Friday, October 12, 2012

Ecuador 3 - Chile 1

Quito was the site as Ecuador tried to make it five home wins from five in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.  Chile were the invitees on this day to Estadio Atahualpa.  Cristian Benitez had a header off a corner kick saved by a diving Miguel Pinto in goal for Chile.  Minutes later, Gabriel Achilier sent a header off the Chilean crossbar.  Moments after that, Benitez had another header sent goalward, but this time it was Felipe Seymour who was present to clear off the line and save Chile's goal from being breached.  Three minutes later, disaster struck against Ecuador.  Juan Carlos Paredes scored perhaps the worst own goal of the entire qualifying tournament worldwide as he faced a cross with the goal to his left and decided to clear the ball with his right foot, which was pointed directly at his own goal, rather than with his left foot, which was facing away from his goal.  Anyhow, the result of his decision was inevitable, so Chile had an undeserved 1-0 lead.  Mattias Fernandez basically gave the goal back eight minutes later with an awful back pass over fifteen yards deep that was intercepted by Felipe Caicedo.  Caicedo slipped around Pinto and finished into an open net for the 1-1 score.  That was the score at the break.

Benitez nearly had a goal when he shot just wide from the top of the box three minutes into the second period after Caicedo had given him a perfect lay-off.  Chile defender Pablo Contreras smashed into Reinato Ibarra inside the penalty area, resulting in Contreras's second yellow card and a sending off in minute 54.  Caicedo had his penalty attempt saved, but he ran up to knock home the rebound, giving Ecuador a one-goal lead with a man advantage.  Luis Saritama nearly had the third for Ecuador eight minutes from time, but his shot got stuck under the body of Pinto, who honestly could not have known much about the save he had just made.  Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal threw a cheap shot elbow to Saritama's face, so he was bounced from the field in minute 86.  Ecuador made their two-man advantage pay off in stoppage time when a short-corner free kick from Jefferson Montero met the head of Segundo Castillo (pictured, yellow) at the near post for a headed goal.  Ecuador win 3-1.

Goals
Ecuador
Felipe Caicedo 33, 56
Segundo Castillo 90+3

Chile
Juan Carlos Paredes 25 OG

Match Reports:
http://www.santiagotimes.cl/sports/soccer/25278-ecuador-defeats-chile-3-1-in-world-cup-qualifier

Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMXMRiD2n-g

Full Match Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGhZPzpa0Jg

No comments: