Franco Giummarra
03/09/2020 - 15:30
- Clarín.com
- sports
The historic onslaught of Boca, which on the last date was crowned champion and snatched the title from River, marked the end of an unforgettable Super League. However, unlike what happened in recent years, the declines and the classification for international cups have not yet been defined and the proper names will only be known once the Super League Cup ends, which starts this Friday.
It will be the second edition of the competition - and perhaps the last in a long time. In 2019, the champion was the amazing Tigre de Néstor Pipo Gorosito, who beat Boca in the final after losing, precisely, the category. That anomaly will not occur this 2020. Although it is rare that the Super League that has just finished only defined the champion.
So it will be that the Super League Cup will attract attention to two points. Although we must bear in mind that the competition radically changed its format.
Direct elimination will no longer be played, but the 24 Super League teams will be divided into two zones of 12, which were configured with a mathematical formula developed by the UBA Calculation Institute and the Conicet, always under the premise that Do not cross classics.
Tigre, the first champion of the Super League Cup. (Photo: Fernando Orden).
Zone A is made up of Arsenal, Banfield, Boca, Gymnastics, Independent, Newell's, San Lorenzo, Vélez, Godoy Cruz, Unión, Central Córdoba and Patronato.
In zone B will be Columbus, Students, Lanús, Racing, River, Rosario Central, Workshops, Argentines, Defense and Justice, Hurricane, Aldosivi and Atlético Tucumán.
Thus, from this Friday, they will start playing with each other and after 11 dates, the best two positioned in each zone will enter a final phase.
The 1st of the A zone will be measured with the 2nd of the B zone and the 2nd of the A will be done with the 1st of the B. These semifinals will be a single match, on a neutral court, and if there is a tie to the after 90 minutes will be defined by penalties.
The final will have the same conditions, although if there is equality, two additional 15-minute times will be played and, if the parity persists, there will be shots from the 12 steps. The winner will go nonstop to the Copa Libertadores 2021 and will join Boca who already secured his place after the Olympic return last Saturday. And the other squares?
Cup Classification
The rest of the lockers are not yet defined. In addition to Boca and the King of the Super League Cup, the other who is guaranteed his place in the next Libertadores will be the champion of the 2020 Argentina Cup.
And the other three places will remain in the hands of the best three of the general table that will add the points of the Super League and the regular phase of the Super League Cup.
The same formula will be applied for the six seats available for the 2021 edition of the South American Cup. The matches of the semifinals and the final for the cups and the averages will not be counted.
Who has a chance to qualify? There are 11 games left. An enormity River, runner-up of Argentine soccer, has a wide advantage over the rest of the competitors. The Millionaire finished with 47 units, just one below Boca.
Argentines appears with 39 units behind, eight less than those directed by Marcelo Gallardo. And three more than Vélez, Racing (these two have one less game), Defense and Justice, Lanús, San Lorenzo and Rosario Central. A step below is Newell's (35) and there are just Arsenal and Workshops (both with 34). There are, in short, 10 teams in five points of difference.
The Super League standings
The descents
Last week, after dinner at Claudio Chiqui Tapia's house in Cardales, it was agreed to create a new order in Argentine football with the extinction of the Super League and the birth of the Professional League under the orders of the AFA. But also the modification of the amount of descents to the First National in the present season was considered.
The three descents are still stipulated for the worst three located in the table of averages, but now, after speculation with the return of the Promotion, the idea is that there are only two teams that lose the category.
But that, for now, is just an idea. For that to happen, the Super League Board of Directors will have to vote on the modification. It will be necessary that two thirds of those present approve the motion.
In this bewilderment, several are with the mind set on not losing the category, since the table of the averages will also compute the points that are added during the regular phase of the Super League Cup.
The most complicated of all is the Gymnastics of Diego Armando Maradona that fell this weekend with Boca, but which is up in 2020.
The Wolf adds 79 points. Above are Columbus and Patronato with 82 units. A little higher are Central Córdoba and Aldosivi, which divide for a season and two, respectively. The yields of these two teams in the remaining 11 dates will be essential to save or sink those who divide by three campaigns.
There are others who started the calendar with the averages as the main concern and who today are a little more relieved, although they should not be neglected.
One of them is Banfield (90), which comes in a tailspin and this Friday opens the Super League Cup with Gymnastics, in what will be a crucial match for the red zone of the table.
The table of the First Division averages.