CIUDAD GUATEMALA – Municipal of Guatemala rallied from a two-goal second half deficit to earn a 2-2 draw with Honduran club Olimpia in the first leg of the 2022 Scotiabank Concacaf League Round of 16 on Thursday night at the Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Olimpia did not waste any time in getting on the scoreboard, as Brayan Moya got on the end of a free kick in the 3’ and spun a header into net to hand the Honduran visitors a 1-0 lead.

Olimpia kept their foot on the gas and in short order it was 2-0 in the 9’ when a cutback pass at the end line found the slashing Boniek Garcia and the veteran midfielder one-timed a shot into net.

 

Things changed though in the 42’ when Jerry Bengston was sent off with a second yellow card, reducing Olimpia to 10 men right before halftime.

Municipal were able to regroup and shortly after the restart they were able to cut into the Olimpia lead to 2-1 in the 55’ with Eduardo Rotondi calmly converted a penalty with a right-footed shot.

Olimpia’s task of holding onto their lead got a lot more difficult just four minutes later in the 59’ when Boniek Garcia was sent off, leaving the visitors with nine men for the final half-hour.

Municipal could smell the equalizer and it arrived in the 68’ on an excellent finish from Yasnier Matos, whose right-footed lowly struck volley beat Olimpia GK Edrick Menjivar to make it 2-2.

The Guatemalan hosts continued to surge in search of a winning score, but were unable to find, leaving things wide open going into next week’s second leg in Honduras.