The other game for the final of the Betplay League: recovering the injured

One of those who came with several players between cottons was Santa Fe, which on Sunday will be played against Deportes Tolima in Ibagué to qualify for the final round of the championship. There is good news for the red fans: two of the team’s key players are already working alongside their teammates, after overcoming muscle problems, the central defender Facundo Agüero and the attacker Jersson González.

A third player is still in the medical department, but waiting to be able to arrive for Sunday’s game, he is the winger. Francisco Chaverra, who fell at the last minute of the call for the last game against La Equidad.

Their rival, Tolima, is also working to recover two attacking pieces for Sunday, Brayan Gil and Carlos Cortés Barreiro. It should be remembered that Julián Quiñones has had an injury for a while and his return will be in the second semester.

The one who did lose a key piece was Junior. Television images showed the dramatic departure of Víctor Cantillo, crying, in the goalless draw against Botafogo, in which the Colombian champion secured first place in group D of the Copa Libertadores.

Cantillo’s diagnosis was confirmed last night: a grade two tear that will take him out not only of the game against Millonarios on Sunday, but also of a hypothetical League final.

Pereira’s medical department is at full steam: goalkeeper Franklin Mosquera, winger Faber Gil and midfielder Ewil Murillo have already started field work, and it is now up to coach Leonel Álvarez to get them ready to play against Atlético Bucaramanga. It is worth remembering that a ‘matecaña’ victory ensures it in the final, as long as Junior does not win in El Campín. If both triumph, we will have to wait for the goal difference that each one achieves.

Bucaramanga, which has to beat Pereira and wait for Millonarios to win
in Bogotá to be a finalist, has practically its entire base team available to continue in search of the dream of its first star.

JOSÉ ORLANDO ASCENCIO
SPORTS Deputy Editor