Colo Colo Ante Up and Wait to See Boca’s Hand.

By: Mauro | April 11th, 2008

Colo Colo vs. UA Maracaibo (Estadio Monumental David Arellano, Santiago Chile)

Colo Colo made good on their bid to win tonight at home against group minnows UA Maracaibo. Playing as if their camp was completely at ease, Colo Colo took the match to Venezuelans, giving coach Fernando Astengo his second win in charge of the club. Colo Colo put Maracaibo away in a span of four minutes. Gustavo Biscayzacu netted his 6th goal of the competition off a rebound and 3 minutes later, Lucas Barrios put the match away with a clinical header.

Now the pressure is on Boca in this group because with this win, the Chileans leapfrog over them to claim second place. The next match has Colo Colo hosting Atlas, who will also be looking for points since they need at least a draw to qualify. Boca should win at home against eliminated Maracaibo and so should Colo Colo, but look for Atlas to try to spoil the plans for both sides.

Maracaibo on the other hand is eliminated with this loss. And to be honest, it was a tall order to expect them to come out to Chile and win that match. Especially since the club decided to sack the coach just hours before the match took place. Still, they looked the better team in the first half but failed to score. The second half was a different story, Colo Colo came out and took care of business. Maracaibo had a golden opportunity to get one back when Victor Villareal was taken down in the penalty area. Guillermo Beraza took the penalty but Colo Colo’s keeper Cristian Muñoz dove to his right and saved it.

Poor timing and inexperience put Maracaibo in an impossible position. Given all of that, they may have done some serious damage to Boca’s campaign with the result they got in both team’s opening match and could inflict more should they get it together in time and play spoiler in Buenos Aires in two weeks.

My pick was 3-1 to Colo Colo, I guessed the goal difference correctly but was off by one goal. I think 2 goals was the difference between the two teams anyway. Ah well, close enough for government work.

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