Tauro hosted San Francisco in the tenth round of the Liga Panama Apertura on 27 September, and the visitors left with a 3:1 victory. The result shifts the balance between two sides sitting level in fourth place after sixteen games, with Tauro now holding 21 points to San Francisco's 20.
K. Bonilla opened the scoring for the hosts at the eighteenth minute, but San Francisco answered through E. Gondola thirty-six minutes in. R. Dinolis equalised from the spot just before the break, and the penalty-man struck again fifty-one minutes into the second half to put the visitors ahead for good. To be fair, Tauro had the early edge, but the momentum shifted sharply after the interval.
San Francisco came on fresh at forty-six minutes with J. Figueroa and A. Orelien, and the change rippled through the game. Tauro brought on B. Perez and K. Hurtado at sixty-nine, followed by J. Mendez and V. Medina at seventy-one, while the visitors ran three changes at the ninety-minute mark, bringing on K. Bonilla, R. Rodriguez and A. Popoff.
The statistics paint an uneven picture. Tauro recorded 138 attacks to San Francisco's 99 and won the corner count 9:2, yet the visitors controlled 65 per cent of possession against 35 per cent for the hosts. Tauro fired 24 shots on target with only one goal to show for it; San Francisco hit 11 on target and converted three times. And here's the thing — possession and shots on target told you where the match was headed.
Both sides took two yellow cards, with A. Popoff and R. Dinolis among those cautioned. Tauro's recent run included a 6:0 win over Herrera and a 1:0 victory against Deportivo Universitario, while San Francisco had lost 1:2 to Arabe Unido in their last outing. The prediction we offered was for a home win, forty-five per cent confidence — it did not come off, and the second-half penalty sequence was what broke it.
Tauro remain top of the four-way fight in fourth place, but the points gap has closed to one. San Francisco need the points badly, and this result extends their momentum at the expense of a side that had won four of their last five league games.
