Let them tell this Center back what it’s like to play discreetly but win. An experience that in the hot night of Santiago del Estero he lived in his own flesh, in the middle of a game in which he showed some good intentions, and in which at times he felt uncomfortable, lost and even wanting not to antagonize the tie.
But Almada’s scoring shoe arrived and with it a much more cautious behavior to protect the advantage. The scoundrel did it and that made the deal go round, because the victory in Santiago was worth more than three points, it was the reactivation of spirits following what had been Godoy Cruz’s slap in the face.
A deep breath, a giant breath of air for a group that was tumbling and for a Kily González who also felt that winning would calm things down. That is why what he experienced and what his team felt with that 1-0 achievement was immeasurable. For the new goal of the defender. And Servio’s saves as well.
Good reading from Central regarding the game that he had to plan and was able to carry out in those first minutes in which he handled the ball and generated some danger, like that cross shot by Dupuy that Toselli sent to the corner. Without a convincing game, the scoundrel at least showed the best ambitions, preventing Central Córdoba from being able to settle. Montoya prowled first inside the area and then Ojeda, always with Gamba participating in the circuit, much more than Vecchio.
But that sketch of offensive power did not last long. Central Córdoba began to twist the procedure and was much more comfortable than the scoundrel when he began to play long, for the two towers he had up. In a hand that Vecchio kept claiming there was a loss of marks and Renzo López put in a tremendous cross shot that licked Servio’s right post.
There definitely Central was already beginning to suffer the match, without Vecchio taking the handle and with Montoya and Infantino being decorative figures. He still had a shot from Gamba following a clearance from a corner. But the best position of the local was clear, which was regarding to open the scoring with Ramírez’s shot, which grazed the crossbar and went over the top. And there were two fantastic interventions by Servio to keep the zero, first in a shot by Montes and then once morest a header from González Metilli at close range.
That minimal change of image that Central generated at the beginning of the supplement was healthy, making the setbacks more orderly and, even, not complicating the barrage of aerial shipments for Ribas and Renzo López so much.
The thing might be accommodated to Central already in minute 6, when Komar hit a great header at the near post following Vecchio’s corner, but Toselli drowned out the shout of goal to who, precisely, debuted with the scoundrel jacket. Anyway, at that point it already seemed like another, more compact, with greater commitment and concentration. But the break of the match came: Vecchio’s free kick, Ojeda’s header at the far post and the ghostly appearance of Almada to give Central the joy they were looking for and needed.
Why the break? Because the result changed, but fundamentally because the scoundrel understood that he had to start playing another type of game, with the knife between his teeth, as they say, to defend what he achieved. Kily played his part in the first change he made and his pulse did not shake: Dupuy was outside, the debutant Yacob entered to reinforce the midfield.
And from there the logical rearrangement, with a double 5 already installed, with Vecchio as playmaker and with Gamba up there, alone, doing what he might.
That other type of game was understood perfectly by Servio, who, relying on the licenses that the goalkeeper position gives him, played more with the hands of the clock than with the ball.
What might have been absolute tranquility in the end played a trick on the scoundrel. Vecchio had a penalty following a foul that Toselli committed on the captain himself and in an attempt to secure it, he burst the crossbar, which gave the locals the chance to play some more aerial ball.
Maybe there was no time for more, just to get rid of the sensations of having played a barely discreet game, but having secured three points in what was not another victory, but a more than necessary victory in difficult times.
