Luis Mejía was the hero of the first classic of the Uruguayan soccer season. The Panamanian goalkeeper saved his goal three times and in the penalty shootout he contained two of the three shots that Peñarol executed to give Nacional the victory in the Río de la Plata Series.
Mejía was one of the surprises of the classic. The goalkeeper arrived in the country on Tuesday and coach Álvaro Recoba included him in a starting lineup where he insisted on the double nine and three men in the background. The surprise was the inclusion of goalkeeper Luis Mejía who arrived on Tuesday and started.
Peñarol coach, Diego Aguirre, played without nine in the area. He is a lack of his team, so he appealed to forwards with speed but short stature.
Summer games usually show more insinuations than play, and that was what happened in the first half of the first half, where the match was even.
Peñarol started better, with Darias and Castillo playing a good role on the flanks and at 9 minutes they had their first chance when the ball was left in the area to the Ecuadorian Castillo who, almost without an angle, forced an intervention by the tricolor goalkeeper Mejía. Nacional responded with a cross shot from Carneiro.
But it was enough for Nacional’s midfielders, who have a triangle with a lot of play with Ginella, Pereyra and Zabala, to begin to impose conditions in the match once morest a Peñarol that repeated itself in centers when it did not have players to win in the aerial game.
About 20 minutes into the game, Zabala enabled Bentancourt, who forced an intervention by goalkeeper Mirasol De Amores. And a minute later Mejía saved his goal in the clearest situation that Peñarol had. Velázquez made a mistake when trying to clear and Ángel González headed towards the goal, enabling Javier Cabrera who marked the pass for him. The definition of the aurinegro striker was contained by Mejía with his knees.
Until minutes later Nacional unlocked the game with a still ball action, a problem that Peñarol has had since last season. Corner kick, Bentancourt broke away from his mark and went to look for the short ball, lowering the ball for the entry of Franco Romero who touched the ball with his head into the net. So they went to break.
Changes in Peñarol
Looking ahead to the second half, the Aurinegro coach Diego Aguirre moved pieces and included Camilo Mayada in the team in the midfield instead of Milans. This determined that the Ecuadorian Castillo moved to his usual position as a winger. The other change was the entry of Maximiliano Silvera, a forward who replaced Eduardo Darias.
And the changes took effect quickly. At 9 minutes, Maxi Olivera made a long pass to González who won the melee once morest Velázquez, he paused and served the cross to Maxi Silvera who scored the tying goal with a bicycle kick.
Red claims
Minutes following the Aurinegro goal, one of the controversial incidents of the match occurred when Carneiro jumped for a ball with Sosa and hit the midfielder with his forearm. Referee Sacarelo was in front of the action and rejected the yellow claim that would have meant Carneiro’s expulsion.
The same thing happened at 67 when Nacional asked for a double yellow for Byron Castillo.
After the tie, Peñarol’s best minutes were seen, which, invigorated by the goal, poured on Mejía’s goal with Mayada and Castillo attacking on the right and Cepillo González on the other side. But the black and gold cast did not have clear opportunities.
Recoba, seeing that he was losing the battle in the middle, and that the ball was not reaching Carneiro and Bentancourt, appealed for changes and put fresh people in the middle with Sanabria and Jeremía Recoba instead of Ginella and Zabala.
With 10 minutes remaining, Peñarol was left with a man less due to the expulsion of Lucas Hernández.
The aurinegro had the last chance in an action where Mejía saved the tricolor goal by winning a one-on-one once morest Silveira.
The penalties
The 90 minutes of regulation ended tied 1-1, so the match was decided in a penalty shootout.
Nacional started by converting through Polenta and the Panamanian Mejía began to become a figure from the first penalty that Peñarol executed when he contained Castillo’s shot. Then he contained Silvera’s goal, which allowed Sanabria to convert and give Nacional the victory on penalties.
