Alset Columbia took on Otago Academy from New Zealand in the opening premier section match at Roe Mill. Otago started the game the brighter of the teams, their first chance coming from Kai Paetz as his shot was easily saved by Miguel Castillo.
Six minutes in Otago won a penalty as Brandon Calderon chopped down Jack short in the box up stepped George McCall to hammer the penalty low into the net despite Castillo going the right way.
Alset could have had the perfect response to falling behind three minutes later as Kevin Cubillos shot was tipped on to the bar by Otago keeper Fergus Connolly.
The match started with a very high tempo end-to-end stuff nearly resulting in Otago going two ahead through Ben Happs his shot stinging the Palms off Castillo.
Castillo had to be alert once again on the half hour mark as Anton Fitzgeralds powerful run saw him get into the box his shot from the angle pushed away by the agile keeper .
The quality of football being played was superb, a real spectacle for the supporters to watch. Alset Columbia had a perfect opportunity to level when Connolly made a fine save from Santiago Lopez as he shot through a sea of players.
However, Otago doubled their lead through Josh McMillan as he took advantage of Castillos parry back into the danger zone the ball falling to his feet to hammer the ball into the net.
On the stroke of the interval Alset Columbia pulled a goal back as Jose Rincon picked up the ball from deep and drove towards the Otago defence before shooting powerfully into the net from range.
In all truth the second half died down as Otago switched to a new formation playing five in midfield, frustrating the opposition.
The New Zealanders had the first chance of the second half when Ben O’Farrell played in Anton Fitzgerald his shot squeezing into the net for Three-One.
As the rain swept down the game started to open up as the ball moved quicker across the wet turf, Alset could have pulled one back through Rincon as his shot was spilled by the keeper but Santiago Lopez could only find the side netting from the rebound .
With five minutes remaining Alset pulled a goal back as Santiago Losoa played a delightful ball over the top for Daniel Malpica to take it down beautifully and finish low into the net.
The game fizzled out as Otago caused an early upset in this year’s tournament winning 3-2 in a game of great quality and hopefully more to follow.
Joshua Bunting