04/26/2024
A party that should be stellar on the date posterwill be covered by the noisy definition of the round-robin and the teams classified for the semi-final home runs.
National, at the end of a poor semesterreceives this Saturday at the Atanasio Girardot, starting at 7:00 pm, one of its toughest rivals in recent years, which also occupies first place in the championship: Deportes Tolima.
However, due to the early elimination of purslane, and the Ibagué team with the privilege of being seeded assured, a confrontation between two great teams, a priori generates few expectations. It is the only game that will be played on Saturday, the rest of the day is scheduled for Sunday.
The coach of the Antioquia team, Pablo Repetto, He stated before the match that they must “close this semester with a triumph.”
However, indirectly, he acknowledged that they already have one eye on the second tournament. “New players are going to arrive, we are going to work with the managers. We will play preseason friendlies so that the team arrives with rhythm for the start of the next championship“said the Uruguayan.
For his part, the Vinotinto y Oro coach, David Gonzalezdid not mention rest for its starters. “There is one more game left and we will face it as always, with the intention of winning”stated the paisa in the press conference after his 2-1 victory against Patriotas.
The bad semester of National
Before the start of date 19, green is located in box 13 with 21 points. If you don’t win this match, He would finish the championship in the worst place since that 17th place he occupied in 2009. In its most recent eliminations (Finalización 2022 and Finalización 2018), both under the command of Pablo Autuori, the Antioquian team occupied ninth position.
In the clash against Tolima, Nacional would once again use the essential players from this first stretch of the year. Robert Mejía, with his permanence in the team still in doubt, was the player with the most starts (18) In the 20 games that the green team played, followed Édier Ocampo (17)who does hope to continue in the Paisa club: “I think about staying and helping Nacional,” he confessed.
Both of them, with Álvaro Angulo (16)the team’s top scorer with 3 goals, were, in the same order, those who spent the most minutes on the court (1,572, 1,442 and 1,395).
Today, in a match that arouses few emotions, as Nacional did in the League, the team closes a semester to be forgotten. “After the match with Tolima we will take stock and make decisions,” Repetto said.
