Cartaginés is into the Copa Centroamericana final after surviving a 2-2 draw with Olimpia in Tegucigalpa and winning the semifinal 3-2 on aggregate. The result ended Olimpia’s run and sent Amarini Villatoro’s side through after a tie that was decided by the narrowest of margins.
That is why the match drew attention immediately: Cartaginés had taken the first leg 1-0 in Costa Rica, then returned to Tegucigalpa needing only to protect a slim lead. Instead, the night turned on a game that kept swinging. Olimpia opened the scoring in the 12th minute when Luis Olivas turned the ball into his own net, only for Joaquín Alonso Hernández to strike in the 36th minute and level the tie again. Olimpia then moved in front through Jorge Benguché in the 52nd minute, and for a long stretch it looked as if the home side had forced the issue back in its favor.
Cartaginés did not need to win the match to advance, but it still had to find one more answer, and it came deep into stoppage time. Jean Carlo Castro scored in the 90+4 minute to secure the 2-2 draw and seal the 3-2 aggregate win. That late goal is the detail that explains the semifinal outcome more than any table or pregame expectation. Olimpia led 2-1 in the match before Castro’s equalizer changed everything at the last possible moment.
For Villatoro, the result adds another final to a record that is building quickly in the region. He had already taken Xelajú MC to a final a year earlier, and he previously guided Xelajú through the 2025 semifinal by eliminating Real España. This time, he did it with Cartaginés, carrying the club through a two-leg tie that stayed alive until the final whistle in Tegucigalpa.
What happens next is straightforward, even if one piece is still missing: Cartaginés will play the Copa Centroamericana final. The opponent has not been stated in the available information, but the route there is now set after a semifinal that Cartaginés rescued at the end and Olimpia could not finish off.
