that left Marcos Velasquez in the way, but he again met the resistance of Eduardo Miranda with a great save. Almost 15 minutes later, Wanderers responded with a header from Carlos Muñoz which was stopped in an extraordinary way by Sebastián Pérez.

At 72 minutes, a great deep pass for Diego Opazo ended in a harsh infraction by Sebastián Pérez, who collided with the young leader “Caturro”. The goalkeeper was sent off and the recently introduced Milan Tudor was sacrificed for Gillier’s entry. The problems for Tiago Nunes did not stop, and in a very violent action, Agustín Farías crowned his bad game with a second yellow cardleaving his team with nine players.

Santiago Wanderers took advantage of the numerical superiority, and attacked UC with everything with a barrage of centers into the area. However, the team led by Jaime García was imprecise in the last touch. Carlos Muñoz had a great chancebut he incredibly deflected his header.

Universidad Católica took refuge in its field and held the tie against a Wanderers that was unclear to attack, despite having two more players on the field of play. Gillier responded with great covers, but César Valenzuela scored in the last minute to tip the balance in favor of the Valparaíso team.

Everything will be decided in the second leg, which will be played next Saturday, June 29 at 3:00 p.m. at the El Teniente stadium in Rancagua.