Colo Colo triumph at haka-happy Easter Island
SANTIAGO - A haka before a football match is a rare sight but Colo Colo watched bemused as the Easter Island team performed the Polynesian ritual before beating them 4-0 in their Chile Cup tie on Wednesday.
The amateur Rapa Nui select, coached by former Chile forward Miguel Angel Gamboa, lasted half an hour on level terms in the first competitive match to be played on Chile's South Pacific territory and were even the first to have the ball in the net.
However, after forward Jovino Tuki had his goal disallowed for handball, Chile's most successful and popular club took charge with an own goal by the home side's Javier Perez and a strike by Paraguayan Cristian Bogado in two minutes.
Bogado made it three on the hour and substitute Phillip Araos converted a penalty after being brought down.
The match was held 3,800 km west of Chile at a small venue free to the public, close to a beach and with a typical moai statute looking over it.
The pitch, laid with 20 truckloads of new turf, was poor and referee Carlos Chandia ordered the lines of the penalty areas to be painted again at halftime after they were erased in places by a steady drizzle.
The Chile Cup was discontinued in 2000 but reinstated last year when Universidad de Concepcion won the trophy beating third division Deportes Ovalle in the final.
This season's winners will qualify for a place in the 2010 Copa Sudamericana, the continent's equivalent to the Europa League.
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