Today at 6 pm at the Sierra Nevada stadium in Santa Marta, Atlético Huila visits Unión Magdalena, a match corresponding to date 13 of the promotion tournament. The Opita cast will seek to recover from what was the elimination of the Colombia Cup at the hands of Real Cartagena.
Jhoan Sebastian Salazar
After the elimination of the Colombia Cup at the hands of Real Cartagena, Atlético Huila faces Unión Magdalena today, a match corresponding to date 13 of the promotion tournament.
The Opita cast is already classified for home runs as seeded. Now, they will look for a victory that will allow them to regain confidence ahead of what will be the next phase of the tournament.
“Pain for the elimination in the Colombia Cup. Now to turn the page, correct, raise our heads and focus on the promotion. Union and family!”, the president of the club, Maruan David Issa, expressed on his social networks after the elimination of Real Cartagena.
The numbers
Huila’s rival today will be Unión Magdalena, a team that is currently in position 6 in the promotion tournament with 19 points. The ‘Samarium’ team is in its best moment, coming off 3 consecutive victories.
In fact, if they beat Atlético Huila, they will have a foot and a half in the semi-final home runs of the promotion tournament (they would need a victory to get the ticket).
As for Atlético Huila, without the Colombia Cup involved, they will focus fully on what will be the promotion tournament. The Opita team has 33 points (it is the only team in the tournament and the league that has not been tied so far in the round-robin phase).
Although it is already classified, the team led by Professor Diego Corredor must continue with the mentality of continuing to add, since the reclassification table is fundamental at the end of the year, as it can easily give a place to the first division of Colombian soccer.
Currently, Atlético Huila is 10 points ahead of the second (Llaneros), so they will have to work at a minimum to maintain it to aspire to promotion at the end of the year.
Data
They have been even in the last five games that Unión Magdalena and Atlético Huila have played at the Sierra Nevada stadium. The records show two victories per side and one draw:
- January 25, 2023: Unión Magdalena 2-1 Atlético Huila
- November 30, 2020: Unión Magdalena 2-3 Atlético Huila
- October 8, 2020: Unión Magdalena 2-0 Atlético Huila
- July 20, 2019: Unión Magdalena 0-0 Atlético Huila
- April 30, 2005: Unión Magdalena 0-1 Atlético Huila
The last match that ‘Samarios’ and ‘Opitas’ played was on July 17, 2023. This match was played in Neiva and ended with a 2-1 Huilense victory (Sebastián Hernández and Germán Gutiérrez scored for Huila, both are still in the club).
Calendar
After this commitment, Atlético Huila will receive Orsomarso at the Plazas Alcid in Neiva. This match will be played on May 2 at 4 pm.
Subsequently, Huila will close the round-robin phase against Internacional de Palmira as a visitor and against Llaneros at home. These last matches do not yet have an official Dimayor schedule.
And the stadium?
In the last few hours, a message from President Maruan David Issa went viral, who indicated that the western stand of the stadium would be ready in 2026.
“I apologize, dear Opitas, for that publication from August 2023. The new date they give me now is 2026. There is still no schedule,” the leader wrote. David Issa refers to a publication in which he points out that the stadium’s western stand would be ready in 2024.
Inquiry
According to information known to LA NACIÓN, the Government of Huila hired a consultancy from the National University, in order to know exactly what cost the adaptation of the western stand will have and thus finish putting together the project to move it to phase 3 and present it before the Ministry of Sports.
This consultancy is now ready. Now, the step to follow is to finish putting together the project and finalize it. It is expected that this year, the project will already be filed and with the budget ready for the works to begin in 2025, with the aim of being completed and delivered in 2026.
