America had to fight back to tie Morelia on Sunday evening at the Estadio Azteca, extending its winless streak to seven games. In conceding a late equalizer, Morelia failed to keep the pace in its quest for a playoff berth, slipping closer to the bottom of the table.
The home side, missing defender Aquivaldo Mosquera on international duty and starting with Vicente Sanchez on the bench, came out flat, and similar to prior games conceded an early goal. The America defense failed to deal with a cross to Rafael Marquz Lugo at the far post, and he headed across for Miguel Sabah, who headed home with some ease in the 11th minute.
Morelia, boosted by the early goal, looked right at home in the Azteca, while America looked disjointed, incapable of putting together any serious offense until the second half. Just when it looked like the team would tumble to defeat in front of its own fans, though, Juan Carlos Valenzuela came through with the winner after Morelia was reduced to 10 men after two yellow cards in the space of three minutes for substitute Luis Noriega.
Morelia goalkeeper Federico Vilar, who was having an excellent game until that point, erred in coming out to collect a free kick in the area, allowing Valenzuela to turn the ball home in the 84th minute. Marvin Cabrera received his marching orders in stoppage time, sending Morelia down to nine men, but it was too late to meaningfully impact the game.
0 comments:
Post a Comment