Santi Marincoach, will finish his day at the Torrent Town Hall and will quickly leave to give his last talk to the Manises players. His last talk literally, because at the conclusion of the game he will stop being their coach. It sounds crazy, but that’s how it will happen. The club informed Santi Marín last Sunday that he would be dismissed after the Copa del Rey tie. Whatever happens in it. This despite the fact that last Saturday, after almost three weeks without competing due to matches postponed by DANA, Manises beat Sueca and is only three points away from the promotion zone with one game less than its rivals. At least, or at least, they will let him direct the game of his life, against a First Division, against Getafe de Bordalás. His last rival.
That said, Santi Marín has known since Sunday that his time at Manises has ended. This is amateur Football. He and the captains know it, to whom the club communicated it even before the coach himself. Even so, everyone at Manises knows what it has cost them to get to this Copa del Rey match and as such they want to enjoy it. The first of them was Santi Marín himself. He has summoned his players at 4:00 p.m. at the Manises Sports Center, so some of them will have to ask for the afternoon off from work. This is what amateur football also has, which is played for passion. For this reason Sustained will not distribute supplies to hospitals today or Wheeled will go to the family frozen business, nor will Peris or Arnau to the architecture office.
Manises has been waiting for Bordalás’ visit for almost a monthwith its three towers for television cameras raised, its tent for a VIP area, its arrangements in the visiting locker room and the extra stands to accommodate 3,500 spectators installed for the occasion, which was delayed due to the consequences of DANA, which Guillem Baixauli (Paiporta) and nice (Alfafar). For everyone it will be a special match, because they will face a professional team for the first time, although due to what they have suffered and experienced in recent weeks, for Baixauli, forward, and Bonillo, midfielder, they have an emotional bonus.
How Manises had prepared the match against Getafe for its first date has nothing to do with how it has been able to do it now. So meetings had even been held with the ball boys to give the kids guidelines (“They are part of the game,” the coach said before October 29). Now they arrive with only one match played in a month (last Saturday against Sueca, which they won) and with several weeks without even training. For many it was difficult to get there due to the poor condition of the roads and everyone preferred to help their affected colleagues or other friends in the devastated areas as best they could.
Manises faces Getafe after winning the ‘Nostra Copa’ of the Valencian Football Federation. Until lifting the trophy they played in seven qualifying rounds and to face Getafe they had to eliminate Dolorense in Cartagena in the previous phase. All this without losing sight of their fight for promotion in the Preferente Lliga Comunitat, in which they are three points away from the promotion positions with one less match postponed by DANA. All the Manises footballers are at the disposal of Santi Marín, who will give his last lineup today, and if anyone has any slight discomfort, he will surely not say anything lest he be one of the chosen ones and be left out because of it.
Bordalás, for his part, goes with many familiar faces. In fact, he will only travel to Manises, about 20 kilometers from Valencia, with four youth players: Argüelles, Nabil, Coba and Patrick. The Alicante coach does not want to run the risk of improper alignment and will not line up all four at the same time. The one who will surely make his debut is Letacek between the sticks and Bertug and Djené, because they cannot perform on Sunday against Real Madrid, will be sure to be in the Getafense eleven.
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