The numbers for Universidad Católica are devastating. Just two dates from the end of the championship, it is five points behind its closest chaser in the table (La Calera), but it is also the team that has won the most games (17), the one that has lost the least (5 ), the one who has scored the most goals and the one with the second least beaten fence (34 goals against).
Perhaps for the same reason, there are few who doubt that this Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. it will begin to write a new golden chapter in its 83-year history. And also unpublished, because if the students tie or beat the cement manufacturers, They will be three-time champions for the first time since their founding in 1937. And they will do it in long tournaments, which is not minor. Some of that commented striker Diego Valencia in the hours before the game: “Let’s hope that we can keep the title, that apart from remembering this very unusual championship a lot, we can remember it in a very good way and with something historic for the club.”
And the young battering ram is right. If they obtain the three-time championship, this crossed squad would be conquering perhaps the most important sporting achievement in the club’s archives, the certification of a full domain in the local environment. Perhaps for the same reason, it is good to see what happened in this particular year for the world, for Chile and for our football. The first thing to say is that the San Carlos squad started as a favorite and ratified that label shortly after. With Ariel Holan on the bench, the third coach of the last three years, the Crusaders never left the top of the table and won the first two classics easily: Colo Colo got two and Universidad de Chile got three.
“It is due to the serious work that the club has, both with the squad and with the lower series. A backbone of players has also been maintained, we have practically disarmed ourselves. In different championships, we have kept important players who have achieved things for the club. Every year players come to join us and that has been what has helped us to be fighting important things these 3 years, “Valencia explained in this regard.
But in those first months of 2020, there was one that did not perform quite well: Fernando Zampedri, who did not convince the fans before the pandemic. But after the break, the Argentine became a machine and They even invented a Zampedrineta so that those who had not trusted him could get on -metaphorically- to the attacker’s celebrations (he is the top scorer of the tournament with 19 goals).
And if ahead there was a star, behind also a crack played. Matías Dituro materialized a spectacular campaign. Although his goal is not the one that has fallen the least times (UC has 34 goals against and U only 32), the fans of the big teams will always remember their covers on Gabriel Costa and Pablo Aránguiz in the classics of the second semester.
Separate paragraph deserves the best save of the championship: Minute 33 of the lawsuit with Audax Italiano and Rodrigo Holgado heads only to open the scoring, but Dituro -with a changed hand- flies and prevents the Italians from taking the lead (they tied at two with a goal from Zampedri in the last minute).
And if that match was epic, many will tell their grandchildren what they experienced against Huachipato. The team arrived weakened by injuries and Holan got his hands on the quarry. And the 3-0 achieved was the signal that was needed to know that they were up for big things and the confirmation that history was waiting for them, came when they tied with nine players on the court against Unión Española.
The truth is that injuries have played against the student team. However, for the duel against the cement workers, Holan will have important pieces of his campaign. Puch and Fuenzalida, among them, who already added minutes in the last victory, against Deportes La Serena. Now the question is another: How do you deal with the anxiety of having a historical goal at hand? Valencia responds about that: ““ We do it with great concentration, with a lot of focus on what we have to do. Being sure of playing our game will give us peace of mind ”.