April 18, 2021 – 6:28 p.m.
For:
Elpais.com.co
The devil knows more as an old man than as a devil. This is the saying that America has definitely clung on this week, to put aside the criticism and to achieve the first of its goals this semester: to enter the top eight of the tournament.
Because if Juan Cruz Real’s team has shown anything, the worst thing his rivals – and also his critics – can do is leave him dead because he still has options to fight.
It happened last year, when no one bet a penny on a team that went on to win the fifteenth star, and it happened this Sunday, when, efficiently and quietly, the Reds defeated 2-0 over the encopetado and seemingly dangerous Tolima, to stay with the last Ticket available to play the playoffs.
With an offensive list, but without their striker Adrián Ramos, who is still recovering from his discomfort, America played practical football to defeat the pijaos, who had qualified for Pascual anyway.
Nacional, Santa Fe, Millonarios, Deportivo Cali, Equidad and Junior complete the group of qualifications.
The Scarlets opened the game very early, eight minutes later, when Julián Quiñones scored in his own goal after unsuccessfully rejecting a cross from Duván Vergara, one of the game’s most prominent.
America won, but played with one ear in the cold Manizales, where Medellín, their direct rival in the qualifying fight, had not yet started playing against Once Caldas due to heavy rains that fell on Palogrande Stadium.
But that didn’t bother Juan Cruz Real, who were smart in the complement, closing spaces for the rival and scoring the second goal in 81, when Vergara shot goalkeeper Álvaro Montero after a bad start by Tolima.
With 2-0, America managed the last minutes, confident that the result in the capital Caldas will not move against them. And that happened, because Medellín had to score three goals to get the ticket, but ended up losing 2-0.
The devil knows more as an old man than as a devil, America repeats, that in the end he feels confident in himself.