So for now on, I’ll only talk about the sharks whenever they are relevant in the general scheme of Colombian football, on the meantime, i’ll talk about whatever else is relevant. And i’ll finally be able to spit on that piece on nicknames that i’ve been munching for so long. It will be good.

FYI, Junior is now losing 1-0. No surprises.

Tough beginning for Comesaña (i’ve lost tabs on how many times he has come and gone from managing Junior) Hopefully, he will be able to straighten up this ship, because it’s going to sink.

Atletico Junior back coach Escobar, then fire him

BOGOTA, March 11 (Reuters) - Atletico Junior, bottom of the Colombian championship, fired coach Santiago Escobar on Tuesday, less than one day after telling him his job was safe.

Escobar, who had been at the helm for only seven games, took charge of training on Tuesday morning but learned afterwards that the club had changed their minds. He was the first coaching victim of the year among Colombia’s 18 first division clubs. ‘Another extraordinary meeting was called on the subject and the decision was taken to end the contract with the technical staff,’ Hernan Yunis, a member of the board, told reporters. Yunis added that Uruguayan Julio Comesana was favourite to take over from Escobar place.

The point is that this blog was down due to problems with my internet conection. But as you can see, it is up and running again.

At the 23rd minute, right wing Hayder Palacio, who returned to the team after his spell at Deportivo Cali, scored the first goal of the match on a penalty kick. Three minutes after the beginning of the second half, peruvian striker Johan Fano scored the temporary drawing score for the visitors and Herly Alcazar (former Once Caldas player) gave Junior the three points. On a somethat surprising note, it seems Carlos Perez has beaten Didier Muñoz for the goalkeeping starting spot.

Lineups:

Atl. Junior: Carlos Pérez; Háyder Palacios, Róller Cambindo, Hilario Cuenú, Háyder Romero, Wainer Caneda (Del Castillo, 27’), Nicolás Torres, Giovanni Hernández (Méndez, 88’), Émerson Acuña, Herly Alcázar and Jorge Díaz (Ruiz, 65’).
Substitutes: Didier Muñoz, Marcelo Méndez, Vladimir Hernández, Luis Carlos Ruiz and Álex del Castillo.
Head Coach: Santiago Escobar.

Once Caldas: Héctor Landázuri; Jimmy Asprilla, Samuel Vanegas, Alexis Henríquez, Luis Núñez, Carlos Ortiz, Nilson Cortés, Elkin Blanco (Canchila, 30’), Dayron Pérez, Johan Fano and Édinson Chará (Mena, 80’).
Substitutes: Julián Mesa, Hárnold Palacios, Marco Canchila, César Alzate y Wilson Mena.
Head Coach: Juan Carlos Bedoya.

*Translated from futblog

Atletico Junior

Official Name: Corporación Popular Deportiva Atletico Junior

Nickname: Los Tiburones (”The Sharks”)

Founded: 1924

Stadium: Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez:

Capacity: 60000

Seats: 51 000

Built: 1986

City: Barranquilla. Located in the country’s northern coast, Barranquilla is Colombia’s 4th largest city and the most important sea port in the country. Barranquilla is known worldwide for it’s carnival (the second largest in the world after Rio de Janeiro) and for being the hometown of international pop mega-star Shakira.

Championships: 1977, 1980, 1993, 1995, 2004 Also, Junior reached the semifinals in the 1994 CopaLibertadores losing to Velez Sarsfield on penalties. Velez was leaded then by the famous Paraguayan goalkeeper José Luis Chilavert.

Kit: Red and white striped jersey, blue shorts, white socks.

Alternative kits: generally the second kit has been a white one altough other color dominates when the white on the first kit dominates over the red. Recently, it has been a blue kit altough much controversy was stirred when Junior won the 2004 championship sporting an alternative yellow kit for the final game against Nacional in Medellin.

Rivalries:

Junior’s historic traditional rival has always been Union Magdalena from the neighboring city of Santa Marta since traditionally, Junior has been the only team in Barranquilla. Attempts have been made to give Junior a local derby three times, with now defunct clus Sporting de Barranquilla (twice) and Unicosta (moved to Cartagena and rebranded as Real Cartagena).

All-time Stars: Altough one of the biggest stars of world football, Garrincha, had a brief stint at Junior in 1968, the clubs bigges idol of all time continues to be Carlos “El Pibe” Valderrama, whom at the peak of his carrer, at Junior, was the creative force in the sharks midfield that dominated the Colombian scene between 1993 and 1995. While shinning for the national team, Valderrama also took care of leading Junior to the 1994 and 1996 Libertadores Cups before leaving for the then newly-created MLS. Valderrama had notable teammates in that team such a skillfull dribblers Victor Danilo Pacheco and Oswaldo McKenzie and flamboyant strikers Ivan René Valenciano (Famous for being slightly overweight) and Miguel “El Niche” Guerrero who later moved for a long carreer in Italy at Serie A’s Bari. Other former stars who have worn the Junior jersey are the Argentinians Juan Ramon Veron (father of Estudiantes’ Juan Sebastian), Carlos Ischia, Omar Sebastan Perez and Edgardo Bauza; and Colombians Alexis Mendoza, Jose Maria Pazo, Jorge Bolaño and Martín Arzuaga.

Current Roster (From Wikipedia)

For this season, the team’s newest big signing, Geovanny Hernandez comes to inherit the great legacy of Valderrama and Omar Perez.

Current squad

As of 1 August 2007

No. Position Player 1 GK Didier Muñoz 2 DF Francisco Alvear 3 DF Marcelo Mendez 5 DF John Alexander Valencia 6 MF Nicolás Torres 7 FW Alfredo Padilla 9 FW Jorge Díaz 10 MF Giovanny Hernández 12 GK Carlos Perez 13 MF Andres Casañas 14 DF Hayder Palacio 15 DF Cesar Fawcett 18 MF Pedro Ortega 20 FW Emerson Acuña 21 FW Herly Alcazar 22 GK Jose Luís Chunga

No. Position Player 23 DF Jaider Romero 24 DF Hilario Cuenú 25 MF Javier Flórez 26 MF Jorge Banguero – GK Francisco Rodríguez – DF Wainer Canedo – DF Francisco Rodriguez – MF Diego Causado – MF Gabriel Martinez – MF Vladimir Hernández – FW Teófilo Gutiérrez – MF Alexander Del Castillo – MF Dúmar Rueda – DF Roller Cambindo – FW Luís Carlos Ruiz – FW Edwards Jiménez

But before asking Martha for the whole haulover, i want to ask YOU, fellow visitor, if you want this Junior blog to continue with several projects (Team history, match previews and analyses, etc…) or revamp this into a Colombian blog with news about all the 18 (or even 36 if the Copa Colombia goes trough) teams in Colombian football and the National Team. Nowadays, Colombian players are going to all kinds of places in the footballing world and this could be a very useful source of information for soccer aficionados all over the world. So the ball is in your court. Let me know what you do with it.

Before the Bucaramanga loss, Junior soundly and convincingly beat Estudiantes Merida 4-2 and, according to reports, Giovanni was the main inspiration behind Junior’s creative wisdom. We just have to wait and see if such magic was real and it appears again when it matters, against the blanco, blanco.

Copa Colombia: One of the most interesting news this week is the possible creations of the Copa Colombia (Colombia Cup), a tournament featuring the 36 teams of the first and second divisions of Colombian soccer. So if the club presidents of the 2nd division teams approve it, like their first division counterparts, Colombia will have a cup tournament like the top leagues in Europe with Coppa Itaila, the FA Cup or Copa del Rey. If it goes through, the tournament will format include a first group stage of 6 groups divided regionally. For Junior, this means competing against five 2nd division sides (Union Magdalena, Real Cartagena, Cordoba FC, Valledupar FC and Barranquilla FC) thus reflecting that, nowadays, the Colombian Coast is the most depressed region in the counrty in footballing terms. That’s the reality that Junior has to change.

Escobar’s idea is to have Giovanni phisically fit for the beginning of the season and we have to keep in mind that last year he missed up on the National Team because he was out of shape. So it’s better for junior and for Escobar to test the waters and give playing time to the youngsters and the apparent reserves and get all the stars ready for the Copa Mustang opening.

Nertheless, since Escobar said that Gio could have gotten some minutes yesterday, i assume he will be getting them on Tuesday in Merida, where Junior will play at the “Feria del Sol” pre-season tournament against Colombian side Bucaramanga and home sides Estudiantes and Deportivo Tachira. Giovanni should perhaps star in the last game of the competition.

Yesterday Junior played with Carlos Pérez, Hayder Palacios (Jaider Romero 78′), Marcelo Méndez, Hilario Cuenú and César Fawcett in the backline; Jorge Banguero (Alfredo Padilla 65′), Nicolás Torres, Alex Del Castillo (Andrés Casañas 72′) and Emerson Acuña on the midfield; Jorge Díaz (Carlos Ruiz 78′) and Edwards Jiménez (Teofilo Gutiérrez 84′). DT: Santiago Escobar *

*from X-man’s Junior blog at Eltiempo.

So hopefully this tour will fullfill the purpose of getting the players to know each other and add minutes to get the machine rolling. Because after 02-03, there will be no excuses.