Universitario vs Vasco Da Gama Match Preview
Vasco da Gama may have surrendered first-place of the Brazilian championship to Corinthians on Sunday, but as well as being in contention for the title on the domestic front, they are one of the favourites to win the Copa Sudamericana.
Vasco, who slaughtered Aurora of Bolivia 8-3 to reach the quarter-finals, travel to Peru to face a tricky Universitario de Deportes side. Vasco contain a wealth of talent in their attack, as was in clear evidence last week, however, their defense looks rather vulnerable. Due to this, in order for Vasco to return to Brazil with a positive result from Lima, it is essential that they sort out their problems at the back, because Universitario have proven to be ruthless when presented with goal-scoring opportunities.
Despite the fact that Vasco come into the tie as the favourites, Universitario defender Jesus Rabanal affirmed that his side are not afraid of the Brazilians.
"They don't scare us. They will be complicated rivals, like all Brazilian teams. We have to be alert throughout the duration of the ninety minutes to claim a positive result that would allow us to go to Brazil more calmly. That is the idea," said Rabanal.
Universitario vs Vasco Da Gama Match Report
Universitario de Deportes of Peru defeated Vasco da Gama of Brazil 2-0 in a highly-intense Copa Sudamericana quarter-final, played in front of over 30,000 fans at the Estadio Nacional in Lima on Wednesday.
It was an electric match as both teams played swift attacking soccer immediately from the kick-off. Both teams had several opportunities to score in the early moments of the match, with the deadlock being finally broken in the 36th minute, when Universitario striker Raul Ruidiaz fired home a penalty kick.
Moments later Universitario came close to adding their second, when a Edison Flores shot was cleared off the line by Vasco defender Fagner. The Brazilians were finding it extremely difficult to deal with the pace of the Universitario attack.
At the beginning of the second period, Vasco went in search of an equaliser, and came close to achieving this when a Bernardo free-kick hit the crossbar. Vasco, who are currently joint-leaders of the Brazilian championship along with Corinthians, threatened the Peruvians each time they mounted an attack.
It seemed that at any moment the much-improved Brazilians would draw level, however, in the 58th minute Johan Fano raced onto a precise through ball from Rainer Torres and beat Vasco goalkeeper Fernando with a clever finish to seal Universitario a 2-0 victory.
The quarter-final tie will be decided next Wednesday, when the teams meet again at the Sao Januairo stadium in Rio de Janeiro.