In a remarkable comeback and against all odds, Arsenal de Sarandí won group C of the Copa Sudamericana and will accompany Independiente and Rosario Central as representatives of Argentine soccer in the round of 16.
Arsenal relied on the complex combination of beating Bolívar of La Paz and taking advantage of Ceará of Brazil failing to beat Jorge Wilstermann of Bolivia.
Thus set the scenario, the Sarandí people did their own work well and capitalized on the enormous help coming from Cochabamba.
In Sarandí, those led by Gustavo Rondina won with two goals from Lucas Albertengo and another from Bruno Sepúlveda.
Wilstermann, for his part, gave account of Ceará with a goal from Patricio Rodríguez a quarter of an hour from the end of the match that took place at the Félix Capriles stadium in Cochabamba.
Arsenal overcame a bleak start with a 2-1 loss to Bolívar in La Paz and a 0-0 draw with Ceará in Sarandí.
The other Argentine teams in the top 16 are Central and Independiente, winners of group A and group B, respectively.
The other five that finished first were Atlético Paranaense, Peñarol, Libertad, Bragantino and Gremio.
The eight from the Copa Libertadores are Táchira, Liga de Quito, Nacional de Montevideo, Junior, Santos, Independiente del Valle, América and Sporting Cristal.
Among the Argentine teams that stayed in the way of the twentieth version of the South American Cup, two closed their participation with a victory: Talleres thrashed Emelec in Guayaquil 4-1 and San Lorenzo crushed Huachipato in Chile 3-0.
Two others tied: Newell’s with Goianianense (1-1) and Lanús with Aragua (0-0).
The first leg matches of the round of 16 will be played between July 27 and 29, while the rematches will take place between August 3 and 5.
– .
