Hernan Dario ‘Bolillo’ Gomez is at peace, showing signs of personal and professional maturity and conscious of the opportunity he has been given to make history in Colombian soccer. On Thursday ‘Bolillo’ surprised everyone by saying that if the team doesn’t make it past the first round, he’ll “quit before they fire me.”

On Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Argentina, Colombia will face off with Costa Rica in the America Cup.

Álvaro de Jesús Gómez won’t be signing a contract with Itagui Ditaires for next year after failing to reach an agreement with club executives. He will be replaced by Carlos Mario Hoyos.

“We could not find common ground for the new contract,” team manager for Itagui, Jesus Ramirez, said about Gomez, who led the team to victory in the Postobon Tournament. Hoyos is no stranger to the group, having already served as head coach a few seasons ago. 

Despite an enthusiastic start, Colombia suffered an early defeat against France, 2-0 in the Esperanzas de Toulon Tournament. Although the first offensive moves were by Colombians thanks to Juan David Cabezas and Luis Fernando Muriel, there was little the nationals could do against Schneiderlin and Kitambala, France’s scorers. Colombia’s second game is tomorrow against Costa de Marfil in the Perruc de Hyères Stadium starting at 10:45 a.m., Colombian time.

Gustavo Arbeláez started his collection only five years ago but already has 61 Independiente Medellin jerseys. He didn’t buy the 1957 championship shirt because it was too expensive; “they asked me for more than 4 million pesos”, he recalls. Regardless, he’s happy because he owns “gems from the 70′s, from the 2002 and 2004 titles”, but he’s asking Baby Jesus for a jacket with five stars. Hopefully the team gives him that star on Sunday.

During the game taking place in his honor on Saturday at 5:00, Faustino “Tino” Asprilla guarantees a farewell full of joy and celebration, which are traits of his personality.

The departing forward admits he feels anxious, just like when he used to play for titles with the teams he was once a part of. He’s also happy to reunite with old friends.

Full of anticipation and impressed by the technique of the players he’s now directing, coach Ramon Cabrero from Spain will debut this Wednesday in Colombia. 

Cabrero will lead Atletico Nacional against Once Caldas in the seventh game of the Colombia-Postobon Cup; the Spaniard said he enjoys working with 4-4-2 and 4-3-1-2 formations.

The three-hour debate in Medellin’s City Council about violence generated by fans in the stadium gave way to an announcement made by Andres Garcia, Manager of Inder Medellin confirming that more modern cameras will be installed at the Atanasio Girardot in the next few days.

The purpose is to detect any violence and prohibit the entrance of under-aged fans into the northern and southern wings. Nearly 30 proposals were presented and several soccer authorities participated.

Administrators’ and coaches’ notes are full of suggestions for what hopefully constitutes the road to recovery for soccer team Nacional. The meeting suggested by EL COLOMBIANO proved productive as coaches, reporters, administrators and fans gathered to give ideas to fight the worst crisis in the team’s 60 years.

As far as pressure from fans, Telemedellin reporter Juan Felipe Mejia asked to what point they’ve been allowed to guide the team’s decisions and alluded to the boundaries that need to exist between both.

Strengthen youth divisions to contribute to the birth of true idols and leaders, like those so abundant in Nacional’s history; recover the sense of belonging; get better counsel in the hiring process and lower pressure over negative results were some of the suggestions heard.  

For former club president Silvio Mejia, the solution is in the leadership and in the “heads, hearts and spirit of the players”. In reference to the players “the issue is not money, it’s compromise”, said Leon Fernando Villa, former player from one of the team’s most successful eras.

There are plenty of ideas, now it’s important to apply them wisely so Nacional has a future.

DIM team doctor José Fernando Arango ruled out the possibility that the number of injured players on the team has anything to do with their workload and said it’s simply a “stroke of bad luck”. Although disappointed to have six players, five of them defenders, out for Thursday’s game against Envigado, it is possible that Andres Felipe Ortiz will be back by then, possibly Samuel Vanegas as well.

On their part, Envigado said their lineup is normal as they’ll only have one player sitting out on Thursday, and another two injured last Sunday should be back in the game by then.

Games against teams like Haiti are good to strengthen players’ confidence, but don’t truly offer a good point of reference when it comes to determining the level of the Colombian team, it’s simply too weak a rival.

When taken as an opportunity to bring the team together, all is well, but the ideal would be to play against a more prestigious team which win or lose would allow for more precise conclusions to be drawn. Having won 2-0 against the much weaker Haitian team doesn’t say much for Colombia.