Venezuela is the second team to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Copa América (the first had been Argentina) after adding its second victory in the competition. They beat Mexico 1-0 with a penalty goal from Salomón Rondón in a vibrant match that had rivalries, strong legs, nerves, sticks, a penalty saved shortly before the end of the match and a level of tension because it was the two countries in the group. B that they had won on the first date and because they were on the verge of earning a place in the next phase of the cup.
Venezuela worked to keep the three points. The joy and overflow they expressed as soon as the meeting ended are reliable proof of that merit. One of the viral videos of the celebrations of the team led by Argentine Fernando Batista also had national reminiscences. The team celebrated with a song born in the province of Córdoba. They waited for the chorus to sound before approaching the middle of the locker room, shouting, jumping and throwing water everywhere. The song that played was Hello lostby the 25-year-old artist from Córdoba, LuckRa.
For its part, the official Vinotinto account revealed pieces of that happiness by showing a video of just seventeen seconds in which the players of the Venezuelan delegation can be seen still dressed as soccer players – Yeferson Soteldo, Darwin Machís and Jhon Chancellor in the foreground -, some without a shirt, most without their boots, singing a song by Oscar de León, an eighty-year-old singer-songwriter and owner of several Caribbean music hits.
The name of the song you will cry and the players sing a verse that says “You are going to regret / And you will have to pay dearly for all my suffering / You will cry and cry / Without someone to comfort you / So you will realize that if they deceive you, it hurts.” In the tweet, they ask the fans to help them with the lyrics, in an indirect jab at the rival they had just won, as an indication that they had shown up to the game with a different animosity. The same goalkeeper, Rafael Romo, who saved a penalty from Orbelín Pineda with five minutes remaining in the game and emerged as one of the most outstanding figures of the Vinotinto, expressed in the mixed room: “We are happy because we knew that It was going to be difficult: Mexico is a great team, which plays very well. We have the humility to recognize our rivals, We do not have the arrogance and ignorance that many Mexican journalists have who underestimated us”.
After the goalkeeper’s statement, what could have triggered this anger circulated on social media. In a clip from a video, Mexican journalist Álvaro Morales can be seen explaining his feelings after the first date of the Copa América and analyzing the victories of Venezuela against Ecuador and Mexico against Jamaica. “Venezuela beat Ecuador because it was smart on a throw-in and because Ecuador was already defeated with one less man. Venezuela should be worried about Mexico. It leaves some terrible spaces. Machís was not there, Soteldo was not there, the balls did not reach Rondón well. Yes, Venezuela wins but it cost them. Mexico left better feelings.” Then, the journalist tells his Venezuelan colleague: “What are they going to do if we beat them? What do you want to bet?”
Venezuela once again reached the quarterfinals for the third time in its entire history. The youngest team on the continent played in the oldest national team tournament in the world nineteen times. The first time was in Uruguay 1967 and until Peru 2004 they had only won one match out of 45 possible. They already have eight wins, seventeen draws and 45 falls. And in the last six editions, they have surpassed the group zone four times: Venezuela 2007, Argentina 2011 in which they finished in fourth position, the United States 2016 and Brazil 2019.
Currently, Venezuela leads group B alone. Vinotinto’s next rival is Jamaica, which has not yet scored points in the tournament: they will meet at the Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, June 30. At the same time, Mexico and Ecuador will collide at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, for the group’s other duel. Both teams today have three units and will have to measure themselves to define the possible second place, which will probably be Argentina’s rival in the quarterfinals.
