Óscar Cortés and Gustavo Puerta gave the Colombian team the victory over Peru 2-1 in the South American U-20, for group A at the Pascual Guerrero Stadium, since one scored double goals and the other the same number of assists .
The ‘tricolor’ coach, Héctor Cárdenas, decided to move half of the roster compared to the team that played in the tie against Paraguay, adding Juan José Mina, Juan Castilla, Miguel Monsalve, Óscar Cortés and Isaac Zuleta.
In the first five minutes, possession of the ball went to Colombia but without hurting the Peruvians, who knew how to control Zuleta’s movements well.
Arriving at the first quarter of an hour, the modifications that Cárdenas made to the roster did not give the expected effect, since it was very difficult for the ‘tricolor’ to step on the Peruvian area.
With half an hour on the clock, the ‘tricolor’ had not scored a shot on goal or created a dangerous offensive action, while Peru was exploiting the left flank with Diether Vásquez and José Amasifuen.
It was precisely Vásquez who opened the scoring in Cali, at minute 37, in a counterattack where Catriel Cabellos entered the area, passed it to the winger and sent it into the back of the net, when goalkeeper Luis Marquínes came out.
After the score, the despair of the Colombian National Team for not being deeper in attack was evident, especially since Monsalve was not shining as in the previous game against Paraguay.
Fortunately, Gustavo Puerta appeared to put the team on his shoulder and at minute 45, he assisted Óscar Cortés, Millonarios attacker, so that he would shoot across the right post and equalize.
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Beginning the complementary part, the coach Héctor Cárdenas made no changes but the team had a better attitude regarding the first half, pressing the Peruvians to leave.
The defense of the ‘Incas’, which was one of the high points before, failed a lot due to the loss of the ball in their own half and leaving many spaces for Cortés.
At minute 62, the ‘tricolor’ narrowly scored the second goal, scored by Jorge Cabezas, who replaced Zuleta, unable to head a high ball, hit it with his chest, and went very close to the left post.
David Luna also tested the goal to get the goal, with a free kick at 69′ that José Amasifuen saved over the right post with a good fly ball at mid-height.
However, it was again Cortés who put it into the back of the net, with a corner kick at 74′ that was taken by Puerta, the same one who assisted him in the first goal, the ‘ambassador’ attacker headed in and scored the second.
The goal was a hard blow for Peru, which stopped playing well and every mistake in defense was a high risk due to the great level that Colombia was showing.
Around the 89th minute, Cabezas almost made the third with a shot outside the area that just missed Amasifuen’s goal.
Colombia ended up winning the game calmly and with an excellent level from Cortés and Puerta, the two pillars of a team that at times seemed lost but with the two of them found itself united.
Now the ‘tricolor’ will get ready in these four days for Wednesday’s commitment against Brazil, for the fourth date of group A, where the objective will be to win to ensure qualification for the final phase.