The Copa del Rey draw could not have been more capricious for Almería, who will travel to El Rubial in a couple of weeks in the match belonging to the first round of the cupbearer tournament. In Águilas he will meet old acquaintances, starting with Alfonso García, who in the summer of 2019 sold the Almeria club to Turki Al-Sheikh. García has been the president who has sat the longest in the rojiblanco box, a space that lasted for 16 years, since he took over the property in 2003. A year ago he acquired an Águilas who has always maintained a close relationship with Almería, playing a friendly every summer at El Rubial.
It is in the charming Murcian stadium where one of the myths of the UDA club now plays: Kalu Uche. The Nigerian forward, who turned 39 this past Monday, is the sixth player who has worn the red and white jacket the most times: up to 212 times. In addition, with 44 targets, he is the fifth top scorer in the history of the Almeria entity. Kalu Uche went through Almería in up to three stages. In the first (2005-2011) he played two seasons in the silver category and four in the elite, after achieving promotion with Emery. He returned in January 2016 to help remain in Second and did it again in the winter market the following season with the same objective.
Now in the Aguilas share dressing room with Chumi and Abel Molinero, who also played the Stadium of the Mediterranean Games. In addition, he did it with the Almeria and exUDA Molo, coach of Águilas until last week, when Alfonso García fired him in his usual movement on the bench prior to the Christmas holiday. For now, the Murcian sports director, García Campillo, has taken the reins on an interim basis, losing to El Ejido 2012 (0-1) last weekend.
The duel between Almería and Águilas, who seek to be promoted to First RFEF from the fifth group of Second RFEF, It will be played on November 30 or December 1, since Rubi’s men play on Saturday of that week in Fuenlabrada. The rojiblanco club celebrates the draw “for reasons of displacement”. After arriving last season, with José Gomes at the helm, to the quarterfinals for the second time in Almeria history, it remains to be seen the importance that Rubi will give to the Cup, advancing to give minutes to the less usual or park the cupbearer tournament to focus exclusively on promotion.