Colo Colo managed to advance to the next Copa Libertadores key, seeking and longing for that classification to the group zone and leaving behind an important rival for the moment and game, such as Godoy Cruz.
And it was very important to do so, not only because of the sporting pride that it means for a team of the magnitude of the Albos to always be present in the highest club competition at the continental level, but also because the coffers benefit.
Colo Colo was strategic. He had won in Mendoza by the minimum, but the rematch was going to be presented as a mental and game challenge. The last times in which the albos had to define or close classifications on their field, they were eliminated. That weight existed in the previous one. It was necessary to overcome not only the rival, but also that burden that had been generated in recent times.
It was a purely cup match, with high intensity and emotionality. That had to be managed. Perhaps, beyond the tactical, the psychological was determining. Several leaders were there to carry out the task: Cortés, Falcón, Pavez and Vidal, who not only shouldered the team, but also knew how to show hierarchy and leadership in the most complex moments of the game.
Since the game (and it has been known for a long time), in international tournaments Chilean teams suffer with the intensity and pace that is played in this part of the world. They arrive with little competition. In fact, the albos, with their starting team, arrived with two games in hand before the first challenge. The Argentines already had eleven.
The filming of the pieces is key to adding, even more so when the albos are trying to assimilate their new coach’s idea of the game. Competition helps a lot with that.
Now comes Sportivo Trinidense, from Paraguay, a team with less history and rank than the albos, far from those powerful in that nation such as Olimpia, Cerro Porteño or Libertad, but precisely there there is an enormous risk factor. The Paraguayans who eliminated El Nacional from Ecuador have nothing to lose. On the contrary, they will go for the feat of leaving out a Libertadores champion. Today they are the bottom of their league, but at the international level motivations change and many teams like Trinidense are risking their lives.
Therefore, Colo Colo must be very focused. The last word has not been said. The first step was important.
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