Beaten Boca earn a valuable draw with Independiente Valais in Copa Sudamericana

2024-07-18 03:42:02

Despite 18 casualties, Boca Juniors drew 0-0 away from Independiente in the first leg of their Copa Sudamericana play-off tie on Wednesday.

During Quito’s heyday, the Argentine team achieved important results with its defensive order and concentration, despite the lack of many young players in the team.

The second leg will be played next Wednesday at the Estadio Candy Box in Buenos Aires. The key winner will face Cruzeiro in the round of 16.

Boca arrived in the Ecuadorian capital without Uruguayan scorer Edinson Cavani through injury and midfielders Ezequiel Fernandez, Christian Medina and Kevin Zenon with call-ups for the Olympics The U-23 team was absent.

The ‘xeneize’ team also did not receive recently hired reinforcements: Gary Medel, Tomas Belmonte, Brian Aguirre and Milton Jimenez, as the club did not register in time with CONMEBOL.

Boca coach Diego Martinez has been forced to move young players such as Mauricio Benitez, Milton Delgado, Jabez Saralegui and Julian Ceballos from the youth team Arranged in midfield.

“We don’t like living in this situation, but in the face of difficulties we will look forward. We have achieved good results and entered this stage, which is what we want.

Experience-sharers in the blue and gold lineup are goalkeeper Sergio Romero and defenders Luis Advincula and Marcos Rojo.

“We stood up for Boca, the boys stopped being boys and took responsibility for the situation. It was a great game,” said Romero, who made five pit stops in the match.

Independiente Valais had 75% of the ball and took 15 shots, but lacked accuracy in the penalty area and failed to break the tie.

Youngster Kendry Paez played his first minute for the black and blue team following participating in the Copa America with Ecuador.

The 17-year-old Paes left the field in the 71st minute following a strong challenge from defender Lautaro Blanco.

Although Independiente Valais failed to transfer their supremacy to the table, they have continued their unbeaten record once morest their Argentine opponents at home with eight wins and four draws since the start of their international journey in 2013.

Boca had two clear-cut chances through Uruguayan Miguel Melentier, but he failed to convert.

At the end of the first half, Melendiel was alone in the penalty area, but his shot went wide. In the 73rd minute, he was once once more one-on-one with goalkeeper Moises Ramirez, who struck out in time to block the shot.

“The kids responded really well and I’m very happy with them,” said Marcos Rojo, who made 13 clearances in the game.

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