Colo Colo is about to enter weeks of a lot of football between the National Championship and the 2024 Copa Libertadores. In total, the albos will play 16 games in 64 days, a test for Jorge Almirón’s team.
The Argentine coach will have to know how to manage the loads between the local tournament and the cup, especially considering that on average he will play a match every four days.
Without going any further, this Saturday they will face Everton and then next Wednesday against Cerro Porteño in their cup debut. Luckily both matches will be at the Monumental Stadium, although that does not mean that Almirón is committed to moving the pieces in his starting eleven.
We say this because Esteban Pavez, Cristián Zavala and Marcos Bolados, who returned from the Chilean team’s tour of Europe, will be saved to receive the Viñamarinos. In addition, Arturo Vidal will not play, since he will be reserved for the cup debut.
In this way, Colo Colo’s most likely formation against Everton will be with Brayan Cortés in goal; Óscar Opazo, Alan Saldivia, Maximiliano Falcón and Erick Wiemberg in defense; Vicente Pizarro, Leonardo Gil and Carlos Palacios in the middle of the field; Pablo Parra, Guillermo Paiva and Lucas Cepeda on offense.
Does Almirón “throw” the tournament?
This large number of changes, added to those already seen in matches such as the visit to O’Higgins or against Huachipato at the Monumental, means that seeing Almirón is defining positions between the tournament and the Copa Libertadores.
And be careful, it wouldn’t be anything new. During his time at Boca Juniors, the Argentine had no problems leaving the league aside in order to overcome phases in the continental event, even going so far as to play in the final against Fluminense.
The problem was that at the local level the performance was barely enough to finish seventh in the tournament and be left out of the playoffs in the League Cup. Furthermore, in the Argentine Cup they would be eliminated in the semifinals at the hands of Estudiantes de La Plate.
This being the case and after losing the Libertadores final, Boca was barely able to play in this year’s Copa Sudamericana, a complete failure for a club as big as Xeneize.
Only time will tell if this practice brings benefits to Colo Colo. Leaving aside the tournament so much could be serious for the Cacique thinking about 2025, especially considering that it is the year of the club’s centenary and the money that is lost by not playing the Libertadores.
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