LDU Quito Loses But Lives to Fight Another Day.

By: Mauro | May 7th, 2008

Estudiantes 2 Liga de Quito 1 Goles Bolaños Alayes Maggiolo
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Like I said in my preview, Estudiantes had their backs against the wall and were able to pull out a win against all odds. But it was all still, too little, too late. LDU Quito came out and defended the result they got last week at home in Ecuador.

Estudiantes dominated play, the ball and the terrain throughout the first half. Juan Sebastian Verón and Diego Galvan had a few early chances, real close too, to score for Estudiantes.

But on a fluke play, Mariano Andújar handled the ball after Verón had touched it back to him resulting in a free kick for the visitors. Damián Manso sent in a perfectly weighted ball for Luis Bolaños who powered it into the goal with a slight deflection off an Estudiantes defender. 1-0 to LDU Quito.

With this goal against them, Estudiantes faced a huge mountain to climb where they’d need four goals to qualify outright, three to send the match to penalties.

Because of their desperation to get on the board, Estudiantes made mistakes in possession, giving up the ball to a very relaxed LDU squad that knew they had the qualification in the bag.

Still, Estudiantes seemed to come alive and was able to score before the end of the second half. Agustin Alayes brought his boys level in the 41st minute on a ugly set of rebounds in the small box that ended up in the back of the net.

In the second half, Estudiantes attacked desperately again failing to find the back of the net with the regularity they needed to score the four goals they needed. LDU seemed to group up in the back and hold off the attacks.

In the 66th minute, Ezequiel Maggiolo buried one after a great play on the right by Juan Salgueiro. Even with that, Estudiantes was still nervously crossing balls into the area towards their strikers without fruit.

LDU Quito was not defending very smartly. Rather than defend in the midfield they defended in the defensive end of their pitch and fouling often, giving up costly free kicks and leaving the ref with no choice but to award 6 different players yellow cards.

Near the end of the match, Enzo Perez was sent off with a red, on his second yellow for a particularly tough foul. If I’m not mistaken, this is the 4th time a player for Estudiantes has been sent off in this competition.

I had this one going 2-0 to Estudiantes which I was damn close on. I also had Manso being an integral part on the pitch. I think this match means they are the real deal. They get the winner of River Plate-San Lorenzo in the next round.

Check the CONMEBOL website for results, stats and upcoming matches.