Haguares and América de Cali played out a 2:2 draw in the Clausura round eight at Estadio Jaraguay on Thursday evening. The result leaves the hosts in 16th place on 18 points while América de Cali remain fourth with 33 points after 19 matches each.
Andrés Rentería gave the home side the lead in the seventh minute, and then to be fair the match turned at the half-time break. Josen Escobar levelled for the visitors just before the interval, and by then Jerson Malagón had already struck twice — his goal was confirmed after a VAR review at 45+6 minutes. Four substitutions followed immediately at 46 minutes, all of them at once, and here's the thing that mattered: Malagón came off for José Cavadia.
América de Cali pressed through the second half and went closest to taking the lead when Jhon Murillo thought he had scored at 59 minutes. The goal was cancelled after a VAR check, and then Yeison Guzmán converted a penalty in the 90th minute to salvage a point for the home side.
The statistics told a different story from the scoreline. América de Cali held 65 per cent possession and registered 2.16 expected goals compared to 0.75 for the hosts. There were eight shots on target against three, and 135 attacks to 48. Yet the visitors could only manage two big chances created, while the home side pressed with six shots inside the penalty area and one off target.
Haguares had lost four of their last five league matches before this game, including a heavy 3:0 defeat to Atlético Nacional. América de Cali came into the fixture with two wins in a row but had drawn 0:0 against Santa Fe the previous week. This result ends a run of three unbeaten matches for the visitors.
The draw means the hosts stay in the bottom half with seven points separating them from safety. América de Cali extend their lead over the teams around them and fancy their chances of securing a top-four finish before the season closes.
