Junior vs Once Caldas is set for Sunday at 8:15 p.m. at the estadio Romelio Martínez, with Once Caldas arriving under a little more pressure after three matches without a win. It is also a return to official action after the earthquake disruption that forced the club to reshuffle its schedule and leave Palogrande out of use during August.
For Once Caldas, the timing matters as much as the opponent. The team’s most recent official match before the break was a 1-1 draw with Jaguares in Montería, and the round in which they were due to host Alianza was postponed by Dimayor after the August 10 earthquake, which left at least 321 deaths and caused wide disruption.
Once Caldas are back in competition mode
The response from Hernán Darío Herrera has been to get the group moving again. Once Caldas returned to training on Monday, then played a benefit friendly against Atlético Nacional in Medellín on Wednesday, drawing 2-2 in a game that at least gave the squad some rhythm before the trip to Barranquilla.
That matters because match sharpness is often the first thing to go when a team’s calendar is interrupted. Once Caldas have not been able to use their home stadium in August, and that means this visit to Junior is not just another league date. It is a test of how quickly they can recover their football rhythm in difficult circumstances.
A difficult reminder from Junior
There is also a recent competitive memory that will not be forgotten quickly. The article’s backdrop recalls a previous quarterfinal elimination against Junior in Liga BetPlay I, which adds another layer to a fixture that already carries weight.
Junior at home is never an easy assignment, and Once Caldas now face it after a disrupted run and without the comfort of playing at Palogrande. The opportunity, though, is clear: get through a demanding night, settle back into official competition, and try to turn a difficult period into something more stable as the season moves on.
In that sense, Sunday’s sixth-date meeting is about more than the table. For Once Caldas, it is about whether the pause, the travel and the disruption have left them short of rhythm, or whether Herrera’s group can use the restart to reset quickly in one of the toughest away trips on the calendar.
