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It would be the first time that a team that lost the first leg by three goals difference turns it around and takes the Colombian League title.
Sometimes memory is uncomfortable, but it also fades. And resorting to this can be a defense system or, on the contrary, a weapon for the coming battle. That is why it is worth knowing when it is pertinent to go to memory, when it is better to put it aside as if it did not exist and create something new, a kind of prologue for future chapters. Surely, these days of December holidays, that was Hárold Rivera’s mission with the players of Santa Fe: forget what happened in Cali, the worst game of the year (3-0 against America) and resort to the good that he has done to build and dream of a different reality, in which there are no impossibilities.
In this case, in which there is talk of motivational talks and that there is a burden for the winner and for the defeated in the first chapter, it is convenient for the Bogota team to remember – here yes – that for 20 games it was the best of all being the only one who exceeded 40 points in the regular phase, who won 11 times and only lost two for an effectiveness of 55%. And that it was also one of the clubs that scored the most (34 times) and received the fewest goals against (17). Data that support the great campaign of a Santa Fe that has not yet lost in El Campín (eight victories and three draws) and that dreams of doing what no one has done in Colombian football: overcome a three-goal deficit and become champion.
You can read: Hárold Rivera trusts the comeback: “In Bogotá it’s at a different price”
In addition to the above, it should be noted that those led by Rivera score once every 43.2 minutes when they play in Bogotá and that this season they have 25 goals at home. In addition, in the 11 local meetings they had, they never went unmarked. And if it comes to looking for similarities, it cannot be ignored that in 2020 they already know what it is to celebrate three or more times in their stadium: against Júnior on February 8 (3-1), against Alianza Petrolera on 6 October (4-1), against Boyacá Chicó on the 25th of the same month (3-1) and with Medellín on November 5 (3-0), the only time he had a result equal to what he will need tomorrow. It will be the opportunity to set a precedent, because of the six finals that Santa Fe has in short tournaments (since 2002) it had never fallen that way in the first game. A very great ambition, which is not at all doubtful and, most importantly, which has the pillar of the work done along the way. Sure, and the latent illusion that belief is power.
Celebrate in Bogotá
Although America is in the most comfortable position in this story, Juan Cruz Real does not want to fall, nor for his players to fall, into the sin of trusting and being remembered for letting go of what was worked so well in Cali. The advantage is comforting, but it calls for concentration to be champions once again in Bogotá. The first time that the scarlet painting made an Olympic lap in El Campín was in 1982, after being the best of the final octagonal. The red team defeated Millonarios 1-0, with a goal from Juan Caicedo (he scored it against Alberto Pedro Vivalda), added 20 points, three more than Deportes Tolima, and obtained its second star. Eight years later, in a home run that Nacional, Bucaramanga and Santa Fe were part of, America drew 1-1 with the cardinal club, thanks to both Sergio Angulo, and won its seventh crown. In that tournament, the Valle del Cauca team finished with the two championship scorers: Antony de Ávila (25) and Angulo (20).
Already in 1999, in the Merconorte Cup, America defeated Santa Fe 1-0 with both from Jairo Tiger Castillo and sent everything to the definition on penalties (in Cali the visitor won 2-1). Leonardo Fabio Moreno, Gerson González, Wilson Pérez, Castillo and Diego Gómez did not fail from 12 steps, while Jefrey Díaz wasted his collection after Iván López, Emir González and Adolfo Vallecillas scored for the premises. Scarlet celebration on December 22 and before 33 thousand spectators who came to El Campín. Overall, football does not worry about numbers or antecedents, things that evaporate when another 90 minutes begin. What is clear is that both Santa Fe and America are clear proof that one is of the same substance of dreams and that while the first will act out of sheer necessity, the other will try to take advantage of that situation.
