Saint Martin of Saint John won 5-4 on penalties against Velez Sarsfield, after a 2-2 draw during regulation time at the Belgrano de Córdoba stadium, and accessed the round of 16 of the Argentine Cup.
“Santo” midfielder Francisco Grahl opened the scoring after 8 minutes of the second half, while for “Fortín” it was temporarily turned around by Lenny Lobato and Nicolás Pelaitay (against their own goal), at 30 and 31, respectively. For the Tucumans, Agustín Heredia tied at 45 minutes.
The process of the game was quite discreet with two teams that did not make many differences when it came to the correct distribution of the ball.
However, the First Division team was a little better, trying to be more ambitious than its rival with the good work of Christian Ordoñez to generate collective play from midfield forward.
The two goalkeepers were almost spectators during a flat first half of the game and there were no clear goalscoring moves for either team.
In the second stage, both came out with greater conviction and after eight minutes the San Juan players were able to open the scoring after a right corner that ended with Francisco Grahl’s goal.
The goal in favor gave “Santo” greater peace of mind when he had the ball, he took care of the result with defensive order, while Vélez got impatient, searched, but without the necessary clarity and far from Mariano Monllor’s goal.
The only dangerous play for the Liniers team came at minute 27 after a cross from the left that hit the back of San Martín defender Alejandro Molina, forcing Monllor to respond with pure reflexes.
This move gave “Fortín” confidence, a team that quickly reached equality with a shot from outside the area by Lenny Lobato and two minutes later took the lead with a goal against Nicolás Pelaitay.
When it seemed that the game was going to end in favor of Vélez, the defender Agustín Heredia equalized after 45 minutes to lead the definition from twelve steps.
In the penalty shootout, Vélez Sarsfield midfielder Francisco Ortega was the only footballer who could not convert.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
