A pity for Atlético Nacional that the matches do not last 70 minutes, the time in which they did things very well and were playing seriously, a South American classic against Olimpia from Paraguay, the biggest team in that country and with the hierarchy of face a Copa Libertadores, inhibited to hire players, making use of some experienced with youth. But the games last 90, 95, even 100 minutes and the mistakes he has made many times in the League, this time they paid for him so dearly, that an epic night at the Atanasio will save them from imminent elimination.
Next, the analysis with five aspects of what this new purslane setback left in the Defensores del Chaco stadium, in a preliminary phase match, with the flavor of a quarterfinal.
Deconcentrations: The little more than 30,000 fans present at the stadium, affected a Nacional that started full of doubts, was reactive with the goal and conformist with the draw. The changes were not as expected and towards the end, the purslane suffered a goal from another match through Fernando Cardozo from mid-distance and another ‘hammer blow’ from Cardozo himself in a collective play, where Nacional’s defense combined all possible errors .
Effectiveness: Atlético Nacional made 15 total shots throughout the match, of which five were on goal and only one ended in a goal. Just condensing the first half, the Colombian team made 13 shots and only two on goal, in a tournament like the Copa Libertadores, those offensive failures cost classifications. Although not everything is bad, in the second half the efficiency improved with two shots, both of which were on goal and one ended in a goal. The Antioquian group sinned by excess in the initial stage and by defect in the complement.
Changes: Although two variants were due to the need to replace Álvaro Angulo and Yerson Candelo, the arrival of Giovanni Moreno and Ruyery Blanco six minutes from the end, did not serve as an alternative in attack, nor how to reverse the 2-1. There was more confusion and from there came Olimpia’s third goal.
injuries: Losing a man like Álvaro Angulo in the first quarter of an hour of the game and Candelo’s injury in the second half, hampered Nacional’s game idea and the team was left at the mercy of what Daniel Mantilla could do offensively. Who, despite the defeat, was by far the best player in Nacional and one of the highlights of the game. The former La Equidad and Patriotas did not have the support of the team and his efforts were diluted.
Attitude: Over the years, Nacional has gone from being a resilient team, which offered home or away, to being a team that, at the slightest mistake, cannot recover. Olimpia’s second goal was a blow that they could not return and in the midst of the collective madness to seek the 2-2, they ended up suffering a third goal that leaves them very complicated in this contest.
Juan Camilo Alvarez Serrano
FUTBOLRED Correspondent
Medellin
En Twitter: @juanchoserran8
