Colombia plays first match after earthquake

A week after the strong earthquake that affected Colombia, football is back in the coffee region: on Tuesday, August 18, Deportes Tolima will host Independiente del Valle in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores quarterfinals.

The sporting activity was suspended throughout the territory after the earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.4, and affected the departments of Chocó, Caldas, Risaralda and Valle del Cauca, as well as the city of Cali. According to the latest official balance, there are 304 deaths, almost 4,000 injured, and at least 143 missing.

This forced Conmebol to reprogram the matches for international cups. Like this match, the visit of River Plate to Independiente Santa Fe in Bogotá was also postponed, in this case for the Sudamericana: it was moved from Wednesday 12 to this Wednesday 19.

The match between Tolima and the Negriazul will take place at the Manuel Murillo Toro stadium in Ibagué, another city affected by the earthquake. Although there were damages in several buildings, in that locality there were no reported deaths or injuries.

The local team asked its fans to bring food, water, personal hygiene products, and other items. All the collected items will be destined for those affected by the emergency.

How do Deportes Tolima and Independiente del Valle arrive at the match?

In the sporting aspect, Tolima arrives after having been without a match for ten days. Before that pause, the Ibagué team was having a good moment, with four wins and two losses in the six games played during this semester.

On the other hand, Independiente del Valle has accumulated a streak of 13 consecutive victories in all competitions. The team led by Joaquín Papa, absolute leader of the LigaPro, will seek to maintain that performance in Colombia and gain an advantage in the return match.

For this match, which will begin at 21:30 (Argentine time), the Uruguayan strategist could use several of his habitual starters, including Colombian Aldair Quintana, Juan Viacava, Jordy Alcívar, and Carlos González.

Possible lineups of Deportes Tolima and Independiente del Valle

Deportes Tolima: Miguel Ortega; Cristian Arrieta, Jan Angulo, Yordan Osorio, Junior Hernández; Homer Martínez, Sebastián Guzmán, Luis Sánchez, Kelvin Flórez; Adrián Parra and Jorge Cabezas Hurtado. DT: Sebastián Oliveros.

Independiente del Valle: Aldair Quintana; Daykol Romero, Andy Velasco, Juan Viacava, Layan Loor; Jordy Alcívar, Hugo Quintana, Ronald Briones; Aron Rodríguez, Emerson Pata and Carlos González. DT: Joaquín Papa.

The Libertadores Cup tie

The winner of the series will advance to the quarterfinals, where it will face the winner of the tie between Flamengo and Cruzeiro (1-1 in the first leg).