Deportivo Cali is going through a very difficult time, in which the most important thing, beyond the game, is to get points anyway. Still with many things to correct, Jorge Luis Pinto’s team received enormous relief in the League and in the relegation table by defeating Unión Magdalena 2-1 this Saturday in Palmaseca.
The result took Cali, for now, from the bottom of the championship, and sent Once Caldas to the basement of the tournament. But the most important thing is that with the victory he puts his rival this Saturday in the table of permanence.
Relegation table after Cali’s victory against Unión.
The match was played in a very nervous environment, with two technicians in the look of their respective fans. And that tension was noticeable in the game, in which there were many errors from side to side.
Cali hit first and then had to suffer
Deportivo Cali struck first, at minute 23, when a very good cross from Jhon Vásquez from the left found Daniel Mantilla well placed to beat goalkeeper Ramiro Sánchez. It was Mantilla’s first goal with Cali, in a week in which the former Equidad and Nacional player was targeted for administrative decisions.
Daniel Mantilla celebrates his first goal with Deportivo Cali.
Juan Pablo Rueda. TIME
The outlook seemed to clear up even more for Deportivo Cali when, in the 34th minute, referee Nicolás Gallo sent off Juan Camilo Angulo, a former green player and today at Unión, after the VAR realized that he had hooked his liver. from Vásquez, but behind. An inexcusable play for a player with so much experience.
Nicolás Gallo expels Juan Camilo Angulo.
Juan Pablo Rueda. TIME
But instead of reassuring Cali, the numerical advantage filled them with nerves and Unión Magdalena took advantage of it in the last play of the first half, when Kevin Dawson gave a rebound where a goalkeeper should never give it, to the center of the area, where Ricardo Márquez he took the ball and tied the game.
Ricardo Márquez celebrates the partial tie of the Union
Juan Pablo Rueda. TIME
Jéfferson Díaz, one of the players who had played the least this semester at Cali, was in charge of bringing peace of mind to the scoreboard, 5 minutes into the second half, when he put his head into a Kevin Velasco cross and beat the goalkeeper Ramiro Sánchez for the 2-1 that was final.
Cali will have a couple of quiet days before facing another final in the fight not to be relegated, against another of the direct rivals in that fight, Alianza Petrolera, whom they will visit next Saturday in Barrancabermeja. The pressure is now in Santa Marta.
Jose Orlando Ascencio
sports deputy editor
@josasc