A sad night for Emelec as they lost 3-2 to Independiente del Valle in the 94th Anniversary. They failed to win for the fifth consecutive game in this Pro League campaign, which worsened their game crisis.
At the Jorge Capwell Stadium, the visitors cruised to victory thanks to goals from Bolivian Marcelo Martínez Moreno and a brace from Argentine-American Michael Hoyos. Eight days into play, the result confirmed the leaders of the first stage of the tournament.
Meanwhile, the tricolor John Jairo Sanchez and Argentina’s Carlos Villalba scored for the lamp. A fall that buries him in the twelfth box of levels.
With more desire than a good sport, the electricians began trying to suppress the dashers. Jose Francisco Cevallos Jr. and Tommy Sampa looked to capitalize on the space left by their rival to supply Alejandro Cabeza and Christian Valencia.
But it sparked a reaction from Independiente, and 10 minutes later they responded with a first-class shot from youngster Kendry Páez. As the attacks continued, the crowd escalated from there.
When the Blacks controlled the ball, Emelek came alive and created a counterattack from the right flank for midfielder Edgar Lastre, who decided to finish, but could not overcome the resistance of goalkeeper Moises Ramirez (14 min).
On another visit, Lastrey took advantage of a bad rejection from the Independiente defense and once again he tried to open the scoring, but he couldn’t do it either (22 min).
After this, Independiente’s intensity increased. A quick combination between striker Marcelo Martínez Moreno and Junior Sornoza left Peez alone against goalkeeper Ortiz, but he unleashed a cross.
There was a round trip to the end of the first half, but neither team had the ability to give the last shot against the goals.
In the second half, Emelec managed to open the entry marker. The striped team neglected to aim for a free kick and the ball was in the possession of defender Luis Fernando Leon, who passed the ball to midfielder Jan Jairo Sanchez to tap in with subtle determination to make it 1-0. An action checked by VAR in the 49th minute.
In the 57th minute, goalkeeper Ortiz excelled with a cat-like reaction to stop Pease’s shot towards the left side of his goal.
The visitors’ pressure reaped its reward on 59 minutes. A mistake by the Blues’ defensive unit allowed Bolivian Martins Moreno to head home. Again VAR legalized the action for a tie.
The game turned uphill for Emelek with Sanchez sent off. After reviewing the images on VAR, it was found that the midfielder launched a puck but it hit goalkeeper Ramirez.
In another play consulted on VAR, Romario Caicedo stepped on Alan Minda in the small area and the referee awarded them a penalty. 1-2 (86 min) from a free kick by Michael Hoyos.
This caused the light bulb to lose what little clarity it lost. As they began to build play, the Blue defenders were surprised by Martins Moreno, who helped the Hoyos fire them with a left-footed shot (90 min).
But with his last gasp, Argentina midfielder Carlos Villalba capitalized on a header to leave the score 2-3 (90+6 min). (D)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/eluniverso/6NNHAYN3SBGITAVT5JMMIZKPMU.jpg&description=Emelec%E2%80%99s%20bitter%20anniversary%3A%20%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B3-2%20loss%20to%20Pro%20League%20outright%20leaders%20Independiente%20del%20Valle%20%7C%20%20National%20Championship%20%7C%20%20game){kind=link}