If you’ve enjoyed watching Austin FC players Rodney Redes and Cecilio Domínguez play in the Copa Libertadores tournament, you’ll have more opportunities to see them play.
Redes and Domínguez were instrumental in Club Guaraní’s 3-1 win on Thursday night over Argentine side Tigre in the South American tournament. The match was the fifth in a series of six group stage matches, and the result guarantees that Guaraní will move on to the tournament’s Round of 16.
Redes started and played the full match, and was particularly excellent as his team’s primary corner-kick taker. Redes assisted on Guaraní’s first two goals, including what would be the eventual game winner. Both goals were headers that Redes initiated on corner kicks.
In the 19th minute, Guaraní scored the opener when Redes found Jhohan Romano in front of goal. Romano put his head on the pass, threading it through traffic and beating Tigre goalkeeper Gonzalo Marinelli.
Tigre answered with a 35th-minute Pablo Magnin goal coming off a Guaraní turnover, but Redes had another chance to secure the lead on a 54th-minute corner kick, and he made good on it. He found Jose Florentin with a weighted pass; Florentin was able to loop a long header just under the crossbar to regain the lead.
Domínguez entered the match in the 66th minute as part of a double substitution, and as he did in his previous outing against Tigre, made his impact on the match with a goal. Unlike the prior match, though, this goal came from open play in the 86th minute. Domínguez chased a penetrating pass from teammate Rodrigo Fernandez, rounded a diving Marinelli, and then kept his composure, working the ball back toward the goalmouth and finishing smartly.
Redes had two prime chances to get on the scoresheet himself. Moments before the game-winning assist, he capped off a Guaraní attack with a header that just went wide of the post. Then, in the 88th minute, Redes worked the ball into position for a tight-angled shot that glanced off the same post.
Guaraní will travel to La Paz on Oct. 21 to face Bolivar in its final group match. The most likely scenario is that the Paraguayan club will finish second to group leader Palmeiras in the standings. Guaraní would then be placed into Pot B and matched with a group winner in the Round of 16 draw on Oct. 24. Matches at that stage will be played Nov. 24-26 for the first leg and Dec. 1-3, with quarterfinals starting Dec. 8.
