Independent Medellin, who was excited about winning the Colombia Cup, ended in a painful failure that has his fans suffering. They were eliminated in the quarterfinals, after losing against Cúcuta Deportivo in shots from the penalty spot.
DIM had won in the first leg at the General Santander stadium, with a goal from Luciano Pons, and it was believed that classification was a formality due to the fact of closing the series at the Atanasio Girardot.
However, Cúcuta, who had to fight from far behind to reach the semifinal, and who had already surprised Junior by eliminating them in the quarterfinals, beat Medellín 1-2, with goals from Jefry Zapata and Joider Micolta . The 0-2 gave them the direct spot, but a goal from Yulián Gómez took the series to the penalty shootout.
Cúcuta did not fail any of the five charges. Instead, The ‘motilón’ goalkeeper, Ezequiel Mastrolía, stopped the last penalty, taken by Diego Moreno. Thus, the only survivor from B achieved a historic qualification to the semifinals. He had never reached that stage: the furthest was in 2010, when he reached the quarterfinals.
The controversy: Alfredo Arias complained about the VAR
The play was marked by controversy, due to an alleged overtake by goalkeeper Mastrolía. The VAR, headed by Never Manjarrés, determined that there was nothing irregular and judge Héctor Rivera ended the match.
The judges’ decision did not leave the Medellín coach satisfied at all, the Uruguayan Alfredo Arias, who, cell phone in hand, appeared at the press conference to demonstrate, with a photograph, that the goalkeeper had gone ahead.
“Here I have a photo, which must be the same as the VAR, in which you can see that the goalkeeper has both feet outside the line,” said Arias. “What bothers me is that the referee and the person next to him may not be able to appreciate it. But the tool they have been given, which is the VAR, when it does not call and say this, it seems very serious to me,” he added.
☀☕With cell phone in hand, Alfredo Arias, coach of Medellín, spoke at the press conference about an advance by the goalkeeper of the ‘Motilón’ team in the last collection of ‘Poderoso’!#FirstTouch pic.twitter.com/a7nT270Dku
— Win Sports TV (@WinSportsTV) October 6, 2023
“How can those in the VAR justify it? This already borders on inefficiency, incompetence, and costs us a classification. “They can’t work anymore,” said the Uruguayan coach.
Previously, Arias himself had said that what happened was their own fault. “We have to do the objective analysis of why we lost the game today, I am not going to fall into the easy way of saying that penalties are a lottery, no, we lost the game,” he stated.
Was the VAR correct in the play that classified Cúcuta?
The account @ElVARCentral published on
Like Dudamel! 📲 Alfredo Arias complained at a press conference against the VAR and demanded that the goalkeeper overtake the last penalty. Was I right in his claim? We are going to analyze it in detail under the magnifying glass of the VAR ➡️https://t.co/BPVc3kRaxh
— The VAR Central (Andrés) (@ElVarCentral) October 6, 2023
Arias’ claim was reminiscent of one that Rafael Dudamel, then coach of Deportivo Cali, made at the time, after a match against Atlético Nacional.
In 2021, Cali was eliminated from the Colombia Cup in the semifinals, after losing 1-0 to Nacional in Medellín. They had tied 2-2 in Palmaseca.
At the press conference, Dudamel appeared with a tablet, in which he showed what he considered to be a penalty in favor of his team, for a handball that, according to him, the referee of that game, Carlos Ortega, had told him did not exist.
Be careful with Rafael Dudamel’s statements: he claims that referee Ortega said that the ball NEVER hit the Nacional player’s arm… The VAR error was evident, which STEALED a clear penalty from Deportivo Cali… Managers… until when are they going to give us steal? pic.twitter.com/gHHJG4hPe3
— FZ (@ChescoZucco) October 22, 2021
SPORTS
More Sports news
#Dudamel #Alfredo #Arias #complains #VAR #cell #phone #hand #DIM #defeat