Argentine Juan Cruz Real makes his debut as Tolima coach against Sao Paulo

Ibagué (Colombia), May 1. The Argentine coach Juan Cruz Real will debut this Tuesday as the coach of Deportes Tolima in the duel of the third day of Group D of the Copa Sudamericana against Sao Paulo, which leads the area and will seek its third victory in a row.

The Ibagué team, which will have the debut of the Argentine who replaced Colombian Hernán Torres in charge and is thirteenth in the Colombian league, is experiencing a bad moment and has not won six games, while it has had to deal with more than a dozen of injuries that have reduced his payroll.

In this context, the new coach assured that his team’s obligation is to “be very competitive”, although he is aware that the club is experiencing “a difficult situation without having all the players available”.

However, Tolima -which occupies second place in the group with three points, the same as Tigre, who is third- recovered this weekend key players such as winger Jeison Lucumí, central defender Julián Quiñones, winger Junior Hernández and the scorer Brayan Gil, who was not in the 1-2 loss against the Argentines at home.

For its part, Sao Paulo is motivated because since coach Dorival Junior made his debut, he has won two games and tied one, which is why he will seek to maintain that streak and achieve a victory in Colombia that will allow him to get closer to qualifying for the next phase of the South American Cup.

However, the strategist will have to deal in this match with the loss of one of his main figures, the Argentine Jonathan Calleri, who has dengue and is recovering.

Those who will reappear are Erison, who scored a double in the 0-2 win against Tigre on the first day, and the Ecuadorian Robert Arboleda, who rested against Coritiba in the 1-1 draw at the weekend.

Likewise, the team comes to this meeting with the shadow of what happened with the attacker Pedrinho, whose contract was terminated after the disclosure of messages on social networks in which he threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend Amanda Nunes.

In the Brasileirao, the Tricolor Paulista is eighth with four points in as many games. EFE

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