COVID-19 is quickly making an impact at the start of the Guard1anes tournament as more and more players are falling due to the virus that is leaving many wondering if the tournament could come to a stall!
Rayados de Monterrey started the Guard1anes 2020 tournament in the right direction after getting their first win of the year, yes the YEAR! After beating Toluca in an intensive back and forth game, Rayados 3-1 won at home gave them the first three points of the tournament, and will look to face Leon in the Jornada 2 on Monday night. Although it is a good start for Rayados, they will be without one of their stars going into Monday night’s game in Jesus Gallardo.
The national player of Mexico and their undisputed starter of the team, the defensive winger Jesus Gallardo will be under quarantine for the next 10-15 days after high speculation of contracting the worldwide pandemic of the COVID-19 virus. Gallardo will miss at least four games in the tournament where Rayados will face Leon, Santos Laguna, Pumas, and Necaxa for the time being and that is if Gallardo can overcome the virus, which hopefully we do he does.
With the breaking news for Rayados, coach Antonio Mohamed will now have to reconstruct his lineup with the absence of Gallardo and hope that the team can still carry the momentum after the big win in week 1 of the tournament. As stated before, Gallardo is an important player in Monterrey’s coach Mohamed starting 11 since the team two years ago having a total of 13 goals, 15 assists just under 100 games with La Pandilla, so yes surely, Gallardo will be missed in the next two weeks.
Rayados, prior to the start of the tournament, had two important players that identified themselves of contracting the virus who were the forwards and playmakers of the team, Vincent Janssen and Rogelio Funes Mori who slowly overcame the virus and scored a pair of two goals against Toluca but in the meantime, Janssen still is overcoming the virus.
We hope Jesus Gallardo beats this in a timely fashion is back on the field for Los Rayados.