Arsenal de Sarandi take a giant step towards the group stage of the Copa Libertadores after thumping Sport Huancayo on Tuesday.
Arsenal de Sarandi of Argentina practically assured themselves of a place in the group stage of the Copa Libertadores after crushing Sport Huancayo of Peru 3-0 in the first leg of the preliminary round of South America's biggest club competition on Tuesday.
The Argentine club proved far too strong for their opponents, after claiming a comprehensive victory at the Julio H. Grondona stadium in Avellaneda, despite playing with a man less for the last 25 minutes of the game.
Meanwhile, in Tuesday's other game El Nacional of Ecuador edged closer towards the group stage of the competition, after claiming a tight 1-0 victory over Paraguay's Libertad in Quito. Despite the advantage, the tie is still up for the taking for either of the two sides.
Arsenal de Sarandi obtained a valuable 3-0 victory over Sport Huancayo which puts them in a commanding position ahead of the return leg of the play-off as they intend to advance to the group stage of the competition.
Jorge Cordoba, Emilio Zelaya and Claudio Mosca scored for the exciting Argentine outfit, who played the final 25 minutes of the encounter with ten-men after the dismissal of Colombian midfielder Carlos Carbonero.
Arsenal started the match slowly, but gradually gathered more momentum in their game, which helped them create several decent goal-scoring opportunities. They finally went ahead in the 21st minute when Cordoba met a Carbonero pass with a powerful finish.
Fourteen minutes later, Gustavo Alfaro's side doubled their advantage, when Emilio Zelaya took advantage of a horrible clearance from the Sport defence with the simplest of tap-ins.
The visitors created a couple of decent goal-scoring opportunities in the second half, particularly when Arsenal were reduced to ten-men, but they failed to take advantage of them.
They were made to rue their awful finishing, when Mosca completed the rout for the Argentines two minutes from full-time.
With the result, Arsenal took a giant step towards the group stage of the competition.
A 43rd minute strike from Juan Anangono was the difference as El Nacional of Ecuador ousted Libertad of Paraguay 1-0, to edge closer towards the group stage of the competition.
The match was played under difficult conditions, as the dense fog in the air limited visibility. But Peruvian referee Victor Rivera considered the effects to be minimal.
El Nacional commenced the game brightly, causing constant problems for Libertad goalkeeper Rodrigo Munoz, particularly with dangerous long-range shots on goal.
At the other end, Libertad came inches close from going ahead when a goal-bound effort from Cristian Menendez was cleared off the line by El Nacional defender Javier Chila.
El Nacional, who follow the strict policy for solely signing locals, broke the deadlock two minutes before the break, when lethal striker Anangono took advantage of a lapse of concentration from the leaky Libertad defence to fire the ball home.
The Paraguayans dominated great part of the second half, but although they looked dangerous each time they moved forward they couldn't find an effective way to penetrate the rock-solid El Nacional defence and had no choice but to return home empty handed.
But the narrow score-line means the tie still remains wide open, looking ahead to the return leg in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion on January 31.
The Argentine club proved far too strong for their opponents, after claiming a comprehensive victory at the Julio H. Grondona stadium in Avellaneda, despite playing with a man less for the last 25 minutes of the game.
Meanwhile, in Tuesday's other game El Nacional of Ecuador edged closer towards the group stage of the competition, after claiming a tight 1-0 victory over Paraguay's Libertad in Quito. Despite the advantage, the tie is still up for the taking for either of the two sides.
Arsenal de Sarandi obtained a valuable 3-0 victory over Sport Huancayo which puts them in a commanding position ahead of the return leg of the play-off as they intend to advance to the group stage of the competition.
Jorge Cordoba, Emilio Zelaya and Claudio Mosca scored for the exciting Argentine outfit, who played the final 25 minutes of the encounter with ten-men after the dismissal of Colombian midfielder Carlos Carbonero.
Arsenal started the match slowly, but gradually gathered more momentum in their game, which helped them create several decent goal-scoring opportunities. They finally went ahead in the 21st minute when Cordoba met a Carbonero pass with a powerful finish.
Fourteen minutes later, Gustavo Alfaro's side doubled their advantage, when Emilio Zelaya took advantage of a horrible clearance from the Sport defence with the simplest of tap-ins.
The visitors created a couple of decent goal-scoring opportunities in the second half, particularly when Arsenal were reduced to ten-men, but they failed to take advantage of them.
They were made to rue their awful finishing, when Mosca completed the rout for the Argentines two minutes from full-time.
With the result, Arsenal took a giant step towards the group stage of the competition.
A 43rd minute strike from Juan Anangono was the difference as El Nacional of Ecuador ousted Libertad of Paraguay 1-0, to edge closer towards the group stage of the competition.
The match was played under difficult conditions, as the dense fog in the air limited visibility. But Peruvian referee Victor Rivera considered the effects to be minimal.
El Nacional commenced the game brightly, causing constant problems for Libertad goalkeeper Rodrigo Munoz, particularly with dangerous long-range shots on goal.
At the other end, Libertad came inches close from going ahead when a goal-bound effort from Cristian Menendez was cleared off the line by El Nacional defender Javier Chila.
El Nacional, who follow the strict policy for solely signing locals, broke the deadlock two minutes before the break, when lethal striker Anangono took advantage of a lapse of concentration from the leaky Libertad defence to fire the ball home.
The Paraguayans dominated great part of the second half, but although they looked dangerous each time they moved forward they couldn't find an effective way to penetrate the rock-solid El Nacional defence and had no choice but to return home empty handed.
But the narrow score-line means the tie still remains wide open, looking ahead to the return leg in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion on January 31.
