Maradona’s Dorados begin battle for promotion

Diego Maradona’s Dorados de Sinaloa side will begin their campaign for promotion to the Mexican first division with a quarterfinal duel here against Mineros.

The squad went 6-1-1 with the Argentine legend at the helm and finished 7th in the second division, high enough to qualify for the promotion playoffs.

Against Mineros, Dorados will rely on possession and an attack led by Ecuador’s Vinicio Angulo, the league’s No. 2 scorer in the regular season with seven goals - all of them scored since Maradona took charge.

Hosts Dorados will be without Jorge Cordoba for Wednesday’s first leg of the quarterfinal, thanks to the red card that got the Argentine forward sent off from last weekend’s final regular season contest.

“This team has plenty of guts,” Maradona said last Saturday as he looked ahead to the playoffs. “We don’t fear anybody. If we can win by a good difference here, we will go into the second leg equally on the attack. We don’t know how to play to defend ourselves, but we do know how to play in an organized and practical way.”

Mineros finished 2nd in the regular season and led the league in goals with 27, nine more than Dorados.

While Mineros have posted an away record of 5-1-1, Dorados are unbeaten at home under Maradona as coach.