Ecuador’s Liga de Quito won the Copa Sudamericana title despite a 3-0 loss to Fluminense of Brazil on Wednesday, earning their third continental trophy in two years with a 5-4 aggregate score.
Diguinho, Fred and Gum scored for Fluminense at a packed Maracana Stadium, but it wasn’t enough to erase the Brazilian club’s 5-1 first-leg loss last week in Ecuador.
Trying to win their first international title and boosted by nearly 70,000 fans at the Maracana, Fluminense pressured from the beginning on Wednesday to try to reverse the first-leg result. Coach Cuca set up his team with three forwards and it quickly started to pay off.
Midfielder Diguinho opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a long-range left-footed shot that deflected off Liga de Quito defender William Araujo and beat goalkeeper Alexander Dominguez.
Ulises De la Cruz was sent off four minutes later after a sliding tackle on Diguinho.
Striker Fred found the net in the 43rd minute with a low shot from inside the area after a perfect pass from forward Alan.
The Brazilians maintained the pressure in the second half and sealed the win when defender Gum scored with a header in the 73rd minute.
Fred was sent off in the 76th minute after receiving his second yellow card for protesting a decision and Liga defender Jairo Campos was shown his second yellow card in the 82nd minute. Fluminense had several other scoring opportunities and continued to press into the closing minutes.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough,” Fluminense striker Alan said. “We gave our best, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the last goal we needed.”
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
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