The curious stat behind Colón’s starting XI against San Telmo | OneFootball

Colón is preparing for a new challenge away from Santa Fe. This Sunday, starting at 4 PM, they will visit San Telmo at Doctor Osvaldo Baletto, for the sixth round of Zone A of the Primera Nacional Tournament, at a time when the team remains in the group of runners-up, just one point behind the leader Acassuso.

Looking ahead to this commitment, everything indicates that Ezequiel Medrán would bet on only one change in relation to the team that just defeated Acassuso at the Brigadier López. The change would be the inclusion of Julián Marcioni, now recovered from his tear, in place of Conrado Ibarra, who suffered a muscle injury in the last match.

But beyond the specific change, the variant would leave a very strong and particular fact about Colón's current football situation.

An eleven without players born in the Sabalero youth ranks

The departure of Ibarra would not be just another modification. His absence would mean that in the starting team that will take the field at Isla Maciel, there will be no player who emerged from Colón's youth divisions.

This is undoubtedly a significant peculiarity in a club historically accustomed to nurturing itself with its own players and that, moreover, comes from a very special season, where several young homegrown players had prominence amid a context as complex as last year's in the Primera Nacional.

Thus, the probable eleven for Colón to face San Telmo would be composed of Gabriel Budiño; Mauro Peinipil, Pier Barrios, Federico Rasmussen, and Facundo Castet; Julián Marcioni, Federico Lértora, Ignacio Antonio, and Ignacio Lago; Lucas Cano and Alan Bonansea. That is, a team entirely made up of players from outside.

A clear sign of the market Colón made

This fact also clearly exposes how the Sabalero squad was conceived for this season. Colón went out to look for players with hierarchy, experience, and knowledge of the category, in a clear bet to form a competitive group from the immediate, with weighty and experienced names to fight at the top.

The construction of the squad aimed to minimize the margin of error after a chaotic previous campaign, in which the team ended far from what was expected and enveloped in a climate of strong uncertainty. In this context, the management and the coaching staff chose to rely on seasoned names rather than a more sustained process with the club's youth.

And that, precisely, is also beginning to be reflected in the formation of the starting team.

Relegated youth and a message that also challenges

The absence of even a single starter from the club also opens up deeper interpretations. On one hand, it can be interpreted as a sign of the lack of confidence that the youth currently have in the fight for a place within a structure designed to compete now. On the other hand, it also reveals that several of those players who had significant participation last season have not managed to consolidate or maintain that space with the arrival of the new project.

The point does not cease to attract attention because Medrán knows those players well. The coach worked with them from the final stretch of last year, once Colón was out of the playoffs, so they are not players unfamiliar to his observation or analysis.

Therefore, the lack of presence of homegrown players in the probable starting lineup can be read as a conclusion by the coaching staff about the moment of those players, or as a sign that no youth players have yet emerged who meet the demands that Colón currently requires in the category.

A Colón built to rise, but with little room for homegrown players

If confirmed on Sunday, Medrán's decision will reinforce a trend that has been hinted at since the start of the tournament: Colón is built to fight for promotion with a base of seasoned, experienced players with specific weight in the Primera Nacional.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.