A tragic night for Emelec, as they lost 3-2 against Independiente del Valle on the 94th anniversary. It was the fifth consecutive match in the Pro League campaign that they could not win, exacerbating their sporting crisis.

And at George Capwell Stadium, the visitors achieved victory with two goals from Bolivian Marcelo Martins Moreno and a brace from Argentine-American Michael Hoyos. And it is a result that confirms that they are leaders in the first stage of the tournament, in the eight days that it was played.

Meanwhile, the tricolor’s John Jairo Sanchez and Argentina’s Carlos Villalba scored for the lighting fixture. The fall buried him in the twelfth square of the ranking.

Desiring more than having a good game, the Electricians began dueling in an effort to subdue the scheme. Jose Francisco Cevallos Jr. and Tommy Ciampa tried to take advantage of the spaces left by their rivals to supply Alejandro Cabeza and Crescent Valencia.

However, this provoked Independiente’s reaction and 10 minutes later he responded with a first-class strike from youngster Kendri Paez. From there, the encounter intensified due to the constant attacks.

When the blacks took control of the ball, Emelec came alive and set up a counterattack from the right side of midfielder Edgar Lastre, who decided to finish the match but could not overcome the resistance of goalkeeper Moisés Ramirez (14th minute).

In another arrival, Lastre took advantage of a bad rebuff from Independiente’s defense and in turn tried to open the scoring, but he couldn’t do that either (22 min).

After that, the intensity of Independiente increased. A quick combination between striker Marcelo Martínez Moreno and Junior Sornoza Páez was left alone with goalkeeper Ortiz, but he unleashed a cross that went just close to the left upright.

Until the end of the first part there was a back-and-forth round, but the teams lacked the effectiveness to give the last chance against the goals.

In the second half, Emelec was able to open the entry mark. The planned team neglected to implement a free kick, and the ball remained in the possession of defender Luis Fernando Leon, who passed the ball to midfielder John Jairo Sanchez until he touched the ball 1-0. An action verified by VAR on 49 minutes.

In the 57th minute, goalkeeper Ortiz gained prominence with a diagonal reaction to stop a shot from Paez towards the left side of his own goal.

Pressure from the visitors got its reward at 59 minutes. An error from the Blues’ defensive block allowed Bolivian Martinez Moreno to score with a header. Once again, the VAR proceeded to make the equaliser.

The game turned upside down for Emelec with Sanchez being sent off. After reviewing the images in VAR, it was discovered that the midfielder kicked onto a board to preserve the run, but ended up hitting goalkeeper Ramirez.

In another play that was also reviewed by the VAR, Romario Caicedo stomped on Alan Menda in the small penalty area and the judge punished them with a penalty. Free kick collected by Michael Hoyos and made it 1-2 (86 min).

This caused the light bulb to lose what little clarity was left. As they were about to start building up the game, the Blue defenders were caught off guard by Martins Moreno, who ended up enabling the Hoyos to fire at them with his left foot (90 min).

But with his last breath, Argentine midfielder Carlos Villalba took advantage of a header to lower the score and left the score 2-3 (90 + 6 minutes). (Dr)