O Montevideo City Torque debuted with victory in Copa Sudamericana 2026 by defeating the Grêmio 1-0, on Wednesday night (9), at the Centenário Stadium, in Montevideo. The match, valid for the first round of Group F, was decided with a goal from Eduardo Agüero just 3 minutes into the second half.
With the victory, Montevideo City Torque takes the lead in Group F with three points, alongside five other teams that also won in the first round. Grêmio, in turn, is at the bottom of the group, with no points, and will have to seek recovery in the next matches to continue with any chances of qualifying.
In the next round of the continental competition, Grêmio will host Palestino in Porto Alegre, while Montevideo City Torque will visit Deportivo Riestra, in Argentina.
The game
The first half was one of few emotions, with both teams creating rare clear scoring opportunities. Grêmio’s best chance came with Martin Braithwaite, who headed wide after Riquelme’s precise cross in the 14th minute.
On the Uruguayan side, Franco Pizzichillo with a first-time finish after an assist from Eduardo Agüero. The game had a controversial moment in the 27th minute, when referee Augusto Aragón awarded Grêmio a penalty after Gonzalo Montes brought down Martin Braithwaite in the area.
After review by VAR, the penalty ended up being annulled, to the relief of the home team. Montevideo City Torque came back more objective from the dressing room and it didn’t take long to open the scoring. In the 3rd minute, Esteban Obregón received a great throw on the right, played low to the middle of the area and Eduardo Agüero finished with a cross, with no chance for goalkeeper Weverton.
After the goal, coach Luís Castro made several changes to Grêmio, trying to give more dynamism to the tricolor attack.
Juan Nardoni, Gabriel Mec and Francis Amuzu were called into action, but the Brazilian team continued to struggle to break through the Uruguayans’ defensive blockade. Grêmio’s best opportunity to seek a draw came in the 40th minute of the second half, when André Henrique received a pass from Martin Braithwaite and finished for a great save by goalkeeper Franco Torgnascioli.
In the final minutes, he tried to press, but ran into Montevideo City Torque’s well-positioned defense, which held the result until the final whistle.
