CD Magallanes 0-1 O’Higgins FC ( att : 4,000 ) – 2023 Chile Primera Division

January 20, 2023

Today saw the start of the new season in Chile. These diaries had previously featured matches from Chile in the 2020 and 2021 seasons so it was overdue to take a look at the Primera Division again !

Record title holders Colo-Colo were the champions in 2022, achieving their 33^rd triumph, which was all the more remarkable seeing they only escaped relegation in 2020 by winning a play-off 1-0 against Universidad de Concepcion. Of sides previously featured in these diaries, Curido Unido finished 3^rd, Palestino 4^th, Audax Italiano 7^th and Antofagasta were 16^th and bottom so relegated. The league in Chile is fairly unusual in South and Central America in that the 16 sides play each other home and away to determine the places rather than have Apertura and Clausura competitions.

Club Deportes Magallanes won the 2022 Primera B title by 4 points to earn promotion back to the Primera Division. They also won the Chilean Cup to qualify for this year’s Copa Libertadores and earlier in the week they also won the Chile Super Cup, beating Colo Colo in a penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw.

One of the famous names in Chilean football, they were founded in 1897 and won the first ever national title and went on to win the title 4 times in the 1930s. However, times have been hard since.

Home is the 3,500 official capacity Estadio Municipal de San Bernardo, with San Bernardo being part of the greater Santiago conurbation.

The most notable name in the Magallanes line up was 36 year old ex-Blackburn Rovers midfielder Carlos Villaneuva ( 13 caps ) who starred in these diaries whilst playing for Palestino versus Curido Unido in 2021. Others names worthy of note in the starting XI included Uruguayan ex Defensor Sporting keeper Gaston Rodriguez, 39 year old centre-back Christian Vilches ( 2 caps and ex Colo-Colo and Palestino ) and 36 year old striker Fabian Flores ( 2 caps and ex-Salamander ). Midfielder Tom Jones is a one-club man, so clearly enjoys the green, green grass of home !

O’Higgins finished 8^th in 2022 and are located in Rancagua, 90 kilometers north of Santiago, and is where England played all of their group matches in the 1962 World Cup. The club were founded in 1955 and named as a tribute to Bernardo O’Higgins, one of the founding fathers of the Chilean nation, and one of the longest priced ever winners on the Jimmy Tarbuck’s “Winner Takes All” quiz !

O’Higgins won their only title in 2013, and faced a 90km journey to today’s fixture. Their nickname is La Celeste, or the Sky Blues, after their home colours.

The starting XI for O’Higgins included keeper Ignacio Gonzalez, who featured in these diaries for Antofagasta in 2021, Argentinian ex-Lanus centre-back Nicolas Thaller and Argentine midfielder Valentin Larralde ( ex-Defensia y Justicia ).

The match was live streamed on Bet365, who made Magallanes 8/5 favourites, with O’Higgins at 17/10 and the draw at 23/10. The temperature at the 18.00 local time kick-off was around 27 degrees, and the weather was bright with sunny periods. The home side were in a blue and white striped shirt with white shorts, whilst O’Higgins were in a change kit of all black. The uncovered stand opposite the main stand looked virtually full with very few spare spaces.

There was a slight delay to the kick-off as ground staff had to fix a hole in one of the goal nets at one end, but once play commenced, Magallanes dominated the early possession with some smooth passing football, although without really threatening the visitor’s goal. In the opening minute a shot from the edge of the area blocked, and O’Higgins keeper Gonzalez punched away.

Against the run of play O’Higgins created two half chances as Moreira’s 25 yard shot was easily saved and Arancibia’s cross from the left was missed by the diving keeper and an attacker, but cleared by the Magallanes left-back.

Magallanes’ early pressure saw them win consecutive corners, which came to nothing, and the first yellow card of the game was shown in the 15^th minute when O’Higgins Arancibia committed a bad foul against Aranguiz close to the half-way line.

The first good chance of the game fell to Magallanes in the 17^th minute when a free-kick was headed into the mixer, and Gonzalez made a brave save at close range from Jones. The linesman raised his flag for offside, and the free-kick was awarded, but the TV replays indicated that the ball had come off the head of a defender, and so Jones was onside, but it was all irrelevant as the chance was missed.

The visitors then enjoyed a good spell as Marin headed over from a good position, Moreira shot straight at the keeper from the edge of the area and Fernandez shot over the bar from 15 yards after a smart pass from Hormazabal.

Magallanes response was to float a long cross field ball over right-back Hormazabal for the lively Vicuna to run onto but his ball into the area was poor and cleared at the expense of a corner. The home side’s best chance arrived in the 27^th minute, as a good cross from Vicuna found Tom Jones free beyond the far post but his volley into the ground bounced up favourably for keeper Gonzalez to punch away to safety.

Both sides cancelled each other out for the rest of the half, apart from a free-kick routine for Magallanes, where Villaneuva delivered a great cross but Flores headed wide from 8 yards. In added on time Arranguiz ran onto a cross field pass from Vicuna, but lashed his 25 yard effort just over the bar.

With the third minute of added on time being played, O’Higgins’ defender Diaz was rolling on the floor after a collision, but rather than make a decision, the referee decided to blow for half-time. At the interval, the statistics showed that Magallanes had enjoyed 60% of the possession, and they probably would have been aggrieved not to have been in the lead.

The home side made a change at the break, taking off Villaneuva, who had been anonymous apart from the one ball, and brought on Colombian winger Yorman Zapata. The change enabled Magallanes to start the second half well, as Vicuna blazed over from the edge of the area, then from a low cross from Jones, keeper Gonzales made a block from Flores as the striker slid in but Vicuna, running in, headed the rebound over.

With 60 minutes played, Deportes keeper Rodriguez had to be brave to gather ahead of Moreira following a long ball over the top, and took a blow for his efforts.

Magallanes still looked the side most likely to open the scoring and Canales headed a corner over from 6 yards. However, O’Higgins should have taken the lead in the 68^th minute. Moreira was played into space inside the right side of the penalty area and passed to Fernandez on the edge of the area. Although the shot was pushed away by Rodriguez, the ball fell to Hernandez who steered the ball wide of the gaping goal from 12 yards.

Magallanes didn’t learn the lesson, and 10 minutes later substitute Castro was clear down on the right, and his chip to the far post saw Matias Belmar ghost in to finish left footed and give O’Higgins the lead.

 

The home side pressed for an equalizer, and despite 8 minutes of added time being played, Magallanes rarely threatened and O’Higgins held on comfortably to take the three points.

Magallanes can take heart from a promising display in their first game back in the Primera Division but would be disappointed not to have taken anything from the game. O’Higgins will be delighted by their “smash and grab” raid !

Deportes Magallanes : Rodriguez – Filla ( Crovetto ), Vasquez, Vilches, Espinoza – Aranguiz, Canales ( Quiroz ), Villaneuva ( Zapata ) – Jones, Flores ( Cadenazzi ), Vicuna ( Alfaro )

O’Higgins FC : Gonzalez – Hormazabal, Thaller, Fuentes ( Torrealba ), Diaz – Fernandez ( Meneses ), Larralde, Hernandez, Marin ( Castro ) - Arancibia ( Belmar ), Moreira ( Paez )

 

 

Audax Italiano 0-0 CD Antofagasta ( att : 470 ) – 2021 Chile Primera Division

November 14, 2021

These diaries featured CD Antofagasta in January this year as the delayed 2020 season in Chile was coming to its conclusion. At that time Antofagasta were contenders for a top four finish and a place in the COPA Libertadores, but the defeat at Curico Unido that day plus subsequent results ultimately resulted in a 6^th place finish and qualification instead for the second tier COPA Sudamerica.

Ironically, Antofagasta’s COPA Sudamerica’s campaign was short-lived as they were drawn against fellow Chilean side Huachipato, and were eliminated 0-4 on aggregate at the start of the season.

However, Antofagasta recovered from that early set-back and have had another decent season, going into this week’s round of fixtures in 6^th place, and whilst a top 3 finish and qualification for the COPA Libertadores looked unlikely being 9 points adrift of third place with just 5 games left to play, they were still in a strong position for a top 7 finish and a third ever qualification for the COPA Sudamerica.

Coach Hector Tapia had been replaced at the conclusion of the 2020 season and his replacement, Juan Jose Ribera lasted until the end of September, when he left by “mutual consent” after a 1-3 home defeat at home to Union La Calera saw Antofagasta in 10^th place in the table. Caretaker 29 year old coach Diego Reveco has since achieved a 4-2-2 record to take the side upto 6^th position, and they possessed a 3-7-4 away record.

Their squad from the 2020 season was, by Chilean standard’s, relatively unchanged. Defender Branco Ampuero left to join Universidad Catolica and fellow centre-back Nicolas Penailiilo moved to join a side in the Argentinian second division. Midfielder Gonzalo Freitas moved to Uruguayan side Penarol but is now with Mexican side Mazatlan, and forward Carlos Munoz signed for Chilean side O’Higgins.

In their place midfielder Diego Orellana joined from relegated Deportes Iquique, defender Andres Robles came from Universidad de Concepcion, full-back Jens Buss joined from Curido Unico, midfielder Lucas Ocampo came from Uruguay, and centre-back Nicolas Demartini came from Argentina.

Argentinian forward Tobias Figueroa was the top scorer with 9 goals, with Venezuelan international Eduard Bello the next highest with 6 goals.

Audex Italiano were founded in 1910 and are 4 times national champions. They have a strong rivalry with other sides in the capital Santiago founded by immigrants ie Union Espanola and Palestino, and they play in the La Florida district of Santiago, with home being the 12,000 capacity Bicentenario La Florida stadium. Like the Italian national side, their first choice kit is Azure Blue shirts, white shorts.  However, today's fixture was to be played in the El Teniente stadium, in Rancagua, 85 kilometres south of Santiago and which is the home of Primera Division side O'Higgins.

A 2-1 win over La Serena on the last day of the 2020 season avoided relegation for Audax and saw them finish in 13^th place. Their season was possibly affected by the drink-driving tragedy caused by star striker Rodrigo Holgado running over a motorcyclist during lockdown, and the Argentine controversially got off with a light sentence to be available for the start of the new season. However, Holgado departed after playing just 9 games, with 3 goals, to join Argentinian side Gimnasia de la Plata.

The top scorer for Audax this season was Argentine forward Lautero Palacios with 9 goals, followed by winger Joaquin Montecinos on 7.

Centre-back Carlos Labrin won 3 caps in 2010 and had a spell in Italy with Palermo, and 36 year old left back Roberto Cereceda won 32 caps for Chile.

Audax have had a superb season so far, going into this weekend’s round in 3rd position, 3 points ahead of 4^th placed Union Calera, and in pole position for COPA Libertadores qualification.

Audax made just one change from their starting line-up from their last match, a 2-1 win at Everton, with Nicolas Aedo coming in for Conejo. There were two non Chilean in the line-up, with Mexican defensive midfielder Ivan Ochoa in addition to Palacios. Uruguayan centre-back Manuel Fernandez and Argentine striker Federico Gonzalez were on the bench. Antofagasta also made just one change from their last match with Sebastien Ballesteros replacing Cristofer Salas.

Kick-off was 12.30 local time, with temperatures around 23 degrees on a sunny afternoon. Limited numbers of spectators are now allowed into stadiums in Chile, and all those visible were wearing face masks. The visitors were playing in their change strip of red and black halves, with black shorts.

Bet365, who were live streaming the match, made Audax 17/20 favourites, with Antofagasta at 16/5 and the draw at 13/5.

Both sides made bright starts to the game, with the ball moving quickly from end to end with neat passing and good movement. However, neither side was able to make much of an impression in the final third with the only moment of danger in the opening 20 minutes being Antofagasta defender Robles making a good block after a good through ball had released Palacios down the right-hand channel. Earlier Ocampo had volleyed wide for Antofagasta after a quick counter attack.

A water break was taken after 24 minutes due to the heat and Audax pressed immediately after the resumption with Cerceda’s low cross being cleared at the expense of a corner by Demartini, and from the set-piece Palacios shot narrowly wide after the ball fell to him beyond the far post.

Antofagasta responded with a dangerous cross of their own, Ballesteros’ effort from the left forced Torres into a sliding block, and after a bit of a scramble, Audax were able to clear their lines. A minute later Figueroa latched onto long ball but optimistically chose to shoot from a tight angle and was well wide with his effort.

The best chance of the match so far arrived in the 37^th minute. Bosso played an inside ball to Henrique, whose left footed shot looked to be heading into the far corner until Demartini again was able to clear for a corner.

The last action of the half came in the second minute of added time. Rojas played a threatening chip into the Antofagasta 6 yard area, but keeper Gonzalez bravely got to the ball first to punch away before colliding with both his own player Robles, and Audax forward Palacios. Tempers flared briefly and Robles and Henrique were shown yellow cards.

With the game score-less at half-time, 57% of the possession had been in favour of Audax, but there had been no shots on target.

Audax made two changes during the interval with Nicolas Fernandez almost making an immediate impact beating two defenders on the right, but his low cross reached Henrique beyond the far post, who could only shoot into the side netting.

Audax continued to hold the initiative and Henrique made a dangerous run towards the edge of the Antofagasta penalty area before being tripped. However, he was alert to the opportunity and whilst the defence was napping, he quickly played the free-kick to the unmarked Fuentes. Unfortunately for the home side Gonzalez made a brave block, although the referee did subsequently show a yellow card to Cuadra for the trip.

In the 59^th minute, Bosso headed narrowly wide from a free-kick before the game’s potential turning point occurred in the 63^rd minute, when Cuadra slid in to scythe down Esparaza near the half-way line to receive a second yellow card.

Audax dominated the rest of the match, and it needed a good defensive header to concede a corner after a cross from the left.

In the 77^th minute Fuentes forced a fine diving save by Gonzalez to push his 20 yard effort past the post. Thereafter the  visitors looked to be comfortably holding on for a point until a frantic five minutes of added on time.

First, Torres headed a free-kick onto the top of the bar, from which Gonzalez leapt athletically to gather the rebound. In the 3^rd extra minute Esparza and Fernandez combined to release the overlapping Fernandez. His cross to the near post was flicked on to the unmarked Carmona, who could only blaze over the bar from 4 yards.

It got worse for Audax. In the 5^th added minute, a cross from the left found Torres 3 yards out, but the centre-back completely mis-kicked in front of goal, the ball squirmed off for a goal-kick and the chance was gone.  

 Audax Italiano  ; Munoz – Rojas ( Fuentes ), Labrin, Torres, Cereceda – Alvarez ( Esparza ), Bosso, Ochoa ( Carmona ) – Aedo ( N. Fernandez ), Palacios, Henriquez ( F. Gonzales )

CD Antofagasta :  Gonzalez – Buss, Robles, Demartini, Torres ( Cordero ) – Orellana, Cuadra, Ocampo ( Ledezma ) – Uribe ( Callao ), Figueroa, Ballesteros ( Salas ) 

Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzdxCYXlb8A

Curico Unido 2-0 CD Antofagasta ( att : 0 ) – Chilean Primera Division

January 7, 2021

Just three days after their early morning defeat at Palestino previously documented in these diaries, Curico Unido take to the field again as the Chilean Primera Division continues its hectic schedule attempting to complete its regular season by the end of January. Curico are scheduled to play 10 matches in January, title challengers Union La Calera will play an incredible 11 times, whilst everyone else will have at least 8 league matches in the month. Poor Coquimbo Unido face 9 games plus at least 2 more in the COPA Sudamerica.

Today it is Curico’s turn to host the 10.30am fixture with Club de Deportes Antofagasta being the opposition at their 8,273 capacity Estadio La Granja stadium.

Antofagasta is 1,335km north of the capital Santiago by road, a journey of more than 15 hours, so the trip to Curico would be at least 17 hours by coach ! Hopefully they have flown and stayed the night nearby, the Radisson Hotel Curico is less than 2km from the ground……….

Antofagasta is the 5^th largest city in Chile, and was part of Bolivia until the 1879-83 War of the Pacific. It’s football team play in the 21,178 capacity Estadio Bicentenario Calvo y Bascunan, which is a multi-purpose sports complex, and they normally play in strip of light blue and white halves and white shorts, not to dis-similar to Blackburn Rovers. Today, they will wear their change kit of red and black halves and black shorts to avoid the clash with Curico’s Peru style all white with a red diagonal sash.

The nickname of the club is Los Pumas and the coach of the side is ex-international forward Hector Tapia, who numbers Lille amongst his former clubs.

Antofagasta’s best league finish was in 2018 when they came 4^th, which resulted in their one appearance in the COPA Sudamerica. Before kick-off today they lie in a very respectable 4^th place in the Primera Division, 3 points ahead of Curido but from 2 games more. However, they have won only twice in the last 11 matches, and last time out fell to a 0-1 defeat at home to Colo Colo, one of the big 3 clubs in Chile, but who after finishing second last season are unexpectedly bottom of the table.

Antofagasta have a decent 6-6-2 home record, the only other defeat coming against Universidad Catolica, one of the other big 3 clubs. Away from home they have a 4-4-5 record, and were unbeaten in their first 5 games. Three of the away wins have been 1-0 ( La Serena, O’Higgins and Coquimbo ) and Iquique were hammered 4-0. Their last away match was a hard fought 1-1 draw at third place Union Espinola, when several decent saves from keeper Ignacio Gonzalez helped earn a point after a smart finish from 21 year old Jason Flores had given them a first half lead.

Antofagasta have had a pretty settled squad so far this season, with 12 players featuring in 20 or more of the 27 league games. 35 year old centre back Cristian Rojas has played well over 200 times for the club, left back Nicolas Penailiilo had a brief spell with Zenit St Petersburg, forward Carlos Munoz has won 11 caps and played in the UAE, and fellow veteran striker Felipe Flores has 2 caps and has played in Spain for Salamanca.

Other players with representative honours for Chile are centre back Branco Ampuero, who has one cap, and keeper Fernando Hurtado, who won 1 cap back in 2007.

There are four foreign players who have featured regularly during the season. 32 year old Paraguayan centre-back Gustavio Mencia has played three times for his country, 20 year old attacking midfielder Eduard Bello has 2 caps for Venezuela, forward Tobias Figueroa is Argentinian and midfielder Gonzalo Freitas comes from Uruguay.

Bello is the top scorer with 7 goals, followed by Andres Souper and Figueroa who have both found the net 5 times.

Curido have now lost four consecutive matches and will be looking to arrest this slide and get back into contention for a COPA Libertadores place. Despite a strong second half performance at Palestino, some of their players did look tired at the end, which several people on social media put down to the lack of recovery time after the Covid outbreak in the squad. Having had just three more days to recover it remains to be seen exactly what condition they will be in for today’s game.

When the sides met first time around in March it was a 0-0 draw in both sides last game before the Covid suspension. Another close encounter looks to be in prospect today…..

Curido make three changes from the match on Monday, with Diego Vera replacing youngster Gabriel Harding upfront, Matias Cavalleri replacing Corral in midfield, whilst at the back Lara drops down to the bench in favour of Leonel Galeano, an Argentine centre-back with 1 cap making his debut after signing from Aucas in Ecuador.

Antofagasta make two changes. Keeper Gonzalez’s reward for the good performance against Union Espinola is to warm the bench, with Fernando Hurtado taking his place.  The other change sees Ariel Uribe replacing Souper in midfield. Right back Byron Nieto is available to play despite his red card against Colo Colo.

Despite their bad run, Bet365 have Curido as evens favourites to win, with Antofagasta at 13/5, and the draw 12/5

Estadio La Granja has nice looking covered stands on either side of the pitch with the seats in red and white. There is a running track around the pitch and large inflatables with advertising are placed in the spaces behind the goals and the track. Behind one goal, the main stand goes about a third of the way around the corner and in the rest of the space is a large scoreboard. Behind the other goal appear to be some temporary tiered benches, which would be called bleachers in the US, behind which is a hill and some trees.

The game starts slowly, with both sides content to patiently probe for openings, with the referee allowing some heavy challenges to go unpunished, until the 13^th minute when Unido’s Castro gets the first yellow card of the match for a late sliding tackle. The first half-chance occurs to Antofagasta with nearly 20 minutes on the clock, but Flores is unable to get on the end of a chip over the top and the ball goes off for a goal kick. Not a lot else is happening early on, although Bello looks lively on the right for the visitors.

Curico slowly start to get into the game, and after 28 minutes Parra gets to the bye-line on the left and his low cross is unconvincingly gathered by the diving Hurtado. 

Three minutes later Cavalleri sends in a cross which Vera, under pressure can’t get a decent contact with his header, and the ball loops up for an easy save. They win their third corner of the match in the 33^rd minutes, all of which are harmlessly dealt with.

Antofagasta win their first corner in the 44 minute but at half-time the score remains 0-0. It’s a fair score-line, with neither side deserving any more, as neither had created any decent chances.

The visitors make two substitutions at half-time and start the second period brightly. A break gives Munoz an opportunity to run clear, but he doesn’t have the pace to beat the covering defender and is bundled to the ground. The referee waves play on. A minute later a ball is played over the top, but it is put out for a corner before Munoz can get to it, and from the corner Munoz heads just wide at the near post.

With 55 minutes played a nice pass through the middle gives Bello the space to turn on the edge of the penalty area but his shot curls just wide. With Antofagasta getting on top it feels like a goal is coming. Substitute Felipe Flores is found in space just inside the area but his weak left-footed shot is straight at the keeper who makes a comfortable save.

A minute later though it is Curico who take the lead against the run of play.  Castro plays a clever pass behind the defence, Parra runs onto it and squares across the goal to give Vera an easy finish from 6 yards. It is a quality piece of play not in keeping with the rest of the match so far.

Antofagasta struggle to respond as both sides ring the changes. Instead, Curico nearly extend their lead when Hurtado fumbles a corner but the loose ball is flicked over the bar. Los Pumas send a couple of hopeful crosses into the Unido area, but Cerda is alert to dive on the ball after several players challenge for a header, and a low cross from Flores evades three attackers and rolls off for a throw in.

The best chance for an equalizer comes 3 minutes from the end when a quick free-kick is sent long over the line of defence and the ball is crossed to beyond the far post just before it goes out of play. It’s headed back across the goal, but Cerda dives on the ball just before Bello can score.

With the clock now in the 5 minutes of added on time. Unido win a free-kick wide out on the left in line with the Antofagasta penalty box. Parra’s free-kick bounces across the face of the goal where substitute Harding is unmarked at the back post to head home from less than two yards for his first ever goal to make it 2-0 and clinch the three points.

Curico’s 21 year old left back Alex Ibacache is the TV’s man of the match, which is probably a fair call in a match in which there is no outstanding player on view in an average match, although Parra with two assists also had a good game.

Curico bring an end to their 4 game losing run and move level with Antofagasta on 40 points but from two less matches. For Antofagasta it is now just two wins in 12 games.

Curico Unido : Cerda – Buss, Bechtholdt, Galeano ( Lara ), Ibacache – Godoy, Cavalleri ( Jaime ), Cortes ( Urzua ), Parra – Castro, Vera ( Harding )

CD Antofagasta : Hurtado – Nieto ( Soza ), Rojas ( Gonzalez ), Ampuero, Penailiilo – Freitas, Cuadra ( Guerra ), Uribe ( Tello ) – Bello, Munoz, J. Flores ( F. Flores )