On Wednesday night the Venezuelan National Team qualified for the quarterfinals of the Copa América after beating Mexico 1-0.
With this important victory, Venezuela became the second classified in the Copa América 2024 after Argentina entered the next phase after defeating Chile.
Although the scorer Salomón Rondón scored an important penalty goal, the hero of the match was goalkeeper Rafael Romo, who saved a penalty in the 86th minute due to a handball in the area.
After a handball in the area, Orbelín Pineda took a shot from the penalty spot but Romo managed to stretch almost to the post and saved the ‘Vinotinto’ victory.
With this, Rafael Romo also entered the history books after becoming the first Venezuelan goalkeeper to save a penalty in the entire history of the Copa América.
In addition to stopping the agonizing charge in the last minutes of the game, Romo made another five saves during the 90 minutes that were decisive in achieving the three points for the ‘Vinotinto’ at the SoFi stadium in Inglewood, California.
“We come here to do the job, to fight, to give our best,” declared the goalkeeper.
Likewise, Venezuela broke a negative streak against the Mexican team, because of 13 games played, although the vast majority were international friendlies, the ‘Vinotinto’ had not been able to win.
The ‘Tri’ was undefeated against the South American team with 10 wins and three draws.
This is how the Venezuelan and Mexican teams formed:
Venezuela: Rafael Romo; Alexander González, Osorio, Nahuel Ferraresi, Miguel Navarro; Cristian Cásseres, José Martínez, Yangel Herrera; Jefferson Soteldo, Salomón Rondón, Machís.
Mexico: Luis Malagón; Jorge Sánchez, César Montes, Gerardo Arteaga, Jesús Orozco; Edson Álvarez, Orbelín Pineda, Luis Chávez; Santiago Giménez, Alexis Vega and Julián Quiñones.
