The die is cast in the home run A. But nothing more for Deportivo Pereira and Atlético Nacional. ‘Matecañas’ and ‘Verdolagas’ have no mathematical option to advance to the final. Not the slightest. Not the most remote. Any. They are completely eliminated.
Only Deportivo Cali and Junior have the chance to reach the decisive instance, although only the ‘Azucareros’ depend on themselves until the last date and with a draw in the duel against the ‘Sharks’, next Saturday at the stadium of the Caleño team (5:45 pm), they will be able to anticipate their classification.
Those led by Rafael Dudamel, without a doubt, have the best option to enter the series for the title. They are motivated and very confident by the football improvement, by the good number of points achieved in the semifinals and by the good individual performance of men such as Guillermo De Amores, Jorge Marsiglia, Teófilo Gutiérrez and Harold Preciado, among others.
They will arrive at the crucial duel against Junior with air in the shirt, with a full crowd in the stands of their stadium and with a favorable atmosphere that gives them all the favoritism and makes us think that this story in Group A has already been resolved.
“Our fans are so connected to our squad, there is an incredible synergy. The game against Nacional was not over and I could already imagine our Palmaseca stadium crowded with people in the game on Saturday. I have a huge anxiety that the game starts now. Every time we meet our fans, it is an enormous joy to live this idyll, “said Dudamel in the midst of his excitement after the 2-1 victory against Nacional, on Wednesday at the Atanasio Girardot stadium in Medellín.
However, and although it sounds like a box phrase, the last word has not yet been written. Junior still breathes, still dreams. He who fights is not dead (another vaunted expression, but real).
“We know that this is going to be until the end. Nobody has anything earned. Our thing is to go game by game “, declared Arturo Reyes, rojiblanco coach, after the clear and overwhelming 3-0 victory against Pereira.
“We have never lost faith,” Reyes pointed out, alluding to the current situation and the bad times that the ‘Sharks’ have had this semester.
Reyes clings to the option he has left in the homerun and, above all, to the confidence that his managers awaken. “Junior players know how to face these phases.”
Junior, if Nacional had tied or defeated the Verdiblanco team, it was his turn to win in Cali anyway if he wanted to depend on himself to reach the final. The coup of authority that the Valle del Cauca club gave at Atanasio frustrates the rojiblancos the possibility that the classification was in their hands. However, the challenge for the next day is the same, go to Palmaseca for the three points.
If Reyes and his combo prevail in Caleño territory, they will arrive alive to the last date of the quadrangular A. To qualify for the final they will have to overcome Atlético Nacional in Barranquilla and cross fingers so that Deportivo Cali loses or draws in their visit to the Pereira.
Easy? No, of course not. Hard? Yes. It cannot be denied. Impossible? … Junior already played Deportivo Cali face to face in his stadium this semester (August 29), in the ‘all against all’ phase, and he was not inferior. Gastón Rodríguez opened the scoring, at minute 6, after a crass error by Sebastián Viera, but Didier Moreno equalized at 27.
In the match in Barranquilla, on December 1, the result was 2-2, but the process of the duel favored Junior. The triumph hit the stick. Not only because of Viera’s free kick that kissed the crossbar, but also because of other sharp options that ‘the Shark’ created.
So, in conclusion, beating Cali on Saturday is very complex, but it is not an impossible mission.
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