Buenos Aires, March 11 (NA) — Independiente miraculously drew 4-4 against Unión de Santa Fe on Tuesday night at home, in matchday 10 of Zone A of the 2026 Liga Profesional Apertura Tournament. As reported by the Argentine News Agency, Gustavo Quinteros's team arrived at this match after a dramatic 2-0 win over Central Córdoba de Santiago del Estero, but without dazzling performance. This match against Unión, one of the contenders in Zone A, was a new trial by fire for Independiente to see if it could finally wear the mantle of a contender, a role it has been avoiding through draws and poor showings, and to cut points off the leader, Vélez. However, Independiente's performance at the start of the first half was dire and wretched, going into the break 3-1 down, with another poor performance from goalkeeper Rodrigo Rey, who was largely responsible for two conceded goals and an disallowed one. Leonardo Godoy, the inconsistent Iván Marcone, and others rounded out Independiente's worst performance in a first half at home. For the second half, the star of the 'Rojo's' season, Gabriel Ávalos, appeared, scoring to make it 3-2 and then 4-3 after Maizon Rodríguez increased Unión's lead following another woeful display from Rey. At the end of the match, on the final play, Independiente equalized with a headed goal from Juan Manuel Fedorco, another of the worst players on the pitch. This draw is welcome given the context and the way the match unfolded, but let's not let the tree hide the forest: Independiente's performance was alarming and there was no real show of character as the team will now try to sell, but rather a retreat from Unión, which dedicated itself to holding the result in the final minutes and a miraculous header from the former Nueva Chicago defender. With this level of performance and leaders without a winning spirit, it is almost impossible for Independiente to win a tournament as its people demand. It is difficult with a captain who does not inspire confidence in goal and lets in silly goals, with 'fancy' players who win and put themselves on a pedestal to which they were not invited, with directors who assemble the squads terribly, with constant improvisation and the objective of satisfying agents rather than the coach who should have debuted the youth player Facundo Valdez instead of giving minutes to the Chilean reinforcement Maximiliano Gutierrez, suggesting that the former Huachipato player was one of the last options to reinforce the attack. However, football is unpredictable, and perhaps this dramatic draw awakens a sacred fire in the squad and they rebound, but it doesn't seem like there are signs that this could happen.
