BELMOPAN, Wed. Aug. 17, 2022 Belize’s Verdes FC gave a gallant effort, holding the powerful Alianza FC, champions of El Salvador, to a scoreless first half tonight at the FFB Stadium; but an early second half red-card ejection of defender Evral Trapp briefly destabilized a fairly cohesive Verdes defence, resulting in increased pressure from the Alianza attack; and they were rewarded when a hard grounder from the goal line got loose from Verdes goalkeeper/captain Woodrow West and was slammed in by Alianza striker Victor Landazuri at the 57th minute. A centering pass at the 67th minute resulted in a colossal header from close range byAlianza’s veteran striker Rodolfo Zelaya to make it 2-0. But, despite the one-man advantage from the 47th minute onwards, Alianza could not get another cushion on the score, and almost saw the lead cut in half when Verdes’ Edwin Bernal‘s header hit the cross bar at the 84th. Alianza just could not have their way against a resilient Verdes defense and the game got quite physical at times, resulting in another red-card ejection in injury time, this one to Alianza’s Narciso Orellana. Nevertheless, the visitors came away with
a 2-0 victory, and it will be an uphill battle for Verdes next Wednesday for the return match in El Salvador.
In its first Concacaf Round of 16 encounter Verdes started with 6 foreigners and 5 Belizean nationals in their lineup, and they finished with 7 Belizeans and 3 foreigners; it might have been 8 Belizeans, but Evral Trapp had been ejected early in second half. Verdes lineup [Legend: Mexicao – MEX; Colombia – COL; Argentina – ARG; Paraguay – PAR]: goalkeeper #27 Woodrow West (captain); #88 Aaron Lopez; #80 PAR Mario Narvaez; #24 MEX Christian Ramirez Sanchez; #99 Evral Trapp (red card at 47’); #14 Darrel Myvett; #19 ARG Facundo Garnier (#11 Jahron Myvette at 51’); #33 MEX Edwin Villeda Bernal; #5 MEX Waldo Jimenez Medina (#7 Jesse August at 60’); #9 PAR Luis Ibarra (#17 Izon Gill at 78’) ; #25 Krisean Lopez. Head coach – David Perez (Spain). Match referee was Selvin Brown (Honduras).
Four players on the Verdes bench who did not see action in this match were: #22 goalkeeper Charles Tillett, #3 Norman Anderson, #18 Zion Ramos and #77 Desmond Wade. Congratulations on a great effort, Verdes FC!
The decisive 2nd leg match takes place next Wednesday, August 24, at the Estadio Cuscatlan in San Salvador.