Santiago de Chile, June 12 (RHC / PL) - The Chilean national soccer team defeated its Cuban counterpart 3-0 in a friendly match played at the Ester Roa Rebolledo stadium in the southern city of Concepción.

From the first minutes of the match the locals dominated the field thanks to their experience in this sport.

Before the start of the match, the Cuban coach, Pablo Elier Sánchez, acknowledged the international renown of the Chilean players and the regional power quality of "la roja" as the Chilean national team is known.

In spite of the intense cold of the night and the high price of the tickets, some 30 thousand people watched the match and applauded the Cuban team when it entered the field.

The scoreboard moved for the first time in the 12th minute, when Marcelino Núñez took a strong cross shot and nestled the ball in the net despite the stretching of goalkeeper Sandy Sánchez.

About 15 minutes later, Rodrigo Echeverría opened the scoring for the Reds with a header in the middle of three Cuban defenders to make it 2-0 at the end of the first half.

During the second half, the tone did not change and in the 69th minute Marcelino Nuñez scored again for Chile, whose coach, Eduardo Berizzo, began to move the bench and brought on two of his heavyweights, Gary Medel and Ben Brereton.

The latter, in one of the first plays in which he participated, almost scored the fourth goal, but the ball went just a few centimeters over the crossbar. In the final minutes the scoreboard remained unchanged, although the locals had clear chances to score, but on at least three occasions their shots hit the posts.

Cuba will now travel to Uruguay where it will play another friendly before beginning its participation in the Gold Cup of the North, Central American and Caribbean Football Confederation, where it will play its first match against Guatemala.