Unfortunate those who have seen the first half of Deportivo Pereira against Boca. Passes to the rival, faulty controls and fouls -many of them due to clumsiness- enlivened the initial 45 minutes played in Colombia. Goal situations? Almost nil. On Boca’s side, a hook inward and a shot from outside by Villa, once he went to the left -he started from the right-; and by Pereira, an arrival in the area drowned out by Pol Fernández, who with a great clearance saved his team and finally saved himself, since the play originated from his clearance.
Although it was very bad for both, Pereira’s was a little more alarming due to the technical limitations exhibited by several of his players. And it is seen that Almirón warned about that since Boca came out much more determined in the second half. The DT corrected some mistakes by moving Figal to the right -he made a lot of mistakes as a second center-back- with the entry of Valentini and the subsequent entry of Weigandt as a right back to free Advíncula in attack, something that has been paying hard and even for Xeneize in the last matches.
But all of Boca’s good intentions collided with the bad night of his attackers, especially Benedetto, who did not hit the ball. The nine was not lucid to take advantage of the wink that fate gave him when Pereira’s defense gave him a ball in the danger zone. Benedetto lost it almost instantly and that’s where the debacle came from: Figal -with a worrying performance- slept and ended up committing a penalty.
It seemed that everything would be forgotten since Chiquito Romero diverted the execution to Zuluaga and gave him that extra life that Xeneize always has. But in the next play, Fabra lost the mark in a cross and the admitted Arley Rodríguez put Pereira’s 1-0 upside down. If the defensive action of the winger was not happy, much more so was the reaction of him pointing the kid Valentini out as guilty, apparently innocent.
At a disadvantage, Boca was not even close to the reaction, but to take more goals in the bags. What did bring a headache to Buenos Aires, although they still lead their group (7 points like Pereira) and the two games they have are at home (Colo Colo -5- and Monagas -2).