The project to relaunch the national teams under the umbrella of José Pékerman and his legion of coaches today faces a first crossroads. The Vinotinto Sub-20 team, led by Fabricio Coloccini, needs a win against Chile to ensure qualification for the final hexagonal of the South American Championship of the category and thus continue in the race for one of the four tickets to the next World Cup in Indonesia.
The youth team showed a more determined attitude in attack and defense to overcome Ecuador on Thursday and obtain a first victory that revived it, after previous defeats suffered against Bolivia (1-0) and Uruguay (3-0).
Coloccini made five changes against the southern team and the presence of David Martínez and Bryan Ortega in midfield gave him more control of the ball and more depth in attack, one of the deficiencies exhibited by the team in the first two sets.
Venezuela dared to step more firmly on the Ecuadorian area and built the victory from the goal of a penalty kick converted by Brayan Alcócer at 15 minutes of the first half.
Read also: Vinotinto Sub20 revived with victory against Ecuador
The defense also complied fully thanks to the solidarity work carried out by Alejandro Cova, and Renné Rivas to control the projections on the sides of the Ecuadorians.
Also the center-back pair made up of Carlos Rojas and Rafael Uzcátegui were in charge of clearing the rain of centers in the last minutes, and the goalkeeper Frankarlos Benítez consolidated his position with superb interventions that kept zero.
Collocini praised the efforts of the players, despite the exhaustion of playing every 48 hours. "Beyond the fatigue, the boys bring such great enthusiasm. Trust these boys, continue to support them because beyond the results, they are boys who will bring joy to Venezuela tomorrow," he said.
Venezuela will play the qualification against Chile that occupies the third place of the table with four points. Another victory at the Deportivo Cali stadium opens the doors to the second phase for Vinotinto, while the draw makes them depend on the result between the already classified Uruguay and Ecuador. If the team draws with the Australes, then they will need Uruguay to defeat Ecuador by two or more goals to advance.
Bolivia was the team to beat or at least draw so as not to depend on third options! I don't know how it explains that with the time that Argentines already have with the red wine team we are still giving these presentations without forcefulness... what happened, there was no preparation, games prior to the contest..??? You have to put a magnifying glass on the situation and correct deviations !!! For example, Gerson Chacón has a lot of experience in international competitions and is a starter in his Táchira team, but he is banned from the national team!!!!