Deportivo Cuenca won 2-1 and stopped the champion Independiente del Valle, in a match played this Saturday at the Alejandro Serrano Aguilar stadium, for the ninth round of the second phase of LigaPro-2022.
In a tight and stingy match with scoring opportunities during the first half, midfielder Fernando Gaibor put the visitors ahead in the 19th minute.
Cuenca woke up in the second half and Bruno Duarte equalized at the 49th minute.
With the goal, the "morlacos" got excited while the "rayados", who came in high spirits from the victory in the Copa Sudamericana semifinals with serious chances of jumping to the top of the stage, started to worry.
With well-created plays, Cuenca trapped the opponent in their own box and close to the one-hour mark, the skillful Lucas Mancinelli scored the winning goal in the 62nd minute.
The Morlaco goalkeeper shines
The disadvantage brought Del Valle back to reality, as they fought for equality through their lethal weapons Junior Sornoza, Lorenzo Faravelli, and Leandro Díaz, but on an inspired afternoon, Morlaco goalkeeper Hamilton Piedra became the savior angel of his team with spectacular performances.
In the end, Cuenca celebrated victory, placed themselves close to the top of the table in the current stage with 15 points, but also made a great leap to fully enter the international tournament zone for the next season by reaching 36 points in the overall table.
Independiente stopped at 16 points, but due to their campaign, they remain in the upper part of the overall table with 43 points.
In the next round, Cuenca will face 9 de Octubre away, and Independiente will host Delfín.
