The group stage of the 2024 League Cup should end next Sunday. This is how the calendar was scheduled and this is how it was stipulated that, one week later, on Sunday the 21st, the quarterfinals would be played, at the beginning of the playoffs to determine which team will be the next champion of Argentine soccer.
But not. It won’t be like that. Or at least it won’t be that way. Because although Zone A will be very clear on Sunday the 14th which will be the four teams that will continue in the competition, The outcome of Zone B is unknown, in the midst of an endless whirlwind of versions where what is said is not endorsed by official voices.
Let’s see: everything was going well in that compressed agenda that was organized to fit 196 matches (7 from each zone spread over 14 dates) in just 76 days. But imponderables exist and no one contemplated them.
So, in the crossing between Estudiantes and Boca played in La Plata on date 11Javier Altamirano became unbalanced after 27 minutes and that match, which was tied 0-0, was postponed by mutual agreement.
Between that dramatic moment (luckily the Chilean soccer player has already been discharged) and the start of date 12 two weeks passed for the double date of international friendlies promoted by FIFA. However, the remaining 63 minutes They did not continue during that period. The reasons were two.
On the one hand, Xeneize had four absences due to the summons of Cristian Medina (U23), Nicolás Valentini, the Peruvian Luis Advíncula and the Armenian Norberto Briasco to their respective national teams). On the other hand, both had crosses for the Argentine Cup and both won 3 to 0: Boca beat Central Norte de Salta and Pincha beat Argentino de Monte Maíz.
Date 12 passed and everything got complicated: Boca beat San Lorenzo 2 to 1 in La Bombonera and Estudiantes fell 1 to 0 against Defensa y Justicia. Then, the table was more compressed and the classification to the next stage was far from defined.
But at the same time, with the arrival of April, international competitions began. And while the blue and gold team began its journey to Potosí, where at 3900 meters it tied 0-0 with Nacional from that Bolivian town for the South American Cup, the La Plata team tied 1-1 with Huachipato, in Chile, in its debut in the Libertadores Cup.
After their weekend of joy at the local level (those led by Diego Martínez beat Newell’s 3 to 1 in Rosario and those led by Eduardo Domínguez thrashed Central Córdoba 5 to 0), they will also have cup action during the week. It will be on Tuesday at Bombonera (vs. Sport Trinidense) and at Uno (against The Strongest). That situation It cancels out any chance that, for example, this Wednesday they will complete the match against each other.
And then? As LA NACION was able to find out, Both clubs are preparing to meet next Friday (April 12), at an undefined time. However, none of that is official. With five days left of that possible crossing that may be decisive for the classification or not of both, and even influences the future of other teams, there is no confirmation.
What is the problem? Happens that If Estudiantes and Boca play against each other on Friday, they could not do so two days later on the 14th.. So, the variable is that on Sunday the 14th only the seven games in Zone A will be played, and the outcome of Zone B is postponed for two days and any team that has a chance of advancing to the quarterfinals ends up playing at the same time on Mars 16.
The remaining games for the teams in Zone B with a chance to advance to the quarterfinals:
Problem solved? Of course not. Because everyone involved should accept that they will have two days less rest than the four teams in Zone A That on Sunday the 14th they will already know that they advanced to the quarterfinals, scheduled for Sunday the 21st. However, as there will be no Copa Libertadores or Copa Sudamericana matches that week, it seems to be the only possible alternative. Although, it is insisted, for now the AFA does not make it official.
To make matters worse, on the last day, six of the top seven will face each other: Boca (today fourth with 22 points and +8 goal difference) will play at home against Godoy Cruz (leader and the only one already classified in Zone B with 26 and +10), Estudiantes (sixth with 21 and +8) will visit Lanús (escort, with 23 and +9) and Defensa y Justicia (third with 23 and +3) will receive Newell’s (seventh with 21 and -1), while Racing (fifth with 21 and +9) will play in the Cilindro before Belgrano.
As uncertainty grows, only one thing is clear (or at least it is so far): the quarterfinals of the League Cup begin on Sunday, April 21. Everything else is to be seen.