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Independiente Medellin
Corporacion Deportiva Independiente Medellin is a professional Colombian football (soccer) team competing in Futbol Profesional Colombiano, the Colombian first division. The club is based in the city of Medellin and founded in 1913. It has won the league's national tournament known as Copa Mustang four times: in 1955, 1957, 2002-II and 2004-I. Its best performance at international level was in 2003, when the team achieved the third place in the Copa Libertadores de America.
Rivalries
Medellin's greatest rival is with the city's other major club Atletico Nacional, with whom they share the home stadium El Atanasio Girardot. The team is dubbed "El Poderoso de la Montana" or the powerful of the mountain due to Medellin's geographical location high in the Andean mountains. The rivalry is especially strong due to each team's main support club, Rexixtenxia Norte for Medellin and Los Del Sur for Atletico Nacional. These two groups are the most loyal, loud, and passionate support clubs in the country. The two clubs are named with the location that they occupy in the stadium where Rexixtenxia occupies the section behind the northern goal and Los Del Sur occupy the section behind the southern goal.
In 2004 Medellin and Nacional classified to the final of the Mustang Cup; in Antioquia everybody was very excited because this was the first "Paisa" final of the history of the short tournaments. This system requires 2 games to be the champion, in the first game, Medellin won 2-1 with a goal of Rafael Castillo in the 87 minute after the goals of Jorge Serna (DIM) and Carlos "Chumi" Alvarez in the first half. The final game was in the 27 of June, and it ended 0-0 and Medellin became the champion of the Colombian National League.
Controversies
Medellin won its third league title after 45 years of agony. However, there were two seasons where Medellin had the title within its reach only to lose it amid great controversy. From its foundation until 2002, the Colombian First Division League had adopted a league format commonly used in European leagues. The format was a year long tournament where the team at then end of the year in best standing was declared the winner. This format was changed in 2002 to an Apertura-Clausura format where two separate seasons are played during the year to determine two winners. In 1993 during the last game of the year, Medellin and Atletico Junior were fighting for a tight first place. Junior was playing America de Cali at home in Baranquilla while simultaneously Medellin played hometown rivals Atletico Nacional. The games were to start and end at the same time. A Medellin win with a Junior loss or draw would have given Medellin the title. Medellin beat Nacional 1-0 while awaiting the goalless game in Baranquilla to end. Medellin players were celebrating with a victory lap and giving interviews with reporters waiting for the final whistle in Baranquilla. However, the referee allowed an unprecedented amount of injury time which enabled Oswaldo Mackenzie to score an extremely late goal giving Junior the win and the title. This was not the first time Medellin had a heartbreaking season, in 1989 a year where Medellin had the best team in the league and was expected to win the title, a tragic event occurred in Colombian soccer. During the final games of the season, Medellin tied America de Cali 0-0 at home. During the game, the linesman Alvaro Ortega made a mistake and annulled a Medellin goal. Afterwards, a Medellin sympathizer hunted down the linesman and assassinated him. In response, the Colombian Soccer Federation decided to cancel the rest of the season leaving the 1989 league without a winner.
Honours
National Honours
Futbol Profesional Colombiano
*Winners (4): 1955, 1957, 2002-II, 2004-I
*Runners-Up (5): 1959, 1961, 1966, 1993, 2001
International Honours
Copa Libertadores
*3rd Place (1): 2003
Copa Libertadores Participations
1967 1st Round
1994 Quarterfinals
2003 Semifinals
2005 Round of 16
Current Roster
As of March 4th, 2008
Reserve & Youth Squad
Source: http://www.eltiempo.com/deportes/futbol/fubolcolombiano/noticias/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR-3918772.html
Players In
Mauricio Mendoza FW From America de Cali
Juan Fernando Leal MF From Millonarios
Felipe Alzate DF From Reserves
Joan Gonzalez GK From Reserves
Javier Lopez DF From Reserves
Richard Moreno MF From Reserves
Elkin Mosquera DF From Reserves
Cesar Quintero DF From Reserves
Miguel Angel Julio MF From Reserves
Players out
Mauricio Molina MF to Olimpia Asuncion
Jose Mera DF to Deportivo Pasto
Jaime Bran Gomez GK to Deportivo Pereira
Armando Palacios DF No Team
Juan Pablo Pino FW to AS Monaco FC
External links
Pagina oficial
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Independiente Medellin
