Global Courant
In Argentina, the ghost of relegation terrifies, paralyzes. Everyone fears him, even those who shouldn’t fear him. It is enough for him to think about it so that fears are triggered, even when there are 21 games left to play (63 points). And in that bag it is convenient to put fans, leaders, players, journalists and more. Pride and ego mix with business and that is why no one can afford to be downgraded. The hysteria in which the Professional League is immersed is not surprising, with teams that cannot come out as losers, with threats to leaders, with fans on the verge of collapse and with an AFA willing to swerve mid-season. Of course, there are no messes when it comes to fighting the ghost of relegation.
In the groups of fans of the majority of the clubs there is no talk of anything else: the ghost of relegation. To a greater or lesser extent, everyone suffers from it. There is the case of Ricardo Gareca, that award-winning coach with a back that is difficult to match. He returned to his beloved Vélez el Tigre, to give the hand that the cast of Liniers needed. But the ghost ate him in 12 games (one win, 4 losses and 7 draws) and weakened his health. “We are at a stage where we need sleeping pills,” Gareca released days before resigning.
The case of Vélez is one of many. The crisis of the Velezano team seems to find no bottom and it would be unfair to award everything to the possibility of descending. But it weighs like nothing. That is why the fans demonstrate every time the game is played at the José Amalfitani, asking for early elections. Much more: a sympathizer attacked one of the real estate of President Sergio Rapisarda. “People are upset by the football crisis that the club is going through. You may not agree with our leadership, but I did not think about resigning because the mandates have to be finished,” Rapisarda explained.
Lucas Pratto while chatting with the fans of Vélez, in the preview of the Copa Argentina match. Photo: Video Capture.
Vélez’s situation is similar to that of Banfield and Huracán: if the season ended at this time, the three would play a tiebreaker to determine who falls to the First National.
The insults against the leadership accumulate every time Banfield (complicated by averages and by the general table) plays in Florencio Sola. The present and fear led to the return of Julio César Falcioni, a coach with scrolls and the personality to go through storms. But the Emperor took 3 of the 15 points that he played and the waters could not calm down, far from it.
Falcioni on the Banfield pitch. (Fernando Of the Order).
The decision of those who direct Huracán is less explicable: they hired Sebastián Battaglia, with a lackluster performance in Boca, to replace Diego Dabove. The new coach’s numbers are so thin that they have already begun to ask him to step aside: he drew 2, lost 3 and scored no goals.
Of the so-called greats, Independiente is the one who plays with the tension in the muscles. The pressure was not supported by President Fabián Doman and he resigned a few months after taking office. The journalist opted for the unknown Leandro Stillitano, who lasted just 8 days. The replacement in the presidency, Néstor Grindetti, called Ricardo Zielinski, who was able to accommodate after an adverse start. “We always had the pressure and we welcome the pressure. Independiente is a big club that constantly plays under pressure”, warned the Russian upon assuming office. One piece of information: Red finished penultimate on date 13 penultimate and only two points behind Unión. The Santa Fe team, meanwhile, came out of suffocation with a 3-win streak and a draw that Sebastián Méndez, Munúa’s replacement, chained.
Arsenal seems doomed, while the mood of Instituto, Atlético Tucumán, Sarmiento, Central Córdoba, Platense, Tigre, Barracas Central and Godoy Cruz changes day after day as a result of triumphs or defeats, and the performance of the referees, each more pointed out by the leaders and fans.
The Independiente players found some oxygen. (Juano Tesone)
The list of coaches who left office in 2023 can be used to chart the state in which local football lives: Marcelo Saralegui (Colón), Alexander Medina (Vélez), Abel Balbo (Students), Leandro Stillitano (Independiente), Hugo Ibarra (Boca), Gustavo Munúa (Union), Diego Flores (Godoy Cruz), Rodolfo De Paoli (Barracas Central), Diego Dabove (Hurricane), Javier Sanguinetti (Banfield), Carlos Ruíz (Arsenal), Ricardo Gareca (Vélez) , Lucas Bovaglio (Institute) and Diego Martínez (Tigre).
And the AFA accompanies the feelings of the leaders for the simple reason that they are the same. Claudio Tapia, now in Indonesia with the Scaleneta, makes it known that he does not agree with the possibility of suppressing one of the three descents that were stipulated. Next Thursday, at 4:00 p.m., an Extraordinary Assembly will be held at the Ezeiza property and there the Executive Committee will approve the reform of the statute. It remains to be determined if the two decreases will be produced by the table of averages or it will be one by the average table and the rest by the annual table.
What is the real explanation of the change? The fear of relegation, neither more nor less. The excuse? They assure that the 28-team championship is more competitive than any other, that the audience is growing, that the calendar is more predictable, that the playoff format of the Cups caught on a lot, and that -there is no joke here- the World Cup in Qatar will achieved by the footballers who grew and developed in our football. “We think that the Super League cannot have the number of teams it has today. There are no elite tournaments with the number of teams that we have. What’s more, I tell you, if we spin fine, it would even have to have 18 teams ”, Chiqui knew how to confess in 2019.
The networks that have the television rights have not raised their voices in recent days, so it is presumed that they are not so dissatisfied with keeping what is current. Perhaps the hysteria causes that all the dates there are key matches for the table below, even when there are many points at stake. The morbidity is usually something mobilizing.
The wheel will continue to turn, the matches will follow one another with controversy, the fans will explode against their own and strangers, who are almost always the referees in VAR times. The hysteria, neither more nor less, caused by the powerful ghost of descent.w
