Deportivo Universitario and Sporting San-Miguelito played out a 1-1 draw in the seventh round of the Liga Panamá Apertura on Friday night. The result keeps both sides in the middle of the table, though Sporting remain two points ahead.
And here's the thing about the opening half — it was Sporting who took the lead. A. Bethancourt struck in the forty-fifth minute, a late burst before the break that gave the visitors something to build on.
By then the game had settled into a rhythm neither side could quite control. The hosts pressed forward with more attacks — seventy-nine to sixty-nine — but possession barely shifted, sitting at forty-eight percent for Universitario and fifty-two for Sporting.
The away side made their chances count. I. Anderson equalised in the sixty-ninth minute after a period where the home side sat deep and soaked it up. There were substitutions to follow, but the pattern held.
Five yellow cards showed the intensity, with U. Maltez, J. Matos, H. Hurtado, O. Pinzon and O. Alba all cautioned. The hosts had more corners and throw-ins, but Sporting's defense held firm when it mattered.
We had tipped Sporting to win, though our confidence was only forty percent. The match didn't go that way — Universitario kept their heads in the second half and found an answer when the game looked closed.
After sixteen games, Universitario sit fifth with fourteen points from three wins and five draws. Sporting move to sixth with eighteen points, four victories and six draws, but the gap between them narrows when results like this come around.