Estudiantes qualified for the Copa Sudamericana, Atlético Tucumán was left out of the continental tournaments and Argentinos Juniors was well positioned to secure a place in the Copa Libertadores, after their matches on the last date of the Professional League. Now El Bicho will have to wait for the results of Huracán and Gimnasia to know if he goes to the Libertadores or the Sudamericana.
Students saved clothes
After endangering a classification that seemed certain, Estudiantes beat Godoy Cruz 2-0 in La Plata and won their ticket to the 2023 Copa Sudamericana. Emmanuel Más in the initial period and Franco Zapiola in the complement scored for Pincha, who Now he awaits the confirmation of a new coaching staff, which would be Abel Balbo, while the Gómez-Orsi duo said goodbye at Tomba.
To some displeasure from his public, Estudiantes cleaned up his image a bit and at least ended the year with a smile, after threatening a very good campaign that ended up being almost disappointing. Therefore, the classification ended up being a consolation prize.
Atletico ran out of gas
Unlike Estudiantes, Atlético closed a great campaign without a prize. With the 3-1 defeat against Defense and Justice, the Tucuman team, who fought the tournament until the defeat against Racing three dates ago, could not secure their qualification for the South American. Nicolás Fernández, on two occasions, and Fabricio Domínguez scored the goals for Defense, which finished the tournament in great shape and will play continental tournaments again as in the last six seasons. The discount for the Tucumans was from Mateo Coronel, from a penalty.
Not meeting the objective of qualifying for the continental tournaments in the case of Atlético is due to the weak performance in the first quarter of the season. Since Pusineri took over the reins of the team, the “Dean” was the protagonist, leading during a good stretch of the competition and maintaining a certain order until he defected towards the end, with a streak of four games without winning.
For its part, Florencio Varela’s team turned out to be the opposite in the closing sprint of the contest: they put together a streak of three wins in a row and remained without losing during the last nine matches (6 wins, 3 draws).
Argentines waiting
With goals from Kevin MacAllister and Gastón Verón, Argentinos beat Vélez 2-0 and was momentarily in the Libertadores zone. Gabriel Milito’s team now has 67 points and is two ahead of Huracán and Gimnasia, who this Sunday play Patronato and Talleres, respectively.
El Bicho needs at least one of them not to win to return to the most important tournament that he won in 1985. If El Globo and El Lobo win, Argentinos will have to settle for the Sudamericana.
Union said goodbye thrashed
Central Córdoba of Santiago del Estero, with a hat-trick by the Uruguayan Renzo López, beat Unión 4-1 as a visitor. With a first Chilean goal that took time to shout for a VAR review, López was the figure in the 15 de Abril stadium, where none of the teams had goals to meet. El Ferroviario opened the scoring with a goal from Francisco González Metilli. Daniel Juárez converted the partial tie for Tatengue and then came López’s hat-trick.
Unión, which did not qualify for any international cup, played its fourth game in eight days with a physically diminished squad. Gustavo Munúa’s team also failed to end the year with a good image.