Unión Española exposes a U without character

Universidad de Chile suffers when one of its figures is not on the playing field. The scheme is cracked and exposed for a team powerful enough to take advantage. It was exactly what happened at Santa Laura after Pablo Aránguiz was injured after a strong clash with Harold Cummings. The young U. midfielder could not continue and there is even a fear of a finger fracture. The worst thing is that along with their departure the Blues, at that time 1-0 on the scoreboard, blurred and allowed the locals to come over them, dominating them and making them go through extremely dark times.

Before that misfortune for one of Reinaldo Rueda’s favorite young men, the university team felt comfortable in Independencia. Despite the level of the match, they were able to quickly open the account, taking advantage of the bad record of the Iberian defense and the scoring grace of Joaquín Larrivey. It was at 22 ′, when the game already registered a backlash wasted by Aránguiz and a stick from Dávila after a horrible clearance by De Paul.

Another bad clearance – now from Thomas Galdames – allowed Caputto’s men to plot on the right and then send a ball to Larrivey, who controlled in a great way and beat Diego Sánchez with a powerful right hand. It is fair to point out that the goal against did not collapse the Hispanics: on the contrary, they intensified their attempts to achieve parity. The bad decisions in the last meters of the court, with Carlos Palacios and Misael Dávila failing in each center sent, prevented that from happening. The U held the result without too many problems.

Until Aránguiz’s injury. From then on, the lay cadre disappeared. The court leaned toward the blue end and the left flank became a constant corridor for Union attacks. Rodríguez, always reliable in attack, was totally overwhelmed by the climbs of Larenas, who entered the lineup to replace the expelled Luis Pavéz.

It was for this sector where the tie occurred. Precisely, after a combination of Larenas and Palacios, who changed places to take advantage of Rodríguez’s weakness. Renca’s pearl reached the bottom with a dominated ball, crossed and found Cristian Palacios, who had no problems to define in the small area. It happened at 45 ′ + 3 ′, quite a blow for the blue pretensions.

Totally diminished soccer, with Montillo disappeared and Espinoza’s strength lost, the U collapsed in the complement. Unión Española took advantage of that and did not delay in knocking them down and turning the game around through a goal from a free kick from Sandoval. In the blink of an eye, just like last year, blues go from heaven to hell with no resistance.

A shot by Cristian Fritz went through both verticals, demonstrating the fragility and surrender of the U. It was visible that the third would arrive before any opposite discount. Those of Ronald Fuentes controlled possession and the rhythm of the match, being superior in all lines. The entrance of Lobos by Espinoza did not make any difference in the operation of the blue midfield, much less Barrios by Guerra.

Palacios declared his double and sealed the match at 81 ′, although the non-existent university character indicated it even without the third local goal. Without poise, or football, or self-esteem, the U did not know how to recover from the loss of one of its figures, and leaves a very bad image facing the University Classic with the Catholic University, next Sunday.

MATCH SHEET:

U. Española 3 -1 U. de Chile

U. Española: Sánchez; Gómez (64 ′, Pavéz), Cummings, Galdames, Larenas; Sandoval, Méndez, Dávila; C. Palacios +, Cr. Palacios (84 ′, Mejía), Fritz (74 ′, Caballero). DT: R. Fuentes.

U. of Chile: From Paul; Rodríguez, González, Carrasco, Beausejour; Espinoza (67 ′, Lobos), Moya, Aránguiz (34 ′, Cornejo); Montillo, Guerra (7 ′, Barrios), Larrivey. DT. H. Caputto.

Goals: 0-1, 22 ′, Larrivey controls in the area and finishes off with his right hand after a pass from Rodríguez and poor coverage from Cummings; 1-1, 45 ′ + 3 ′, Cristian Palacios appears in the center of the area after a center by Carlos Palacios was not cleared; 2-1, 55 ′, Sandoval converts from free kick; 3-1, 81 ′, great collective move by Unión Española, culminating with Cr. Palacios finishing hard on the right.

Referee: Julio Bascuñán. He admonished Galdames, Dávila, Sandoval (UE); Beausejour, Moya.

Santa Laura Stadium.