The Ascent, on the warpath: the controversial decisions of the AFA of Chiqui Tapia and the influence of Massa

08/20/2020 - 17:07

• Clarín.com
• sports

Dirty and untidy, Pappo sang to the beat of his majestic guitar. His song would be the ideal background curtain to relate what happened in the last hours in the AFA and the sudden determination to change the rules of the game of the First National tournament. A move that responds to the management of Claudio Chiqui Tapia, increasingly similar to his actions to Julio Grondona, and the increasingly notorious influence of Sergio Massa in the decision-making of Argentine football.

It became clear on Wednesday night when the AFA resolved that the remaining 9 dates of the tournament that was interrupted by the pandemic will not be played and that the 32 teams in the category will play tournaments reduced by the two places in the Professional Football League (LPF ).

This mega playoff, which would start between October 17 and 24, as announced by Marcelo Achile , president of Defensores de Belgrano and the division's Board of Directors, would put all the clubs on the same starting line and erase with the elbow (and the rest of the body) the sporting merit of the teams that had done better before the quarantine forced a halt to activity.

Sergio Massa was appointed by the leadership of San Martín de Tucumán. TV Capture

The leaders of Zone A and Zone B, Atlanta and San Martín de Tucumán, would in that case have to participate in the same championship as Nueva Chicago and Gimnasia de Jujuy, which were saved from relegation by decree. The only vestige of the season that passed would be the sports advantage, as a tie-breaking factor in case of equality. Nothing else. Too little for those who went straight to the top flight.

"We were told we were going to rise and call of politics changed everything. Who? Massa, everyone knows. Tiger is being strengthened to the Normandy landings" , shot Roberto Sagra , president of San Martin de Tucuman, that he did not participate in the conclave since he considers that his team has already promoted to the First Division and even claims the income corresponding to the TV rights that are distributed by the clubs of the Professional Football League.

That is why San Martín appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) to request that they give him the promotion that the AFA denies him. In the club they believe that the ruling will be favorable, but we must wait until the news from Lausanne arrives. Even in the category they suspect that the Tucuman club will impose a precautionary measure not to innovate and everything will be blocked until ordinary Justice is issued.

Other times. Tapia and Macri together.

Different is the position of Atlanta, which aligned itself with the mandates of Chiqui Tapia, beyond the internal fronts that suffered with the resignations of some leaders who kicked against the position of Gabriel Greco, president of the Villa Crespo club.

Why are they targeting Massa in San Martín? The fact is that Tigre, the favorite team of the president of the Chamber of Deputies and a key man in the ruling coalition of Frente de Todos, would now have the possibility of achieving that promotion that was slipping from his hands. In fact, in Tucumán they had already associated the decision not to terminate the tournament in March with the Matador not losing the opportunity to achieve an immediate return to the top flight. But they expected another resolution that was not so rude.

Massa became an important support for Tapia, who had come to the AFA under the protection of his father-in-law, Hugo Moyano, at a time when the leader of the Truckers had a certain affinity with Mauricio Macri. And it has had an influence on the latest changes that occurred in Argentine football, such as the dissolution of the Super League and the creation of the Professional Football League.

In fact, although he was not present at the Cardales summit, that dinner last February in which the existence of the "double command" of the Super League was put to an end, Massa spoke at length with many of the leaders while the others ate roast.

Who is who in the AFA that is coming

Adrian Perez

Argentinos Juniors

Sergio Rapisarda

Velez Sarsfield

Cristian D'Amico

Newell's Old Boys

Eduardo Spinosa

Banfield

Ricardo Carloni

Rosario Central

Victor White

Racing Club

Jorge Amor Ameal

Boca Juniors

Claudio Tapia

AFA

Marcelo tinelli

San Lorenzo de Almagro

Hugo moyano

Independent

Nicolas Russo

Lanús

Gabriel Pellegrino

Gymnastics and Fencing LP

Lucia Barbuto

Banfield

Pascual Caiella

LP students

Marcelo achile

Defenders of Belgrano

It was the political leg that drove the move. They even assure that Cristina's former chief of staff is the one who promotes the idea that Primera's parties return to the Public TV screen.

Massa has a "pointer" in the AFA. It is the president of Lanús and provincial deputy, Nicolás Russo, who is also a member of the house on Viamonte Street and acts as a counselor and spokesperson for Tapia in this AFA that continues to be the order of the day when it comes to absurdities.

In fact, it is usually Russo who throws the test balloons before the public opinion every time the AFA tries to swerve. His last appearance was last week when he doubted that the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana start in a timely manner. All contrary to what they think of Conmebol. A place where, lately, the Argentine soccer boss has a vote but no voice.

MFV