Junior and Santa Fe went to halftime locked in a 0-0 semifinal at the Romelio Martínez, after a first half in which the home side controlled possession and spent long stretches pressing high near the visitors’ area. The game had the feel of a battle from the start, with foul calls, complaints to the referee and very little room to breathe.

Junior came closest to breaking through when Sarmiento hit the post from a set piece, while Silveira kept Santa Fe level with two decisive saves. The visitors also lost Mafla to physical discomfort, a setback in a match that was already being played at a hard edge. Junior later asked for a possible handball in Santa Fe’s area, but the appeal did not change the scoreline.

The most forceful moment of the half came when Suárez and Silveira collided strongly and both stayed on the grass, a collision that summed up how little was being conceded by either side. Bustos kept finding ways to open spaces in Santa Fe’s defense with his movement, and Hugo Rodallega kept appearing in those gaps when the opening was there. At one hour of game time, the semifinal was still 0-0, and the series remained as tight as the live report suggested it would be.

That caution did not carry into the restart. Junior opened the second half with the same intense pressure it had shown before the break, forcing Santa Fe back again and trying to turn territorial control into a goal. Later in the half, Guillermo Paiva was replaced by Luis Muriel as Junior kept searching for a breakthrough in a match that still had 90 minutes written all over it.

The context is simple: this was a Liga BetPlay semifinal, and the first leg, or first stretch of the tie as the live report framed it, was being played like a game neither side wanted to give away. It stayed closed, physical and heavily contested, but it was also open enough after halftime to leave both teams believing the next clean chance could decide it.

For now, the scoreless line says as much as the play itself. Junior had the ball, Santa Fe had the saves, and the semifinal entered its decisive stretch with everything still in play.