Copa Sudamericana 2013: Results and Analysis from Wednesday's Action

Two matches took place in the 2013 Copa Sudamericana on Wednesday, with two very different results.

In one match, Lanus crushed Universidad de Chile 4-0 in a contest that took just 31 minutes to get out of hand.

Meanwhile, the other match was much more competitive. La Equidad and Velez Sarsfield battled to a close finish that took 80 minutes to fully decide after a late goal that broke a 1-1 tie.

Let's break down what happened in each match while looking at a top performer in each.

Lanus vs. Universidad de Chile (4-0)

Lanus wasted no time taking control of this match. After 31 minutes, the club owned a 3-0 lead.

Universidad de Chile got outworked in every sense of the word. They could only muster eight shots with just three on goal. On the other hand, Lanus notched 12 shots in total with eight finding the target.

However, Lanus was fortunate to overcome some poor play in this match. Not only did the eventual winners commit 18 fouls to Universidad de Chile's 11, but Lanus also surrendered four corner kicks to their two.

Against better competition, those are the kind of stats that could doom Lanus down the road.

Top Performer: Lucas Melano (Lanus)

Melano made the difference in this game. He netted two goals on three shots, all of which were on goal.

Granted, Lanus only needed Santiago Silva's first strike of the game to win. Adding two goals to Lanus' first-half lead no doubt demoralized their opponents early in this match, though.

La Equidad vs. Velez Sarsfield (1-2)

La Equidad didn't help themselves at all in this match after taking just seven shots with two finding the goal. Their opponents, Velez Sarsfield, were far busier with 11 total shots—more than half of which were on goal.

Despite that disparity, La Equidad was able to even the score with 15 minutes to go off the head of Wilmer Diaz and had a real chance to win. However, Alejandro Cabral scored five minutes later for Velez Sarsfield, allowing his side to escape with a close win after outplaying their opponents.

La Equidad's Jonathan Alvarez received a red card with two minutes of normal time remaining after committing a foul on Francisco Cerro that resulted in a free-kick.

Top Performer: Alejandro Cabral

Yonny Hinestroza got credit for the first goal that started the scoring for Velez Sarsfield, but the goal by Cabral was the one that put this club over the top.

With the pressure mounting and the clock winding down, Cabral proved to be clutch for his squad after netting one of his two total shots. He even drew a foul in this one.