Santa Fe hammers Emelec 3-0, qualifies for Copa Sudamericana

Colombia's Santa Fe qualified for the Copa Sudamericana tournament after beating Ecuador's Emelec 3-0.

The defeat on Wednesday left the Ecuadorian team at the bottom of Group D and it was also eliminated from the Copa Libertadores, reports Efe.

Santa Fe finished third in the group stage with seven points, thanks to the three goals from central defender William Tesillo in the 39th minute, Wilson Morelo in the 52nd minute and forward John Pajoy in the 54th minute.

From Group D, Argentina's River Plate and Brazil's Flamengo advanced to the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores with 12 and 10 points respectively.

The Ecuadorian team ended up playing with only nine members following the expulsion of Juan Carlos Paredes in the 63rd minute and Oscar Bagui in the 93rd minute.

Santa Fe took the lead when Tesillo scored the first goal, assisted by Jose Moya following a corner.

The Colombian team went to the locker room with a one-point advantage and came back in the second half feeling confident.

At the 52nd minute, Morelo, top scorer of the 2018 Copa Libertadores with nine goals, contributed another point to the team.

Assisted by Anderson Plata, Morelo sent the ball over Emelec's Jordan Jaime and shot it into the right side of the goal guarded by Esteban Dreer.

Two minutes later, Pajoy took advantage of a space on the right side of the box left unguarded by Emelec's defenders to score the last point for his team, eliminating Emelec from the league and qualifying for the 2018 Copa Sudamericana.

--IANS

kk/mr