Deportes Puerto Montt beat Newell's 2-0 in the Round of 16 of the Chile Cup on Tuesday evening. The home side took a shock lead that carried them through against visitors who had been expected to go further. By then, the result already felt like a statement rather than a fluke.
The visitors started brighter and kept the ball, but it was the hosts who struck first. A. Sabella found the net in the sixty-third minute, and here's the thing—he made it count when it mattered most. Newell's responded with three changes at half-time, bringing on V. Guzman, L. Molina Canto and F. Ovelar in quick succession. They were trying to find a rhythm that wasn't coming.
J. Flores doubled the advantage in the seventy-second minute, and the tie was effectively over. Newell's made four more substitutions in the closing stages, bringing on R. Paredes, D. Diaz, M. Plaza and J. Gonzalez, though the latter two were on for Flores himself. To be fair, they kept searching until the final whistle.
The statistics tell a strange story. Both teams shared possession equally at 50 per cent, and attacks were recorded at 78 for the hosts against 111 for the visitors. Yet shots on target show zero for both sides, which doesn't add up when two goals were scored. The match was decided by moments, not volume.
We had backed Newell's for victory at 88 per cent confidence before kick-off, but this one went the other way. The home side took their chances and the visitors couldn't find the breakthrough. It's a result that will give Puerto Montt belief, and it leaves Newell's with work to do.
