The Deportivo Cali, led by former Venezuelan coach Rafael Dudamel, was consecrated this Wednesday champion of the Tournament Completion of Colombia to the beat Deportes Tolima at home by 1-2 in the second leg of the final. The Verdiblanco club thus won its tenth league title.
The Azucareros came back in the second half from a game that they started losing at 13 minutes. The extreme Jhon Vasquez equalized in minute 58 and the scorer scored a penalty Harold Preciado established the 1-2 in 74. The central Julian Quinones He overtook the champion Deportes Tolima, who was surrounded by his followers today, who filled the stands of the Manuel Murillo Toro stadium in Ibagué. In the first leg, both teams drew 1-1.
The game started very fought in the center of the field, where the hard game prevailed and it was played away from the areas. Tolima had the first approach with a free kick by Daniel Cataño at minute 10 that passed near the right post of the Uruguayan goalkeeper Guillermo de Amores. However, the hosts found the goal in the 13th in a corner kick served by Cataño in which Quiñones, who struggled with Uruguayan Hernán Lessse, managed to head and send the ball to the back of the net to make the crowd celebrate that filled the Ibagué stadium.
Cali had many difficulties after the goal, as they found themselves in front of a well-organized and very dangerous wall that, if neglected, could do a lot of damage to the counterattack. The first and only opportunity for the ‘Azucareros’ in the initial stage was in the 17th Preciado with a mid-distance shot that goalkeeper William Cuesta handcuffed to send the corner kick. Despite this opportunity, Dudamel’s team had many difficulties to get out of the funnel into which the Ibagué team put them.
In the second half, Cali came out to overwhelm its rival under the leadership of Teo Gutiérrez, who took the reins of the team and began to associate, mainly with Preciado, to get out of the funnel. The context, however, was also positive for Tolima, who found spaces and hurt the counterattack with Plata, which wasted 2-0 in a heads-up with De Amores in which they decided badly in the 55th minute. they punished those led by Dudamel just three minutes later in a great collective play that Andrés Colorado began, in which Teo participated, in which midfielder Jhojan Valencia put a filtered pass, in which forward Angelo Rodríguez pivoted and in which Vásquez He entered the area comfortably to get a right hand that equalized the game.
The Cali kept attacking; He had a very clear shot with Teo who got tangled up and couldn’t finish off just in front of the frame, and got a penalty in the 73rd minute for a hand from center-back Eduar Caicedo on a corner kick. A minute later, Preciado, with a very strong right hand that dug into the upper left corner of Cuesta’s goal, scored his 13th goal in the championship, confirming him as the top scorer of the tournament.
The hosts, who saw the title fade at home, had a lot of difficulty attacking and the players who entered the final minutes – Venezuelan Yohandry Orozco, striker Juan Fernando Caicedo and wingers Luis Miranda and Andrey Estupiñán – had little impact. Cali cooled down the game until referee Jhon Ospina whistled for the end and the players celebrated with Dudamel, who won his first title as a coach with the team he is a fan of and with which he was runner-up in the Copa Libertadores as goalkeeper in 1999 .
