Sharks feel the blues thanks to the All-whites

By: Lugo | June 29th, 2009

Fano with open arms, ready to embrace the cup

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.