Roundup Newsletter: Matchweek #5
Draws were once again the predominant result amongst the teams in a very even weekend of football.
Técnico Universitario 0- Olmedo 0 (Estadio Olímpico de Ambato:19-3-2021)
Matchweek 5 got off to a lackluster start on Friday in a match between Técnico Universitario and Olmedo. The fact that both teams had only scored a combined 1 goal in 4 matches, indicated that this was not going to be a classic.
The match itself was pretty hotly contested in the middle of the pitch, with both teams trying to dominate possession and tempo. Throughout the match, there were few half-chances created by both teams. In reality, the biggest chance of the match fell to Técnico Universitario in the 30th minute of the match. A floated cross was teasingly delivered from the left hand side into the penalty spot, where Quintero was waiting all alone. His diving header met the ball well, but his timing was off completely and the ball went wide of Cevallos’ right-hand post.
Olmedo never came close to troubling the hosts, and the clearest chance for them fell to Cisneros on the 91st minute, but his shot went over the crossbar to finalize the match in what was an almost unwatchable match of football.
Mushuc Runa 0- Macará 0 (Estadio Mushuc Runa Echaleche :20-3-2021)
After a frustrating beginning of the matchweek, this match looked to be one that was going to be more interesting. To an extent, in spite of the scoreline, it was more interesting.
In the first half, Mushuc Runa came out and tried to play the style that Cumbicus has chosen for his more winnable games. The four man defense was playing a slightly higher line than usual, and the team was attempting to set the match-tempo on the pitch. In the 28th minute, the team received a free-kick on the edge of the area. The ball was put into the box by Koufatti, Bauman tried to control it and he managed to head it to himself before being unable to finish after some good reactive defending by the Macará defense.
On the other side, Macará were struggling to control possession. However they did look dangerous when Arón Rodríguez had the ball. His dribbling skills and his excellent progressive runs were causing some problems in the Mushuc Runa midfield, however, he seemed to be the only bright spark in an otherwise sluggish team.
Macará’s clearest change came at the beginning of the second half when Champang was unable to poke it past the Mushuc Runa goalkeeper who solidly collected the ball in his area. In the end, both teams looked to fin an unlikely winner as the match finished in a 0-0 draw.
Independiente del Valle 2- Delfín 0 (Estadio BDG: 20-3-2021)
Estadio Banco de Guayaquil opened its semi-finished doors as IDV hosted Delfín under a torrential rain. Independiente were fresh off of a second-round Libertadores victory against Unión Española and made easy work of Paúl Vélez’ Delfín who appear to be struggling in their transition year.
In reality, the match fully belonged to IDV. They dominated possession, they established their tempo, and Delfín never looked likely to trouble Moisés Ramírez’ area. The match was over in the 7th minute, when Faravelli found a loose ball in the penalty area and finished past Johan Padilla with a low driven shot to the right-hand post. 1-0
The rest of the match was played at half-speed, with Independiente passing the ball on every single blade of grass, as Delfín’s men attempted to defend and chase lost causes. In the 88th minute, after a smart move by Vite, Escobar ran onto a pass and provided a low pass into the penalty spot which was missed by the Delfín defense and finished calmly by Brian Montenegro, who is proving to be a great addition to the former Sudamericana champions. 2-0
After a tough start, Paiva is finding his feet in the LigaPro and is proving that IDV will be a force to be reckoned with this year. Paúl Vélez must improve if he is to be afforded time as the Delfín manager.
LDU (Q) 2-Barcelona SC 2 (Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado: 20-3-2021)
**This match will be reviewed in detail in a video for this week’s Ecuador’s Match of the Week (EMOTW).**
Liga Deportiva Universitaria hosted Barcelona SC in what has been the most entertaining match of the gameweek so far. An uncharacteristic Barcelona SC opted against their high-tempo press in the altitude of Quito and prioritized a more defensive stance. It must be said that Barcelona SC were missing some key players due to positive Covid-19 diagnoses.
The match ended in a draw 2-2. Martínez Borja scored a brace while Leandro Martínez and Damián Díaz scored a chipped penalty for the team from Guayaquil as both teams are still unbeaten having shared the points in Quito.
Manta 1-SD Aucas 1 (Estadio Jocay: 21-3-2021)
Sunday’s action started with yet another stalemate between Manta and Aucas in the coastal team’s home ground. Aucas were looking to start off with a win after sacking their former manager Darío Tempesta, but they were unable to collect 3 points on there travels.
The match began with Manta on the front-foot. Trying to find José Angulo and with an atypical use of two number 10s in Martínez and Alaníz. There afternoon couldn’t have started better . In a quick attack on the left-hand side, saw Bustamante make an unnoticed run, he took a touch and saw that Alaníz was rushing onto the area, he weighted the pass perfectly and Alaníz made no mistake to fire past Frascarelli to give the Tuna Vessels the lead at home. 1-0
Manta tried to build on their fantastic start, but Aucas were starting to become more proactive in their play. With the evergreen Figueroa not shying away from responsibilities and starting to dictate play with Jhonny Quiñonez and Olmedo who was playing instead of an absent Stiven Tapiero. It did not take long for them to find an equalizer. In the 20th minute, Vallecilla (who is having an interesting season) ran down the right-hand wing and fed it inside to Quiñonez who tapped the ball into the area to Figueroa. The Argentine playmaker failed to control with his first touch but managed to weave his way through the Manta defense and fired a strong shot to the keeper’s right hand side to score a fantastic equalizer. 1-1
The rest of the first-half was hotly contested, but Aucas were starting to look the more likely as Manta’s efforts started withering as the half closed.
In the second-half, Aucas were clearly the dominant team. They tried to break down a disciplined defensive line and had some chances to find the winner. The biggest chance came to Figueroa who dragged a shot into Piedra’s right-hand lower side. The highly-questioned goalkeeper managed to get a hand to it and pushed it behind for a corner. Inn the 67th minute, Moreira was sent off for a clumsy stray elbow which pushed Manta even further back. In the end, Aucas had one final chance when a teasing ball fell into the area and after a mix-up between the Manta defense, Jordan Jaime cleared off the line with an overhead kick to earn his team an excellent point after going down to 10 men.
Guayaquil City 1-Universidad Católica 2 (Estadio Cristian Benítez: 21-3-2021)
Universidad Católica visited Guayaquil City after being eliminated from the Copa Libertadores during the week. Meanwhile, Guayaquil City were trying to add points to their tally after a tough start to the season.
The match started off with a steady back and forth. Both teams were trying to exploit the spaces left in midfield through quick transitions. City prioritized their attacks on the middle of the pitch with Gaibor and Balda, who would last a mere 13 minutes before going off injured. Meanwhile, Católica implemented their wide men as their main attacking threats.
It would be City who would strike first. A long ball was met first by former Católica man Parrales, who beat an injured Minda to the ball. It then was controlled smartly by Quiñónez who took a touch and twisted Mosquera inside-out before firing an unstoppable shot past Galíndez to give the Citizens the lead. 1-0
The half finished with City on top but no longer threatening after the introduction of a solid Rockson Rentería. In the second-half, Gregori Anangonó replaced López at right-back for Católica as the Little Blue Train searched for an equalizer. Their constant attacks clearly indicated that it would only be a matter of time. In the 58th minute, Anangonó took the ball on the left-hand side touchline about 3/4 into the pitch, he ran past the covering winger and beat the left-back with ease before stepping into the area and unleashing a shot that deflected off a City defender onto an onrunning Walter Chalá who made no mistake and fired a shot into the roof of the net much to the delight of caretaker manager Cifuentes. 1-1
The momentum was clearly with Católica and they searched for a winner. They wouldn’t have to wait long. 4 minutes later, Facundo Martínez delivered a dangerous corner which was half-cleared by Parrales, the ball fell to Alzugaray who volleyed the ball precisely onto the right-hand corner of the goal defended by Banguera, to score the goal of the matchweek and give Católica all 3 points in their visit to Guayaquil. 1-2
Emelec 0-9 de Octubre 1 (Estadio Capwell: 21-3-2021)
In the last match of Sunday, the Patriots stunned the local footballing press by stealing a victory away at Emelec with a counter-attacking goal right at the death.
In spite of dominating possession, Emelec were unable to find the cutting edge in the final third that they had during their first matches of the season. This was seen by how Rescalvo’s men only had 3 shots on target and had huge issues with stepping into the final third.
On the other hand, 9 de Octubre were disciplined in defence and managed to always keep the tricky Emelec wide players at bay, with their own wide players providing coverage to their own fullbacks causing Emelec to centralize the majority of their attacks which were contained quite well by the 9 de Octubre defensive block.
The only goal of the game came at the 92nd minute. As Emelec were looking for a winner that would lift them level on the top of the table, Sebastián Rodríguez played in a hopeful pass from midfield into a congested 9 de Octubre box. The ball was easily cleared and fell to a 9 de Octubre player on the left hand side of his own half. He lifted his head and played a beautiful pass into the opposition’s half to José Fajardo, right in front of the half-way line he took a poor second touch that seemed to allow Emelec to get back into shape, however, he managed to play a wide pass to the left onto Éder Cetre, who held off a challenge and played the ball to Felipe Mejía in the penalty area who fed in the ball to José Fajardo who finished first-time into the roof of the net. Which gave all 3 points to 9 de Octubre 0-1
Deportivo Cuenca 1- Orense 0 (Estadio Alejandro Serrano Aguilar: 22-3-2021)
Matchday 5 came to a close on a cold Monday night in Cuenca. With Orense visiting Deportivo Cuenca. The match began with both teams struggling to get a hold of possession and the few times when they did, the referee blew his whistle for clumsy challenges in the middle of the pitch. In the 11th minute, Chicaiza floated in the ball from a free-kick, which Cucco connected, luckily for Orense, Silva (who has been a great player this season) managed to control after giving an inital rebound.
The rest of the half was similar to how it started, both teams were trying to attack but the match was constantly stopped for fouls. Probably as many fouls as there have been combined for the rest of the matches of the matchweek. Then towards the end of the half, Achilier and Segura went up for the same ball and they clashed heads. This meant that Achilier had to be substituted and according to the commentators had to be taken to a local hospital to be checked.
In the last chance of the first-half, a ball was hit up front by Cuenca and Arce managed to control it. He took a touch and struck the ball which deflected off an Orense defender and hit the post, in what would be the cleaest chance of the first-half.
The second-half started with Deportivo Cuenca looking more attacking in their set-up. This meant that they tested Silva early on, and the goalkeeper managed to get a fingertip to a powerful Dorregaray header to prevent the hosts from going 1-0 up.
In the 52nd minute, Cuenca got a penalty when Dorregaray was deemed to be fouled in the area. Andrés Chicaiza stepped up confidently and HE TAPPED THE PENALTY SOFTLY IN THE AREA FOR AN UNRUSHING DORREGARAY TO FINISH INTO THE BACK OF THE NET. (I apologize for the caps, but that wasn’t expected). 1-0
Shortly after the ball was passed back to Heras, who made a meal out of the pass and Matamoros won the ball back only for his teammate to get in his way and allow Heras the time to recover and pick up the ball.
A few minutes later, the ball was filtered by Mancinelli into the area and Dorregaray alone in front of the keeper blasted the ball over the bar and to the Reina del Cisne stadium in Loja.
With the lead and seemingly happy to give the ball to the opposition. Deportivo Cuenca dropped back to a deep defensive line. They withstood the constant attacks by Orense and opted for a counterattacking style against opposition that would be searching for an equalizer.
Orense came close in the 77th minute with a shot that was tipped over the bar by Heras. With Cuenca becoming leggier and Orense’s high-fitness levels showing, the Green Menace started winning dangerous free-kicks near Cuenca’s area. Orense knocked on the door, but Deportivo Cuenca were fighting like beavers and managed to win all 3 points in a hotly contested match.