translated from Spanish: Venezuela spoiled Ecuador’s plans by drawing in the last minutes

Venezuela arrived limited by the outbreak of covid-19 and the injury confirmed yesterday of another star, Yangel Herrera, who already shows an infirmary with a dozen players who could make up a good starting team. Ecuador, fresher after having had a day of rest, came out to besake the rival goal. Around the goal, Venezuela was entrenched, which came out again with five defenders and little tactical order in a team very depleted and almost improvised for this Copa America.Crouched, the players of the Vinotinto waited for their chances on the counterattack, but were not able to find the necessary rhythm in the first half. Nor did Ecuador, which searched in every way possible, show itself capable of finding gaps in the Venezuelan defense and, when they were troubled by their rivals, showed fragility to retreat. La Tri was reunited with the goal in the 38th minute, when Pervis Estupiñán threw a distant foul that showed the weaknesses of a Venezuelan defense, improvised and several times rebuilt by injuries and covid-19. After two nods, the ball reached Robert Arboleda who finished off the ball, then without owner, but Wuilker Fariñez managed to stop it shortly before colliding with his rival, an action in which his teammates saw foul on the goalkeeper. The rebound of the second rejection fell to Angelo Preciado, absolutely alone in the small area, where, with the goalkeeper beaten after the first shots and some defenders that seemed more like luxury spectators, he only had to push the ball to the back of the nets. With the 0-1 and two teams hesitant, the players went to the locker room. Just six minutes after the return to the box of play, José Martínez received a ball on the right side from which he threw a center into the area that seemed measured for the head of Edson Castillo.The Venezuelan arrived on the run and, very alone in the center of the area, finished with a superb header that put the ball far away from the hands of Pedro Ortiz.Shortly after , the controversy took shape again when, in a hard foul by Enner Valencia, the Vinotinto demanded the referee to show him the second yellow. Chile’s Roberto Tobar did not listen to the complaints and the La Tri player continued on the green. When Venezuela was playing its best minutes in the tournament and had Ecuador locked in defense, Gonzalo Plata reached a ball after a corner of the Vinotinto that smelled of goal. Fresh, as he had entered the field minutes before, Plata drove the ball with great speed from his court and was left alone in front of Fariñez who, very skillfully, cleared in the hand to hand. The ball fell to Christian Noboa, also newly entered the field and who had closely followed the career of his teammate, who made the second shot. However, Fariñez, again, cleared, but the ball fell to Plata, a few steps from the goal line, to score the second of the game. The Ecuadorians were already celebrating the victory, when José Peseiro moved his bench to introduce the most offensive team of the Vinotinto in this Copa America.And he was right. In the 91st minute, Edson Castillo put a center from the center of the field that the newcomer Ronald Hernandez, faster than the center backs of the Tri, finished off head to score the definitive 2-2.Se then launched Ecuador in search of the winning goal but, again, Fariñez dressed as a superhero to close the result. With this tie, Venezuela is in third position with two points and Ecuador, which has one game less, is fourth with one.- Technical data:Venezuela: Wuilker Fariñez; Alexander González, José Velázquez, Luis Martínez, Luis Del Pino Mago, Yohan Cumaná (m.77, Ronald Hernández); Júnior Moreno (m. 82, Richard Celis), José Martínez (m.77, Jan Carlos Hurtado), Edson Castillo, Cristian Cásseres (m.82, Bernaldo Manzano) and Fernando Aristeguieta (m.57, Sergio Córdova). Coach: José Peseiro.Ecuador: Pedro Ortiz; Angelo Preciado, Robert Arboleda, Piero Hincapié, Pervis Estupiñán; Ángel Mena (m.68, Gonzalo Plata), Jhegson Méndez (m.67, Christian Noboa), Moisés Caicedo, Ayrton Preciado (m.88, Fidel Martínez); Enner Valencia (m.83, Alan Franco) and Leonardo Campana.Selector: Gustavo AlfaroGoles: 1-0, m.38: Precious. 1-1, m. 51: Castle. 1-2,m.71: Gonzalo Plata. 2-2, m.91, Ronald Hernández.Referee: Chilean Roberto Tobar admonished Valencia, Preciado and Caicedo of Ecuador, as well as Incidencias: Match of the third day of Group A of the Copa America played at the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, played without an audience due to the restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic.

Original source in Spanish