Independiente 1 - 0 Romanticos (390949397)

The crowd of 8475 turning up at Libertadores de América today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Víctor González was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Heinz-Mario Büh-Frensdorff and Atte Pohjanlahti. Independiente tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. Lineup: Pelle - Carranza, Oceľ, Majul, Sancio - Maidana, Bajs, Passarotto, Meller - Cereda, Gallart.

Romanticos started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. The following players took the field: Dell Amico - Altamirano, Vázquez, Temporales, Peñaloza - Pavón, Montes Fuentes, Arra, Turra - Shin, Cotes.

Down the middle came T. Montes Fuentes, making a fantastic play that nearly had Romanticos take the lead after 24 minutes, but Z. Pelle preserved the tie. J. Arra was having a great game - if anything the pouring rain seemed to be spurring him on! 35 minutes in, Romanticos's W. Peñaloza received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Romanticos's C. Temporales got himself booked for a foul. Making his way up the middle 38 minutes into the match, R. Meller almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert L. Dell Amico blocked it to keep the score level. At 39 minutes played, A. Sancio came in from the right with the intention of giving Independiente the lead, but his rocket of a shot rattled the crossbar. Romanticos's T. Montes Fuentes was shown a yellow card after 40 minutes for slicing down an opponent. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 0. Possession in this half belonged to Independiente, who controlled the ball 58 percent of the time.

After 57 minutes of play, R. Cereda gave the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right. Independiente put in a good effort on the right, but H. Maidana saw his volley fly wide of the mark 73 minutes into the game. The rain made it hard for players like D. Turra to show their technical control of the ball on this soggy day. Against a lesser team, Independiente could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick routine after 86 minutes. A trio of passes took the ball all the way past the defenders, but by then the intended recipient was already blocked off and the keeper could make a leisurely save. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Independiente, with 67 percent of the ball.

Independiente's best player was R. Cereda. On the other hand, A. Sancio's play was disheartening. Most important Romanticos player was W. Peñaloza. L. Dell Amico was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 0.