Sharks feel the blues thanks to the All-whites
With a mix of mental toughness, adherence to tactics, adequate displays of talent in the right moments and of course the necessary two drops of luck, Once Caldas was crowned yesterday champions of the Colombian apertura tournament. And yes, I accept nominations if there is a “most colorful title of the year award”. But colors somewhat aside, the skin of the 50 thousand-plus Junior fans that packed the Metropolitano yesterday hoping for a roaring title celebration was left paler by several shades.
Once Caldas dismissed as nonsense the notion that they would suffer in their game  because of the absense of their star trio of Fano, Casanova and Viafara. Instead, Carreño stepped in beautifully and was a master of the right wing in the dual role of helping his side make a strict 4-4-1-1 and also complementing his striking partnership with Sinisterra. Meanwhile, Dayron Perez came through like he had been playing 20+ games this season when in fact he hasn’t, but i’m sure that goal helped him in securing a place at Once Caldas for the second semester.
For the home side things started to get bleak when Alexis Henriquez was allowed to bury a potent header in the first half. From then, Giovanni Hernandez started getting lost and Teófilo Gutierrez started wasting chances. All this in front of obvservers from Argentina, Mexico and Spain. Well, I guess it’s good for Colombian football to hold on to one of its most promising goalscorers in a long time. The glimpse of hope that appeared for Junior when Palacio scored after an awkward free kick disappeared when Sinisterra managed to bury the third one after a master counterattack. But I guess it’s better for you to see it yourselves here.  Final score: Junior 1-3 Once Caldas for a global of 2-5.  Congratulations to the champions! And for Junior, the rebuilding process shouldn’t be too complicated. After all, they still reached the finals.
The games that never stop
By: Lugo |
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While the world stands in awe to praise F.C. Barcelona and their wonderful football, the Colombian game keeps on going and even I have a hard time trying to keep up with it. I had to go on a forced hiatus right before I was going to [...]
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Group B Preview: The cold weather is not in their hearts
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Group B features the 3 teams in this group stage that are from cold weather cities: Equidad (Bogotá), Once Caldas (Manizales) and Chicó (Tunja). The other one is Tolima from the very hot Ibagué. But whatever the weather is, i’m sure all this players will try to give their most in order to win. Deportes Tolima [...]
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Matchday Preview Group A: Let football do the talking
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This is it, folks. The Colombian Apertura tournament heads for the finals. Teams in group A will meet today with the dire necessity of starting this group stage on the right track. Group B will kick off tomorrow. Junior- Deportivo Cali (6:20 pm Colombian time) The sharks will look to start the party early with a victory [...]
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Who is Ramon Cabrero?
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It’s really cool to find out that Atletico Nacional’s new coach is actually a spaniard. A spaniard who, nonetheless, has been living in Argentina since he was four. But I find this cool because it breaks off a cycle where every time teams would say “we will get a foreign coach this year” they would [...]
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Group B Preview: Sugar, Spice and Everything…Sharks!
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Group B seems to be set for a showdown of epic proportions between the Sugar Greens of Deportivo Cali and the Sharks of Junior. Nevertheless, the other two teams can’t be overlooked. One of them is the Warriors [...]
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Group A Preview: Hopes and Dreams
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Colombian football’s semi-final group stages begin this weekend amid the current trend of domination by the small teams that I was refering to in my last post (offside-only). Group A features four traditionally small sides that have made it this [...]
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The Forgotten Four
By: Lugo | Add Comments
Hello again. I know it’s been a while. I’m really thankful with The Offside for waiting for me through all my ons and offs. I have a little more free time know. I promise I’ll try to keep my blog more up-to-date now. As for the current state of Colombian football, I think the situation [...]
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Domestic Transfers Breakdown (III)
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A week before the start of the league I’m finally able to finish my transfer series. Part of the delay was because of the turmoil generated by Deportes Tolima’s initial decision of not participating in the league. Such decision was overturned when the league threatened to sanction Tolima with dissafiliation and with having to return [...]
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U-20 Update
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The South American Under-20 tournament has started and last night Colombia beat Perú 1-0. The team is a long way from its full potential but the good thing is that it starts with 3 points in its pocket. Cruzeiro’s Reina showed glimpses of his brilliance and hopefully the boys can show a more organized performance [...]
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Team News
Blogger needed
As you may know, the colombian blog is up and running now and it will be fully integrated to the interface within days. I already moved my latest posts over there and Daryl has informed me that this blog will stay open should interest from any Junior fan arise. So ...
Apr 06, 2008 | Read this article...
A farewell... (Not really)
At the time i'm writing this, Junior is drawing 0-0 against Envigado. Hopefully the sharks can get a good result. In this case, trust me, this away draw would be a good result. But whatever this result is, i have to confess that I've had it with this team. Not ...
Mar 23, 2008 | Read this article...
Sharks fail at Ambassadors visit
Going to Bogotá has never been an easy task for Junior and yesterday was no exception. Junior lost 3-1 to Millonarios in Bogotá and now this team is bottom last in the standings and a serious candidate for relegation. Hard to believe that a few months ago we were ...
Mar 18, 2008 | Read this article...
The expected consequence...
With a ludicrous twist: The Front Office actually backed Escobar 24 hour before sacking him. I know this is a tropical country, but darn...
Atletico Junior back coach Escobar, then fire him
BOGOTA, March 11 (Reuters) - Atletico Junior, bottom of the Colombian championship, fired coach ...
Mar 12, 2008 | Read this article...
Sorry... We're having technical difficulties. And so is this team.
And my comment got deleted... unbelievabable.
The point is that this blog was down due to problems with my internet conection. But as you can see, it is up and running again.
Feb 27, 2008 | Read this article...
Sharks Start on the right foot (yeah... I know, but is a cool title)
Playing at the Jaime Morón stadium in Cartagena, because the Metropolitano is suspended and the city is in carnival frenzy, Junior had a good season start by getting a home victory against Once Caldas.
At the 23rd minute, right wing Hayder Palacio, who returned to the team after ...
Feb 04, 2008 | Read this article...
An Introduction to Junior
It may seem a little late for this, after 6 posts into the blog but thanks to the feedback that I've been receiving and with the intention of keeping this blog junior-related (at least for now), it's necessary to deliver this background piece about all things Junior, with much ...
Feb 04, 2008 | Read this article...
Is this blog too local??
Due to the lack of comments and feedback I've been getting I am beginning to wonder if a blog on a specific Colombian team in English was indeed a good idea or if it would have been better to write about Colombian soccer in general which could be more appealing ...
Jan 27, 2008 | Read this article...
"Feria del Sol" Wraps up. Spirits are high.
Despute losing 1-0 to Bucaramanga in the final game, The sharks prepare the return to Barranquilla (right in the middle of carnival, god help us...) to get ready for their first match agains Once Caldas in Cartagena. Why in Cartagena? Because the Metropolitano Stadium is suspended because last season some ...
Jan 25, 2008 | Read this article...
The Venezuelan Tour: One up, one down and no Gio.
After its inaugural 4-2 loss to Maracaibo and its yesterday 1-0 victory at Trujillanos, Junior continues it's Venezuelan tour heading now to Merida. Coach Sachi Escobar is still assembling the squad and while star signing Giovanni Hernandez has yet to feature even from the bench, Escobar has given the chance ...
Jan 18, 2008 | Read this article...
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