O’Higgins

With renewed energy, O’Higgins will play this Wednesday in the 22nd round of the First Division. The Celestes, in Talca, will play as home team against Unión La Calera, a key event to confirm what they showed in Iquique and also to sink the cement workers even further into the relegation zone.

The Rancagua team, said coach Victor Fuentes, intends to play a good game to win again. “We have to validate the victory, all the sacrifice we made on Saturday, but we have to be very intelligent to play the game, to know the moments in which we are going to press and the moments in which we are going to hold on, and, based on that, get the three points,” he said.

He also explained that he thinks that Wednesday’s game could be similar to the one seen on Saturday at the Tierra de Campeones stadium. “The game will be something similar, but we will assume more responsibility because we are the home team,” he said, adding that “Calera has interesting players, but we have to be intense, intelligent and capitalize on as many of the opportunities we create for ourselves as possible.”

It should be noted that the coach said that he will wait until the last minute to confirm the starting eleven. However, defender Juan Ignacio Díaz will be out due to the accumulation of yellow cards, and Martín Sarrafiore and Brian Rabello are in doubt, as they are suffering from physical discomfort after the match in Iquique. However, defender Moisés González indicated that “we are all capable and whoever is chosen will do it in the best way possible.”

A FINAL

Other members of the squad commented in the hours leading up to the match that it will be important for the team’s future in the tournament. In this regard, Brian Rabello said that “for us it will be a final,” a phrase also used by central defender Leonel Mosevich.

Captain Juan Fuentes also said that “we have to be aware of the situation we are in, Wednesday’s match is very difficult, but we have to add three points.” Furthermore, he added that “a victory can bring us closer to the goal we all want.”

For his part, midfielder Martín Sarrafiore said that “we know what is at stake and I am sure that we will win the match and achieve victory.”

The referees appointed for this match are: Manuel Vergara, Felipe Jara, Joaquín Arrué and Cristian Droguett. In the VAR, meanwhile, there will be: Nicolás Gamboa and José Retamal.

A weight has been lifted off his shoulders. Victor Fuentes was carrying a heavy backpack, especially when the latest defeats were undermining the process.

Regarding how the victory was achieved at the Tierra de Campeones stadium, the coach assured that “the importance lies in the players, who continue to believe in my work and that of the coaching staff. We finally had a good game.”

Furthermore, Fuentes valued the support received for the match in the north. “We felt the support of the people, those who came, the people of Rancagua who have always believed in this group of players and in this man from Rancagua who is at the head of the team and the coaching staff. I dedicate the victory to the people who are wavering in their convictions, we have to reverse that, there has to be unity in support of the team, we need it and even more so.”

The coach from Rancagua added that “I feel calm because we beat a great rival, who plays very well, who had everything to make a party, but with our weapons we managed to beat them.”

He also said that from the pre-planning stage “we defended at some point because we needed points, but we didn’t defend with more defensive players, I didn’t put in a defender and I took out a forward, and I think that everyone who came in made a sacrifice. Today all of that came together.”

GROUP CONVICTION

The coach of the Celeste team commented that in the locker room “I thanked them for their dedication, they are good players, they have a huge resume, we talked about it last night (in the concentration),” and also argued that “the most important thing is the conviction of the players, because they execute on the field. I am confident in this group, they have a clear idea and many times things can work out or not, but their dedication is not judgemental. We learn from the blows, and we have given each other good blows.”

To conclude his comments and in response to a question about the team’s position in the table, the coach stressed that “with this victory we are thinking about international quotas, we are moving away from those who are behind, but the objective of the people and the institution is to reach an international tournament.”