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That the America thing does not happen to Deportivo Cali (Opinion)

Those who knew the situation of America when he went to B do not hesitate to compare that soccer ‘tragedy’ with what Deportivo Cali is currently experiencing.

The path is the same: financial crisis and sports crisis. And the result, the same: descent.

That word scares. And although Cali is not so close today to that ‘catastrophe’, of not correcting in time —now, rather—, that possibility will not be so far away.

Next year the 2021 average will be erased and the 2022 average will be taken into account, the year in which Cali has not left the last places, while the other teams that prowl the abyss of B have joined.

They are not a small thing, then, the two great concerns that the sugar institution has and will have to get out of both at the same time. It is no use recovering the finances if the results on the field do not improve. And neither does it serve to leave the bottom of the table if Cali’s indebtedness is not reduced. They are 91,000 million pesos, a complex figure, very complex for any company.

Looking back is useless. Why take out the rearview mirror, when what is needed are salvation formulas.

Luis Fernando Mena has just arrived at the presidency of Cali, a successful businessman who walked in the mud when he was very young and decided to go to study in the United States. He himself tells me that he went through many needs, including hunger, but in the end he came through and today is an example in the business region of Valle del Cauca thanks to his tenacity.

Mena now has a new challenge. And she cannot be alone in that task. She needs the help of partners, fans and anyone who wants to collaborate so that the ship, which is adrift, does not end up sinking to the bottom, where nothing can be done.

Divisions in the executive committee don’t work. Quarrels don’t help. Much less even death threats from criminals who claim to be fans, but they don’t even have a shirt.

In his company, Mena has built a family, in which everyone has understood the concept that he proposes as head of his organization, and today, thanks to this, most of the employees have a vehicle to get to work and their own home.

Deportivo Cali needs more people like him right now. It needs the leadership, solidarity and support of those who love an institution that has been a model in Colombian soccer.

The call made this week by Tulio Gómez, America’s largest shareholder, so that “the big-bitten fans put their hands in their pockets” was not a light comment. And on Thursday, in an interview I did with Déinner, the red player told me that he would not like Cali to go to B or for his financial crisis to worsen, because “you have to have empathy.”

What happened to America cannot happen to Deportivo Cali. He was left alone and the ship sank until Tulio arrived. We have to turn the wheel now, and the challenge is for the entire green and white family.

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