After their comfortable 6-0 victory over Colegio Quillón, Colo Colo visited O’Higgins in Rancagua, for the quarterfinals of the South Central Zone of the Chile Cup. In short, the duel against the light blues was their first serious attempt in the competition and the albos felt that rigor and They ended up rescuing a 2-2 draw in the historic city.
The albos appeared on the El Teniente field with their best possible contingent, taking into account that Esteban Pavez, Cristian Zavala, Marcos Bolados and Brayan Cortés were with the National Team. Those from the Sixth Region, for their part, came out to improve the image they left after their suffering classification against Lautaro de Buin, so it was a fairly intense match with several situations.
At 34′, Martín Sarrafiore opened the scoring with a great goal. He appeared uncovered and with a very powerful shot from distance he overcame the resistance of Fernando de Paul to unleash the joy of the local. A goal that served to inject rhythm into the match and also for the Cacique to leave in demand of a tie. At the end of the first half, goalkeeper Nicolás Peranic was a figure thanks to two notable saves. However, a mistake on his part allowed the whites to go into the break with parity.
The minute 45+1 was running, when Erick Wiemberg took advantage of a center from Óscar Opazo to beat a naive Simón Contreras over the top and beat the Rancagüino goalkeeper, after the ball passed under his body after a weak resistance. The 1-1 added another spice to the match.
In the second half, O’Higgins went out in search of the advantage again. He warned before the minute of the second half with a shot that passed near the Colocolino goal. However, at 50′, the whites had a very clear shot. A spectacular three-finger pass from Arturo Vidal found only Carlos Palacios, who took out the goalkeeper and finished. However, it didn’t take into account that Contreras was going to vindicate himself by taking the ball from the line.
For the home team, Bryan Rabello took the lead and the entry of Arnaldo Castillo gave greater presence in the area to Víctor Fuentes’ pupils. Although the number of approaches decreased, the emotions still remained until the end. The whites were losing prominence and ended up suffering.
At 82′, a center from the youth Joaquín Tapia from the right left the Alba defense overwhelmed, The ball was hit and the Paraguayan Castillo did not forgivewith a high shot in the small area. The 2-1 score gave justice to what was happening in the second half. But again that advantage would be short-lived.
In the 88th minute, Almirón’s team equalized. A center from Carlos Palacios found the head of Guillermo Paiva, who connected to equalize. Towards the end, Arturo Vidal was sent off after a late tackle on Antonio Díaz. King left the field very upset, because he understood that it was a soccer play and that referee Víctor Manzor made a mistake. Furthermore, he received florid insults from the local bias.
Everything was left open for the rematch, which will be played next Sunday the 30th, at 5:30 p.m., at the Monumental stadium.
“It was a very tough match, happy for the draw that was rescued and that we will be able to define at home. We want to fight in all the tournaments, the Chile Cup is an important step. “The team has to know how to fight everything because it is the biggest team in the country.”Carlos Palacios told TNT Sports after the match.
