2024-05-01 07:50:06
“Life is Beautiful” for Saint Martin. At least it was during his time with Carlos Casares and it will surely be so in the coming days, even regardless of the result that Quilmes takes from his visit to Racing in Córdoba.
The title of the acclaimed 1997 film starring a Roberto Benigni Incredible fits perfectly to describe the sensations left by the meager but deserved 1-0 victory of the “santo” over Agropecuario at the Ofelia Rosenzuaig stadium.
This is because the three points bagged on a playing field in very bad conditions due to the rain put an end to a mini-streak of two 0-0 draws that had left a bad taste in the fans’ mouths due to some inconsistencies in the game and the missed opportunity to take the lead from “Cervecero”, today its main contender in the area.
The positive balance of San Martín’s passage through the central-northwest region of the province of Buenos Aires includes a good first half, which could have been crowned with another goal, and a second stage in which the objective of maintaining the result was met , although with the team standing a little behind and suffering some hot flashes, which this time were not costly.
Happy faces, then, reigned at the exit of the visiting locker room on the cold Saturday night of Carlos Casares. With the stadium already in darkness, the main protagonists of the victory that gave San Martín provisionally the sole lead in Zone A expressed their satisfaction before a handful of journalists.
For a start, “Life is Beautiful” for Diego Flores. “The team was present. It is the fifth game that we finished with a clean sheet. We are a solid and tough rival. It was a step forward, they are three very important points,” summarized the coach.
In relation to the early goal of Thiago Penalba, “Translator” considered that it came from a stopped (and prepared) ball play. “It is the fourth game that we have opened in this way. It is another part of the game in which we are very good, both in attack and defense, because we have not yet conceded goals that way.”
When asked about the reason why Gonzalo Rodriguez He did not enter as a substitute, Flores explained: “Generally, ‘Turbo’ is a fixed player, but in this match we were reading different changes and it was not his turn. He is a player who contributes a lot to keeping the locker room healthy. He trains very well and every time he comes in he gives us something.”
And when asked if he considers that achieving greater effectiveness is the team’s “must”, the coach responded: “one always looks for it, but there is a reality: in the First Division you arrive four times and score two goals. In Nacional B you have to arrive more times to score two goals; In the games in which you are good you do them, but (the difficulty in scoring) is a characteristic of the category, that is why it is so important to be solid and not be converted.”
“Life is Beautiful” also for Dario Sand, the main architect in the second half of San Martín not having to give up points in the heart of the “soybean homeland.” “I’m for that, but in reality the team has been doing a good job defensively for several games and we have to continue like this. “We are tough.”
The goalkeeper returned to a stadium that he knows well – he played for “Agro” for several years – and highlighted: “it is a nice field, you know its dimensions… we are going to try to continue like this every game,” he said with a smile about his good level. .
For Peñalba too “Life is Beautiful”. The defender scored his first goal in San Martín. Did he get in the same way, would it have been a goal against if he hadn’t touched her? “I don’t know, the thing is that I nodded and it went in,” he also answered in a very good mood.
“Although personally the goal adds up, I am more pleased with the effort that the group has been making, whoever has to play always does it one hundred percent, that shows the quality of the group, not only in football, but also in the human.”
Is it a victory that denotes growth, maturation in the team? LA GACETA consulted in triplicate before the team left for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, a stopover prior to their return to Tucumán.
Flores: “To keep a clean sheet for so long you have to run, you have to defend stops well, you have to be good. That speaks for the team. We got the three points by playing well and that is very important.”
Sand: “Not only are we doing well defensively, we also have very important players from the midfield onwards. That they don’t score goals is essential, because goals mark the path of the games a lot.”
Peñalba: “We are on a very good path, although we have not been getting the results in the last two games. There are always things to improve, which are at the discretion of the coaching staff, you just have to be calm.”
And there was another common question, about the additional value of looking at everyone from the top of the table.
Flores: “It was another episode where we were able to get the three points, what we have to do is continue on this path: continue building defensive solidity and trying to play the ball a little better each time.”
Sand: “being leaders makes us happy, because we are fighting every game for that.”
Peñalba: “we have to be calm because it is a very long tournament. It’s nice to see yourself at the top, but you don’t have to go crazy and continue day by day.”
In short, during these hours “Life is Beautiful” also for “the people of San Martín”, to whom the unexpected gunner in Carlos Casares dedicated the victory “so that they can stay calm and have a very good weekend.”