In Colombian football, aspects are beginning to be defined in the BetPlay 2022-II League. One of them will be the final home runs where eight clubs are looking for a way to get to the final, an instance in which there will only be options for two casts to interfere and fight for the league title.
Independiente Santa Fe under the technical direction of Alfredo Arias will look for a way to start the final home runs in a good way, which are at a different price. The Cardinals were a roller coaster in all against all being outside the eight for some dates, and in an unusual way, they were given the results to finish the regular phase nothing more nor less than first as group leader. The draw put Millonarios, Deportivo Pereira and Junior de Barranquilla on the path of the white and red.
Millonarios secured their classification on the last day of the regular phase, and with the joy and emotion of having been champion in the BetPlay Cup, the ambition does not stop and they hope to fight for the final. The ambassadors did not have good results with Santa Fe, Pereira or Junior, although against the Cardinals, they won one game and lost the other.
Alfredo Arias gave his impressions prior to the classic that will open the definition phase in Group A. About the classic, he threw a dart at Alberto Gamero and his team, “like all classics it has a totally different connotation. This championship with the theme of repeating the classics is special and different from everywhere in the world, the only team that played against the best in 15 days was us, twice. The only one who had to win points against the best, was us and now we face each other two more times and I think that the times we faced them, it was their best moment and now again, so we are preparing for it”.
In this initial meeting, Millonarios will play the local game, despite the fact that it will be the game at the Nemesio Camacho El Campín. It has been harder for Santa Fe to play on the road than at home, an example of this was the tough 4-0 against Alianza Petrolera and the 2-1 loss to Jaguares de Córdoba. Alfredo Arias commented, “the championship was very even, the last date was defined and all the teams were very even, there are variables that determine that parity, such as weather and travel variables. I always say that the Colombian championship is one of the best in terms of competitiveness and we would have liked to win more as visitors. Now we start visiting, which is a visit in quotes, more than anything for the fans, but we play on the same pitch that we always play. We have gone to all the fields with the same desire to win, however, we have been given that in El Campín we have become stronger”.
Regarding the work during the week, Alfredo Arias asserted, “our objective and I said it from the first day and I repeat it, was to qualify among the eight, trying to be in competition for an international cup, which is what we had planned, but now we are in another championship, now another championship begins, which has other connotations, I am not saying that the teams play differently, but I am saying that other variables must be taken into account, that each coach of each team will have them”.
Finally, he spoke of a player who has come from less to more like Andrey Estupiñán, “he is a player with a lot of conditions, a lot of capacity, who, due to injuries, due to irregularity, has not been able to perform very well in training and has not had the necessary continuity. In recent games he has found that regularity and he has helped us a lot, he helps us play both inside and outside”. The game that will mark the beginning of the home runs in Group A will be at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 6.
