The Portugalete staff, its coaching staff and several managers underwent PCR tests this Sunday to find out if they are infected with Covid-19, after the partner of one of the valet players tested positive. Despite the fact that all are well and none of the members of the locker room have symptoms -including the athlete whose partner suffers from the disease-, the recommendation transferred by the health and sports authorities is that remain confined to their homes until the evaluation results are known, which is scheduled to be unveiled this Monday. In theory, if the coronavirus has not entered the Left Bank squad house, the final of the play-off for promotion to Segunda B that had to face the Sestao River two days ago in Sarriena will be played this Saturday, 1 August, on the same stage. But everything will depend on the incidence of the pathogen. At times, two members of the group with private insurance passed the exam the same Saturday and have returned a negative result.
This decisive meeting between the two neighboring teams was suspended shortly before 3.30 p.m. last Saturday due to the fact that the girlfriend of a footballer from Portugalete was infected by Covid-19. She had been symptomatic all week, on Friday they gave her the test to find out if she was infected and on Saturday she knew the result. The player immediately informed the club of the situation. The vase entity addressed the secretary general of the Basque Football Federation, Kepa Allica, who transferred the events to Hispaniola. In contact with the Health Department of the Basque Government, the institutions decide to cancel the duel to preserve all the participants and to avoid, in passing, a massive infection, a possible outbreak.
A puzzle
From there, the Sestao, who was concentrated in a hotel in Derio where he had eaten and rested, shows his surprise and his understanding of the step taken. The River players return to their homes. In the Portugalete, meanwhile, two footballers go to private health to undergo a PCR and the result shows a negative. The rest go to their homes, where they will remain until they know the results.
At the moment, all the members of the Portugalete are well, without any indication that they have contracted the pathogen. In the event that the locker room is ‘clean’, everything indicates that the match that will resolve the category jump will be played on Saturday in Sarriena; with that idea we work. If, on the contrary, the virus has entered the vase, the future is uncertain, and the puzzle is difficult to solve.
In an unprecedented setting, the only model in which the rectors of the competition can be fixed is in what has happened with the Fuenlabrada, which has 28 infected. The Madrid team had to play a week ago the last match of the League against Deportivo in La Coruña, but a series of positives forced the cancellation of the clash. With the team confined to a hotel in the Galician city, the number of those affected has not stopped growing since then, the last part is close to thirty, and the League has decided to produce a definitive suspension of the duel, which causes that Fuenlabrada remain without contesting the play-off for promotion to Primera. In the case of the match between Portugalete and Sestao, however, this solution would leave the final without a winner and without a category jump to group IV of Second B.
Therefore, at the moment it only remains to wait for the results of the exams to be known throughout this day. From there, the following steps will be taken. The objective, always with health as the main concern, is to play the tie as soon as possible to close the competition, the groups … And is that in the event that the Portugalete loses the match, the fact that he has finished as group champion It grants him the right to play a play-off against other eliminated leaders: Alcoyano, Lealtad, Marino Canario and Linares. These meetings were scheduled for next Saturday, but should be delayed due to the cancellation of the duel between the two Biscayan teams.
.
