Christopher Benítez Cuartas

Copa América’s Group B kicked off in Santa Clara, Calif. on Saturday afternoon as Venezuela brushed past a shaky Ecuador side in a 2–1 victory. The match was expected to be even, as the two teams are fourth and fifth, respectively on the World Cup qualifying table and their last meeting in November, a qualifying match, ended in a 0–0 draw.

Ecuador started with a spark, shooting long and having John Yeboah bring the ball up from midfield. However, much like the match the day before between Peru and Chile, the clashes would dominate from the start, with 19 fouls by halftime, 11 by Venezuela and 8 by Ecuador. Some of the early high-profile ones happened between Moisés Caicedo of Ecuador and Yangel Herrero, and Venezuela’s José Martínez and Jeremy Sarmiento.

The half had four yellow cards. However, the most impactful disciplinary action in the period and arguably the match was the surprise expulsion of Ecuador’s veteran captain Enner Valencia. The move at minute 22, consulted by Video Assisted Referee (VAR), showed the SC Internacional forward kicking Martínez flat in the abdomen while attempting to help deflect an attack on the goal.

With noticeable panic among the now ten-strong yellow team, the Venezuelans made a quick rise starting by capturing the spots previously held by Valencia and augmenting their share of possession in a matter of ten minutes. Before that, the possession and pass accuracy numbers had been nearly even. From there, the Burgundies in white kept play on the right side with Martínez as the main link despite scrapped pressure from the Ecuadorians.

However, Ecuador would not remain behind for long. At minute 35, Yeboah was subbed out for Kevin Rodríguez of Union Saint-Gilloise. Four minutes later and on a free kick, left-winger Jeremy Sarmiento shot a clean volley into the net and scored the first goal of the match, cushioning the Ecuadorians at least until halftime.

From there, Venezuela carried on against a reinvigorated Ecuador with slow passes still attempting on the right and depending on the same people as before plus Herrera. After two more clashes and two yellow cards on each side, halftime arrived with Ecuador up by a goal.

After halftime, Ecuador let opponent Nahuel Ferraresi push in easily, assured at front by halftime sub-in and Jhonder Cádiz and abetted by forwards Yeferson Soteldo and Salomón Rondón behind him. The Venezuelans managed to procure two corner kicks in the first six minutes of the period. Ten minutes in, the preferred Venezuelan method was to sneak it into the left and then aggressively cross it. Risky as it was, it kept the offense clustered and busy. Ecuador was just too locked out of the Venezuelan side to do anything about it.

At minute 63 and seemingly out of nowhere, Cádiz scored the goal that would turn the tide, started as a throw-in by Rondón. After simpler rallying and attempts to find openings from both sides for ten minutes, halftime sub-in Eduard Bello scored picturesquely after a long throw-in from Alexander González from right, a deflected header by Rondón, and ultimately a short volley from the near right by Bello past Alexander Domínguez’s gloves.

By minute 80, the Venezuelans had shoved Ecuador’s attempted play so much to the right that it was forced to depend on long shots as it had earlier in the game. González and Martínez spent the last ten minutes of the match attempting to punch from the right, occasionally involving Botafogo’s Jefferson Savarino who came in at 83 replacing Sotelo. With Ecuador scrambling throughout he field and its goalkeeper Domínguez defending against in-kind Venezuelan responses, the match ended 2–1 for the Burgundies, assured three points in their campaign opening.

Venezuela will go on to face Mexico at the home of the Rams and Chargers in Inglewood, Calif. on Wednesday, June 26 at 6 p.m. local time, while Ecuador will take on Caribbean powerhouse Jamaica that same day at 3 p.m. in Las Vegas.