Gimnasia wants to prolong its wonderful moments in the closing ceremony and reach the semi-finals / Gimnasia.org.ar
How far has gymnastics come? The team that a month ago was struggling to maintain its annual standings with the threat of relegation will visit Paracas Central this afternoon in search of the semi-finals of the concluding tournament, an event that would bring a historic classic in the Bosque against Estudiantes, who were representing Central Cordoba in Santiago del Estero. But of course first they have to leave Guapo, one of the strong teams, on the road that has plagued Tribeiro with embarrassing refereeing decisions in previous matches.
The match will be played at the Estadio Claudio Fabian Tapia, where Paracas has the advantage of a home stadium due to its better location in the regular phase of the tournament. The referee will be Hernan Mastrangelo, accompanied by assistants Maximiliano del Jeso and Pablo Gualtieri, with Pablo Jimenez acting as the fourth official. Jorge Balinho will manage VAR, assisted by Diego Romero.
The broadcast will be carried by ESPN Premium and there will be a radio broadcast via La Redonda. In the event of a tie, there will be an additional time of 30 minutes, and if it continues, shots will be taken from the penalty spot.
Gimnasia is experiencing a wonderful moment after achieving four consecutive victories, with very good individual and team performances. Fernando Zanerato’s team arrived strengthened and with increased expectations in the final stage of the tournament, having given approval to its character in Monumental with a 1-0 win thanks to a penalty saved by Nelson Insafran after the hour mark, allowing them to change their chips and get rid of the huge weight of the fight not to be relegated. Colombian Alejandro Piedrahita will be absent due to muscle pain, and Jeremias Merlo will be his replacement in this afternoon’s match.
For his part, Paracas collected four matches without defeat between the league and the qualifiers, achieving two wins and two draws. Their seeding was resolved in extra time against Deportivo Ristra thanks to a goal by Nicolas Blandi. The entry of Kevin Gabbert in place of Jonathan Rack will be the only change for the team led by Insua.
El Lobo has won its last four matches against Paracas. In 2024, they beat them 2-0 in Bosque (Felipe Sanchez and Erick Ramírez), 2-1 in Zerillo (Domínguez and Rodrigo Castillo) and 1-0 in Lanús (Benjamin Dominguez’s farewell goal) for the Copa Argentina.
But the 2023 Games were a scandal beyond the results. At the Estadio Guapo, the local team won 1-0 but Lobo disallowed two goals, the first at the request of the VAR due to an alleged handball from Dominguez after a rebound from a Paracas defender, before a cross ended in both Cristian Tarragona, while in the 60th minute a Leonardo Morales header scored the equalizer and Nicolas Lamolina scored offside without the goal line raising the flag. In Huracan, in a 2-1 win for Madellon, Matias Abaldo had a goal disallowed due to a non-existent foul by Ramírez on Tapia early in the game and Andres Merlos awarded him an extraordinary penalty kick as Buenos Aires leveled 1 to 1. But Jonathan Cabral’s header leveled the afternoon.
With football in our sights, we hope that such situations will not be repeated in the main event of the tournament.