FAN ARTICLES

Everton Chile in Primera B

In Chile, CD Everton began their campaign two weeks ago, down in Primera B or the second division, having as their sole aim an immediate return to the first, Primera A. A stuttering defeat to Magallanes, 1-2, after a promising start was disappointing but confidence was restored with a rousing 4-0 victory over Antofogasta at the Sausalito before a crowd of 7,000. Next up, in this first stage of the championship, was a trip to Coquimbo but that resulted in a 2-1 defeat, after Everton had taken the lead.

This championship is being disputed by 14 teams, who are divided up, in the first phase, into two groups according to their geographical location. The blue and golds are part of the North, along with Antofogasta, Copiapó, Coquimbo, Arica, Magallanes and San Luis. In the early stage of the opening phase, they will play each other and after those six games, the National Phase will begin, when they will also play teams from the South. At the end of the opening phase and its 19 games, the leader will be the first finalist, who will fight it out for promotion with the leader of the closing phase, which will begin after the Copa América. The other place in the first division will be for the team which amasses most points over the 38 games.

To go up, CD Everton have made a great effort in putting together a quality squad for the campaign. From last year, they?ve keep such stalwarts of the side as goalkeeper Gustavo Dalsasso, full backs Alex Von Schwedler and Adrián Rojas, winger Fernando Saavedra and the forward Maximiliano Ceratto, as well as players who were on the Ruleteros books and the under 20s Nicolás Peñailillo and Matías Blázquez.

The squad is completed with important assets who have come back from on loan such as Marcos Velásquez, who was a champion in 2008, José Luis Muñoz, scorer of the goal which defeated Lanús in the Libertadores Cup, and Roberto Reyes, fresh from a great season at Copiapó, to name just a few.

Other reinforcements putting on the blue and gold shirt are Angel Rojas, who was also part of the Championship winning side, before moving on to Universidad de Chile and Brazilian football, and the Argentinian forward Marcos Pirchio, who has also dipped his toe in Ecuadorian football; however, it?s the winger Román Díaz who is tipped to be the star of the tournament.

With great technique and a great shot, the Argentinian winger also played for San Lorenzo, Lanús, Chacarita Juniors and Rosario Central.

?Our sole aim is to get up to the First Division. We have a great team and the means to achieve it. We will try and manage the anxiety of everyone who wants to achieve what we all want so much,? said the coach, Diego Osella, who was backed by the management after taking charge for the latter stages of last year?s championship.

So it's not all bad news, but just a pity that that fantastic night back in August (Everton FC 2-0 CD Everton) was followed by a sequence of results which condemned CD Everton to relegation. Let's hope for an immediate bounceback.

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