ANDl next Friday, June 28, the second match of the Colombian National Team will be played in the Copa América 2024 and the rival will be Costa Rica, who drew 0-0 against Brazil in their debut. But even though The game and results of Néstor Lorenzo’s team are positivethe statements of Jhon Jader Durán and Miguel Ángel Borja did not please several Colombian journalists.
These were heard in the press conference given by the players last Wednesday, June 26, 48 hours before the match that could qualify ‘la Tricolor’ to the quarterfinalsbut they made it clear that they did not know much about the opponent they were facing. And although it may have been for strategy or to tone down the game, it did not convey a good message.
Jhon Jader Durán does not know much about the Costa Rican players
There are many accredited media outlets that pay attention to the media of the Colombian National Team, therefore, many questions are repeated and the answers are similar. But In the statements of Jhon Jader Durán there was the feeling of not knowing much what the forwards can find with the tough defense of the team led by Gustavo Alfaro:
The time will come to talk about the game, for now we are going to start focusing, we are together and we hope it will be a nice game… From what little we have seen, it is a closed team and the mobility to make good attacks will depend on us …
I can’t say, because I didn’t see it much, but the little I saw is that it is a very closed team and you have to find ways to get in.
Of course, Durán wanted to explain that there is no contempt for rivals with this response: “There is no weak rival, no one should be underestimated, they have good players”However, the young attacker once again fell into the same response of not knowing his rival when asked about Juan Pablo Vargas. And Durán faced the Costa Rican before going to international football, and they also asked him if Álvaro Montero, who is Álvaro Montero’s teammate in Millonarios, had given them information about how to defend him.
Well, Jhon Jader Durán said he did not know him and, laughing, he returned the question to the Caracol Radio journalist:
Who is Juan Pablo Vargas?… No, I don’t know (laughs)
After that moment of discomfort, the Aston Villa attacker confirmed that they had not seen much of Costa Rica: “From what I could see, they are a closed team and work very well in defense”.
Miguel Borja’s challenge so that Costa Rica does not defend itself against Colombia
In it In the case of Miguel Borja, his spicy statements are common and have extra ingredients for the games he is going to face, that is why he gives River Plate so much to talk about with his goals and words. And on this occasion he was no different, since he said that he does not know much about the Central Americans and repeated that he hopes they come out to play more than against Brazil:
We saw it, we have not analyzed it yet, but it was a Costa Rica that only tried to defend itself, anyway, they had a very strong rival in front and made them submit. We hope for a Costa Rica that proposes a little more in this match…
I saw little, we didn’t have space to watch the entire game, it was a Costa Rica that knew how to defend itself, but had a great rival in front. Against Colombia, we hope they come out to play a little more and develop their talent more
In the different responses that ‘el Colibrí’ gave to different media, present in the area that they adapted for journalists, he repeated that Costa Rica should go out and play with more attitude: “I hope that he comes out to play, I think Costa Rica has great players, I hope that he comes out to propose the match and that it is not similar to that of Brazil and that he comes out to play a little more. We have that alternative, if they don’t come out to play handball on hand, we have players who at any moment invent a play, they can hit from outside, they can score a goal and we are calm about that”.
Furthermore, Borja criticized the fields because he said they are narrower and favor defensive teams, closing with a comment about the current temperature in the United States: “Not even in Tierralta, at 1 in the afternoon, did I feel so hot, but it’s nice to feel all that and tomorrow it will be part of the history that we are building and that, surely, we will reach a good end.”.
Journalists criticize Durán and Borja’s responses before Colombia vs. Costa Rica
Right at the time of the statements, on Caracol Radio they were on the program ‘La Polemica’ and there were reactions from the members about what the 2 forwards said, who are alternatives for Lorenzo. The La Equidad coach, Alexis García, began, making a comment that sparked the subsequent debate: “Imagine that there are players who don’t watch football”.
After this, journalist Juan Felipe Cadavid spoke and sounded incredulous at what the 2 members of ‘la Tricolor’ had responded: “We are worried because Borja has not seen Costa Rica and Jhon Jader Durán does not know who Juan Pablo Vargas is”. That was completed by César Augusto Londoño with 2 similar comments: “Those are our players… In Colombia there are players who do not know the lineup of the team they are going to face”.
On the same panel was Diego Rueda, also a journalist, who questioned the young players: “As a player who is going to face a team, I have to study it, not wait for someone who is 30 years old to come and tell me”. While Cadavid intervened again and remembered something that he explained to Jhon Jader Durán: “Durán confronted Vargas in Colombia when he was in Envigado. Vargas is not just anyone”.
Later, Rueda recalled that Juan Pablo Vargas has not only been in Colombian soccer for several years, even before Durán left Envigado, he also reminded him that he was in the Qatar 2022 World Cup and that he scored a goal against Germany. Finally, Alexis García analyzed the responses and gave his opinion: “We have a little ego, what the rival does doesn’t matter”and César Augusto Londoño sentenced: “We are a little bigger”.
But they were not the only ones, since in the digital program ‘La Liga de La Liga’ there were complaints from Tito Puccetti, journalist from DSports and Win Sports, and Ricardo Henao, journalist from Canal RCN and Win Sports, because in the attention prior to the parties They send players who are not starters and who are second or third alternatives.
Henao noted the following about the responses of Jhon Jader Durán and Miguel Borja: “Borja doesn’t play, Durán doesn’t play. It’s really annoying that they always send players who aren’t starters to the mixed zones and to the pre-match press conferences, it’s a complete lack of attention”. And Puccetti, with more annoyance and explaining that the media tries to do his job and those who pay for their coverage, stated: “But they send them to press conferences, slapping the press… It’s disrespectful…”.
Obviously, only on Friday, June 28, we will know if it was a strategy for the players to imply that they do not know much about Costa Rica or if it was the strategy of sending substitute players to talk to the press, but the annoyance remained in the air and in the environment of the Colombian National Team in this Copa América 2024.
