Rio de Janeiro, July 16 -- Patrik Mercado scored twice as Independiente del Valle cruised to a 4-0 home win over 10-man Vasco da Gama in the Copa Sudamericana playoff round on Tuesday.
The Brazilian side suffered a major blow in the 12th minute when defender Lucas Piton was shown a straight red card for a dangerous challenge on Darwin Guagua.
Mateo Carabajal put the Ecuadorian team ahead with a close-range strike just before halftime and Mercado doubled the lead with a clinical finish into the bottom-left corner shortly after the restart.
Claudio Spinelli tapped home after combining with Ronald Briones and Mercado put the result beyond doubt by drilling a shot into the top-left corner eight minutes from time.
The decisive secon...