Tarazona: GEBA Have Closed the Book on Last Year as San Fernando Semi Looms
Santiago Tarazona isn’t looking back. GEBA’s semifinal against San Fernando is days away, and the message from inside the camp is simple: last year is done.
Tarazona said the group have “closed the chapter on last year’s loss” and are fully focused on the semi. Reaching the playoffs, he said, is “everything” to this side. It’s been a season of patching things up: injuries and suspensions forced youngsters into the team, and they handled it. That’s the kind of detail that matters in knockout hockey, when the bench suddenly becomes the story.
He also spoke about stepping away from Los Leones, and he sounded at peace with it. No drama, no second-guessing. He’s enjoying club hockey day to day without the weight of international duty, and it shows in how he’s playing. GEBA finished the regular season as the tournament’s top scorers with 79 goals, and Tomás Suárez leads the individual charts with 22.
San Fernando won’t be an easy semi. They’re holders of the double, and they know this stage better than anyone. But GEBA have the goals, the momentum and a group that believes last year doesn’t matter anymore.
Mitre’s numbers are hard to ignore
The other semifinalists come with a serious record of their own. Mitre finished third with 55 points from a 16-7-3 record, and they haven’t lost in 17 matches. Seventeen. That’s the kind of run that wins tournaments, and it’s built on a group that doesn’t beat itself.
Lucas Martínez is back in a playoff after ten years, which tells you something about how long this group has waited for a moment like this. Mitre survived their quarter-final on sporting advantage, so they know how fine the margins are. But form like theirs doesn’t happen by accident.
The women’s semifinals are set too. Lomas meet GEBA on Saturday, and Santa Bárbara face Italiano. GEBA’s women got there by beating Belgrano 1-0, with Milagros Alastra scoring the winner, while Italiano knocked out holders San Fernando after a 2-2 draw, advancing on sporting advantage thanks to Zoe Díaz’s equaliser.
For our money, GEBA’s men have the firepower to win the whole thing, but Mitre’s 17-match run is the form line of the season. If those two meet in the final, it will be the best game the Metropolitano has produced in years.
