For whatever tournament and on whatever stage, a duel between San Martín and Sportivo Desamparados generates plenty of expectations. This Sunday morning, “vernegros” and “puyutanos” will be measured for the 14th date of the San Juan Winter Soccer Tournament. In the most recent history, the Viper is the dominator, at least in the last four years.
Counting the matches for the domestic soccer contest and also the summer friendly at the Bicentennial Stadium, the most popular teams in the province met six times, taking into account that in 2020 and 2021 there were almost no clashes due to the pandemic .
The most recent clash between the two was last year, when they met for the 2021 Winter Tournament at the Emmanuel Más Predio and the triumph of Desamparados. With a goal from Santiago López and a penalty, Sportivo won 1-0. Later, when they had to meet in Puyuta for the Summer Tournament, football was interrupted by the second wave of coronavirus.
Fourteen months earlier, on January 22, 2020 and before the pandemic paralyzed the world, Sportivo and San Martín, with their First National and Federal “A” teams, had met at the Bicentennial Stadium for the San Juan Government Cup who faced them in a historic duel and a full stadium. More than 20,000 people attended to relive the classic with both fans and all the folklore that this implies. It was a 1-0 triumph for Sportivo with a goal from Tucuman Ricardo Tapia.
In 2019 the faces were seen in the two tournaments. In the Winter Tournament and in the match where Emanuel Guirado retired from football, the victory was for Víbora 2-0. The match was played in Puyuta and on that occasion San Martín invested the venue so that the goalkeeper could say goodbye to his people. In the second part of the year it was San Martín who won the classic and the top. The “Gino” Laciar team defeated Sportivo 2-1 and reached the top of the tournament in a match played in Pueblo Viejo. Molina had opened the scoring for Sportivo, Yori from a penalty and Sezin from a free kick scored for the victory of Verdinegro.
In 2018, they met first in Puyuta, on May 15, and the locals won 2-0 with goals from Silvio Prieto and Carlos Fondacaro. In September, San Martín tied with Desamparados 0-0 at the “Emmanuel Mas” venue.
In this way, in the most recent history they met six times, Sportivo won four, San Martín one and tied the rest. Now the time is different. San Martín, under the command of Gino Laciar, will seek to position himself third in the standings before his people, for Desamparados adding will be key to remain in the qualifying zone of the Winter Tournament.
THE GAME
San Martín and Desampaardos will meet this Sunday at 11:30 am at the “Hilario Sánchez”. The fixture marked Sportivo as a local but taking into account that its field is not in good condition and that Trinidad (where it is a local in Federal “A”), plays its game today, they decided to invert the localities. In this way, when it is San Martín’s turn to host the Summer Tournament, the match will be played in Puyuta.
