The Hindu : Sport / Football : Colombia off to impressive start

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 08, 2004

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Sport - Football

Colombia off to impressive start

LIMA, JULY 7. Colombia began its title defence by beating Venezuela 1-0, and host Peru was spared embarrassment by rallying to draw Bolivia 2-2 on the Copa America's opening night on Tuesday.

Coach Reinaldo Rueda gave his side no chance of repeating as champion, but Colombia impressed in winning its seventh consecutive Copa match without conceding a goal, and grabbing the lead in Group `A'.

But after the tournament host gave a dazzling opening ceremony by showing off the Andes and its ancient culture, it let lowly Bolivia grab the spotlight at the sold-out Nacional Stadium by going 2-0 up.

It took second-half goals by Claudio Pizarro and Roberto Palacios, who equalised five minutes from time, for Peru to escape a potentially humbling loss in its opener.

Tressor Moreno scored Colombia's only goal on a penalty kick in the 22nd minute, after Venezuela goalkeeper Gilberto Angelucci was called for tripping up Moreno during a breakaway.

Colombia wasted little time in testing goal-keeper Angelucci, creating three dangerous scoring opportunities in the opening 10 minutes.

In the fifth, Sergio Herrera tested Angelucci with a right-foot shot from 30 metres but was wide.

Five minutes later, Herrera turned on goal, taking a quick pass from Jairo Patino before sending his shot over the crossbar. Patino took his turn in the 12th with a shot that shook the side netting.

Venezuela closed the first half playing on its heels, increasingly under pressure from wave after wave of attacks. David Ferreira had a chance to add to Colombia's lead in the 45th, slashing through two defenders, but his straight-on shot was easily handled by Angelucci.

Juan Arango sent a long-range shot just wide in the 63rd as Venezuela showed more poise but no accuracy, as Arango and Jorge Rojas squandered more chances in the game's Peru breathed a collective sigh of relief from its draw, after Bolivian goals by Joaquin Botero and Lorgio Alvarez threatened to derail the host's high hopes of riding home ground advantage to its first title since 1975.

Bolivia sits at the bottom of South America's World Cup qualifying, but it managed to blunt Peru's determined attack, spearheaded by Pizarro, Jefferson Farfan and Flavio Maestri.

Juan Jayo thought he gave Peru the lead in the 20th minute, running up to unleash a low drive from just inside the box, but it nicked the outside of the post.

But Bolivia's Botero silenced the 45,000-strong crowd in the 35th with a blast that shook the back of the net.

In the second half, Peru created a slew of goal opportunities. But Bolivia went up 2-0 when Peru 'keeper Oscar Ibanez came out of his goal and failed to slow a sprinting Alvarez, who shot into the empty net.

After scoring on a penalty in the 67th, Pizzaro kissed his finger and waved to the crowd, and grabbed the ball and placed it on the centre spot so the game could quickly resume.

An onslaught of Peruvian attempts on goal in the final minutes was finally successful when Palacios made a brilliant move near the top of the penalty area, followed by a left-footed drive into the top corner of the net. — AP

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