Colon beat Sao Paulo in Copa Sudamericana match

Argentine club Atletico Colon won 1-0 in an away match against Brazil's Sao Paulo FC in the first leg of the second round of the Copa Sudamericana football tournament here.

Thursday evening's result marked the first defeat of Sao Paulo coach Diego Aguirre in the ten matches he has overseen at the Morumbi Stadium.

Colon, who have not suffered any setbacks in the Copa Sudamericana so far this year, surprised Sao Paulo, who have had one of their best moments in several months in the Brazilian Championship, by taking three points that give them a big lead to advance to the last 16 of the tournament, reports EFE news agency.

The Argentine side emerged victorious from a match dominated entirely by Sao Paulo. It now needs just a draw at home in the second leg on August 16 in Santa Fe to qualify for the round of 16 where Colombia's Juniors are already waiting for them.

Although Sao Paulo clearly dominated the match, it squandered numerous scoring opportunities due to the strong defence of the Argentine squad.

When Sao Paulo attacked the most in the second half, Colon took advantage of its first counterattack and opened the scoring in the 79th minute with a powerful shot of Matias Fritzler from outside of the box.

With the entire Argentine team in the defence area, Sao Paulo could not get close to the goal despite the efforts of Nene and even suffered the loss of its striker Brenner, who was given a red card in the last minute of the match.

--IANS

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