Concepción secured a comfortable 4-0 victory over Curicó Unido in the Round of 16 of the Chile Cup on Tuesday night. The visitors made no mistake against a host side that struggled to mount any meaningful challenge from the opening whistle. And here's the thing — this was not a contest that even threatened to become competitive after the first quarter-hour.
J. Larrivey opened the scoring inside four minutes, slotting home from the penalty spot after an earlier effort also found the net in the same minute. N. Rodriguez added a second just three minutes later, and the hosts had no answer to the pace of Concepción's attacks. By then, Curicó were already on their knees, with possession figures suggesting they barely touched the ball at all.
The match turned fully one-sided when H. Sanhueza received his second yellow card in the 45th minute and was shown straight red. M. Davila Carvajal pounced on the numerical advantage almost immediately, scoring in the 45th minute plus four. To be fair, the visitors had been efficient all evening, but the dismissal made the remainder a formality rather than a contest.
Concepción made several changes in the second half, bringing on I. Aliaga and H. Ibarra in the 68th minute before swapping M. Cavalleri for A. Jara two minutes later. J. Larrivey completed his hat-trick in the 84th minute before being substituted himself in the 88th. Curicó made three changes in quick succession after the red card, including removing N. Fuentes and H. Sanhueza in the 46th minute.
The statistics tell a peculiar story. Curicó recorded 0.15 per cent possession and zero shots on target, while Concepción held 0.85 per cent and registered no shots accuracy either. Four goals from the visitors with zero shots recorded is an anomaly that defies normal match analysis. By then, the result was never in doubt regardless of what the numbers say.
The victory sends Concepción through to the quarter-finals, while Curicó's cup campaign comes to a premature and painful end. The hosts have now lost three of their last five league games, including a heavy defeat to San Marcos de Arica just ten days ago. This result means little in the domestic standings but confirms Concepción's intent in the competition.
