A Vinotinto with a European footprint is Mexico’s obstacle in the Copa América. A Mexican victory would put them close to the quarterfinal round. Their rival this Wednesday (7:00 p.m.), has 25 of the 26 players who play abroad, nine of them do so in Europe and two of them in Liga MX. If the siege is tightened, the most dangerous footballer by number of goals is Salomón Rondón. The Venezuelan striker wants to crush the Mexicans’ desire to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Rondón, 34, has been in 12 clubs in his career. A true globetrotter who has scored his goals representing Venezuela. His most recent stop was in Mexico, with Pachuca. The Mexican team gave him the lead, pampered him after a bitter experience in River Plate and the Venezuelan striker responded with a scoring title: eight goals earned him the prize along with the Mexican national team Uriel Antuna, the Uruguayan Federico Viñas and the Colombian Diber Changing. In addition, Salomón Rondón led Pachuca to win the Concacaf Champions Cup, which opens the door to playing in the Club World Cup in 2025. In his personal showcase he won the Golden Boot for his nine goals in seven games and the award for best footballer of the tournament.
There are scorers who only work for their clubs and not for their national teams. This is not the case with Rondón. With Vinotinto he has scored 41 goals, which makes him the top scorer. He is also the fourth player with the most caps for his national team (105), behind field captain Tomás Rincón (132), Juan Arango (127) and José Manuel Rey (111). The Venezuelan forward is the great threat for Mexico along with the little Yeferson Soteldo, a classic 10, who played in 2021-22 for Tigres. Also to the midfielders Cristian Cáseres from Toulouse in France and Yangel Herrera from the surprising Girona.
In addition to Rondón, Venezuela had a player “infiltrated” in Mexican soccer, Eduard Bello, who arrived as a signing to Mazatlán in 2022. The midfielder has brought two joys to Vinotinto: in the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, Bello He scored an anecdotal goal against Brazil in the final minutes for a 1-1 draw. And, last Saturday, he scored the winning goal against Ecuador 1-2. According to EL PAÍS’ statistical model, Venezuela has a 77% chance of playing in the quarterfinals, Mexico has a 71% chance, and both countries share a 29% chance of reaching the semifinals.
Mexico, in search of the goal
If Mexico has suffered from one thing since the days of Tata Martino, it is finding a reliable scorer. Several candidates have already paraded: Rogelio Funes Mori, Henry Martín, Raúl Jiménez, Julián Quiñones, Guillermo Martínez and Santiago Giménez. The current coach, Jaime Lozano, needs his best nine due to talent, age and desire to find the goal. Santi Giménez, son of the Argentine Christian Giménez, has had enormous growth at Feyernoord. This summer he is looking to move to a big European team, but to do so he needs minutes. Against Jamaica he only played 68 minutes, in the friendlies against Brazil he played almost the entire match (89), with no goals and Uruguay (six).
In Mexico’s last important game, the Nations League final, Santi Giménez was only required for the last 25 minutes. Lozano has unfairly paid the man who scored the winning goal in the Gold Cup final against Panama. The strategist’s plan B is for him to revive the scoring spirit of Julián Quiñones and for the substitute, Guillermo Martínez, to be a catalyst.
Mexico will also have to resort to its midfielders such as Carlos Rodríguez, Luis Romo, Erick Sánchez and Jordi Cortizo to replace the loss of captain Edson Álvarez, a defensive midfielder who was the brains of the team. Julio González, 33, will continue in goal, and he is experiencing the tournament like a teenager. His good saves gave him a pleasant debut. Now he will have to meet Salomón Rondón again, who scored a goal in a penalty shootout that ended up being won by the goalkeeper’s team, Pumas, in the last Mexican tournament.
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