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.

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.

Well… seems the soap opera of the off-season is finally over. Giovanni Hernandez will be strutting his stuff at the Metropolitano and the best part of it is that he isn’t by any means, coming alone.

Gio arrived today to Barranquilla for his medicals and the board confirmed that they had reached an agreement with Colo-Colo’s president Gabriel Ruiz Taigle so that Gio could be released from his contract with El cacique And it’s only a matter of paperwork for the player to be registered in DIMAYOR but it is safe to say that Giovanni Hernández is now 100% a Junior player.

But the Char family isn’t finished with the signings. Alongside Giovanni, returning uruguayan centre-back Marcelo Mendez is providing much-needed leadership to Junior’s central defense. Apparently his 2005 stint with Los Tiburones (The Sharks) was successful enough to come back. It was also confirmed the signing of veteran central midfielder Jorge Banguero adding more strength and size to an already powerful defensive midfield. His arrival could actually mean that either Nicolas Torres or Andrés Casañas might be getting the boot.

But the prospective signings list keeps growing and growing and it is strongly rumored that another foreign defender, Argentinean Alcides Piccoli, could be joining as well as Independiente de Avellaneda’s Colombian striker José “Pepe” Moreno.

Add to the mix returning creative midfielder Rodrigo Riep (whom I forgot from the last post because he hadn’t arrived yet to Barranquilla, but now he’s training) and if all the signings are finally confirmed, it actually leaves the team with two strong lineups thus staking a firm claim for this season’s title. The two lineups could be:

Team A: Muñoz, Palacios, Méndez, Piccoli, Fawcett, Rueda, Del Castillo, Riep, G. Hernández, Moreno and Díaz.

Team B: C. Pérez, Romero, Cuenú, Valencia, Y. Rivera, Torres, Banguero, Casañas, Causado, Alcázar and E. Jiménez.

And that will leave for the bench such competent individuals as Acuña, Rolong, Javier Florez, Padilla and T. Gutiérrez.

Now, i know Team A seems unrealistic considering that an Under-20 must suit up as a starter for the Colombian league but at Junior that’s the least of worries considering Padilla, Causado and Gutierrez will be battling for that spot. But this is just a sample of the star power that the Char family and Sachi Escobar have brought to this team. For this year, I think in can only be matched by the squads at Santa Fé, Nacional and Cali. But now the finals are a must.

The solution that has been tried in the past is to take the team out of town, to a training facility in El Cerrejon, one of the biggest coal mining areas in the world which is in the middle of a desert. Seems like the only way to take the players far from temptations because the whole Atlantico province will be in a state of collective delirium. Given Escobar’s personality that is the most likely scenario even tough one wonders if it wouldn’t be better to just treat the players like the grown men they are and just warning them about the consequences of any excess in partying and that’s it.

Yes, you’ve read correctly. I did not say ban them from partying. I said warn them about excesses. So I think they should be allowed to party in a responsible manner and up to a reasonable hour. I know this might sound audacious to say the least, but maybe we should try to treat these adults like the adults they are so we can find out who is and who isn’t a good professional for this club.

And there still plenty of time to take the rotten apples out because the league will start weeks after the carnival. So let’s find out who those rotten apples are. We might discover they are not the one we think.

The much heralded Gio, who was even announced by the new mayor Alex Char whose family owns the team, remains in the center of a tug-of-war between Colo-Colo and the player’s manager because the Chilean team claims they gave Gio a 4-year deal and he’s only done one. I won’t get into the rest of the story because it has nothing to do with Junior but the important part is that Junior gave a week for this whole mess to be cleared up or Gio will not be suiting at the Metropolitano.

But even if he does indeed come to Barranquilla, the team still has gaps to fill if coach Santiago Escobar (big brother to the late Andrés) wants to build a successful challenge for the Copa Mustang title, a league so enigmatic that small teams are often playing the finals like it happened with La Equidad this year.

So let’s review the status of the squad:

-On goal, Junior has a decent netter in Didier Muñoz whom this year was able to take over from decaying Prono Velázquez but whose failure in Bogotá when keeping for Millonarios still hangs over his head. Back-up Carlos Perez has been a longstanding promise but it seems the Junior jersey is a little too heavy for him. However, if he manages to sit down Muñoz he will prove himself as a competent keeper.

-The right back position welcomes back one of the beloved children of Barranquilla in Hayder Palacio. Although his stint at Deportivo Cali was considered a failure by many, I’m sure he still has some of that offensive exuberance that pumped him up for the NT when Rueda was the coach. He will be battling for a place with his former understudy (and almost name-sake) Jaider Romero but he is expected to start.

-The central defending couple is the first big void of the squad. Seasoned veteran Hilario Cuenú is not enough warranty especially since he will be surrounded by youngsters Gabriel Martinez, John Valencia et al. It would be a different story if Junior hadn’t miss out to Santa Fe in getting Venezuelan Leonel Vielma. But I believe “El Sachi” is still looking for a pair of defenders -one of them a foreigner- and he really needs them.
-On the left side Cesar Fawcett will have yet another season to prove he is the real deal and has what it takes to start at Junior and even competing for the NT. The advantage that Fawcett has is that his position is pretty much undisputed. Not because he’s the best Junior can get but because it’s quite a daunting task to try to find an acceptable left back in Colombian soccer.

-As I said before, the D-mid is now the most solid part of Junior. Alongside Rueda and Del Castillo, Casañas and Nico Torres are two vital complements and the youngster Florez continues on the rise.

-Sans Gio, the team’s creative efforts will lie upon the shoulders of Emerson “Piojo” Acuña, a player adored by the Metropolitano faithful but that has probably been too pampered and spoiled thus not producing accordingly. But Acuña is not a number 10, his preferred role is as a supporting striker so besides youngster Diego Causado, who hasn’t played much minutes under previous administrations and may not be ready yet to step up and wear the number 10 jersey. Leiner Rolong could also have a chance, but he already knows, as everybody else, that he will never be the team’s number 10. So failure to bring Gio or another highly-reputed fantasista (Whether Colombian or not) will result in not only in a huge disappointment among the crowd, but the team’s overall offensive potential to be thwarted.

- Up front, Junior has developed a healthy habit of keeping several options and this year will not be the exception with Acuña himself, “Babilla” (Gator) Díaz, Edwards Jiménez, Herly Alcazar, Alfredo Padilla, Teófilo Gutierrez, a foreign striker and provably even another Colombian striker. The good part about this is that you have to find at least one among these who will score consistently. And you will be well covered for injuries and bookings. The bad part is that those who won’t play will start making funny faces, and egos may clash in the dressing room. Luckily for Junior this year they have a no-nonsense coach who won’t take crap from anybody. Sachi Escobar rather left Once Caldas than bowing down to that team’s main Primma Donna: Dayro Moreno. That’s the king of coach that Junior needs.