Asunción, June 9 (EFE).- Colombia lifted the champion trophy of the first Women’s Football Nations League on Tuesday after beating Paraguay 3-4 on the eighth and final date of the competition, thanks to a double from Ana María Guzmán and goals from Linda Caicedo and Marcela Restrepo.
Guzmán, who climbed the right wing all night and had an interesting duel with the Paraguayan Claudia Martínez, scored her goals in the 6th and 88th minutes, the second to give the definitive advantage to Colombia, which finished at the top of the table with 20 points, 2 more than its runner-up, Argentina.
The coffee makers and the albicelestes played the last date with a safe ticket to next year’s World Cup in Brazil.
“We are very happy, it is something very important for us,” Guzmán said after the game. “It was important to have faith, to believe, it never crossed my mind to win, it is something immense for all of us because we have dreamed of it since we were little,” she added.
The duel began with a frenetic pace and just after three minutes the locals were already in the lead, after Dulce Quintana converted a penalty that Colombian goalkeeper Katherine Tapia committed on Rebeca Fernández into a goal.
But Guzmán equalized the actions in the 6th minute with a subtle left-footed shot and, just two minutes later, Claudia Martínez put Paraguay ahead again by heading in a cross launched by Fernández from the left.
The game was tied again in the 42nd minute, with a shot from about 30 meters by Marcela Restrepo that deflected off Griselda Garay and went into the back of the net.
However, Paraguay responded quickly with a great goal from Lice Chamorro, who shot powerfully from the right side of the large area and beat Tapia at 45+1.
The complement was radically different, because Paraguay sought to maintain the result that gave them one of the places in the play-offs and because Claudia Martínez was emptied in the first half.
With their best attacker exhausted, the Paraguayans waited in the background to try to counterattack, but they did not find a play to expand the window.
On the contrary, the coffee makers reached a 3-3 tie with an individual action by Linda Caicedo, who in the 60th minute, after carrying the ball tied to her foot from the left wing to the center, shot at the near post when goalkeeper Bobadilla was waiting for a cross shot.
In the 88th fraction, Guzmán put up definitive figures after scoring after a filtered pass from Restrepo.
The result not only gives Colombia the title, but also helped Ecuador maintain fourth place in the table and advance to the international playoff.
Paraguay finished in fifth place and empty-handed, although Claudia Martínez takes the consolation of the title as the tournament’s top scorer, thanks to her six goals.
3. Paraguay: Alicia Bobadilla; Daysy Bareiro (min.90+3, Fátima Acosta), Fiorela Martínez, Tania Riso, Camina Fretes (min.90+3, Antonia Riveros); Cindy Ramos (min.46, Danna Garcete), Dulce Quintana, Griselda Garay (min.64, Fanny Godoy); Claudia Martínez, Rebeca Fern-ández (min.46, Lourdes González) and Lice Chamorro.
Coach: Herminio Barrios.
4. Colombia: Katherine Tapia; Manuela Vanegas, Daniela Arias, Jorelyn Carabalí; Linda Caicedo, Ilana Izquierdo (e.58, Daniela Montoya), Marcela Restrepo, Leicy Santos; Gisela Robledo (min.58, Wendy Bonilla), Mayra Ramírez (min.79, Maithé López) and Ana María Guzmán.
Coach: Angelo Marsiglia.
Goals: 1-0, min.3: Dulce Quintana from a penalty. 1-1, min.6: Ana María Guzmán. 2-1, min.8: Claudia Martínez. 2-2, min.42: Marcela Restrepo. 3-2, min.45+1: Lice Chamorro. 3-3, min.60: Linda Caicedo. 3-4, min.88: Ana María Guzmán.
Referee: Brazilian Daiane Muniz. He admonished the Paraguayan Dulce Quintana.
Incidents: match on the last date of the Conmebol Women’s Nations League played at the Defensores del Chaco Stadium, in Asunción. EFE
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