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“Today we are not the best, nor yesterday we were the worst. Three important points and the dream remains intact”, summed up Darwin Machís on Twitter.
Having found their way to the goal and victory against Chile, Venezuela now dares to dream of qualifying for the Qatar-2022 World Cup, although in the past starting with three defeats on the first three dates has been an insurmountable obstacle.
“We are not the best today, nor the worst yesterday. Three important points and the dream is still intact. Proud today and always to be #vinotinto”, wrote Darwin Machís on Twitter after the 2-1 victory obtained on Tuesday 17-N from Venezuela to Caracas, in the fourth round of the qualifiers for Qatar-2022.
The nascent version of Vinotinto by Portuguese José Peseiro, who was appointed coach last February, has gone from less to more.
“We want to take steps forward with balance. In order not to lose our head,” the Portuguese coach said at a press conference.
Travel
The first double pre-World Cup match, in October, ended for Venezuela with 3-0 defeats as a guest against Colombia and 1-0 at home against Paraguay.
The premiere in Barranquilla a few days after Peseiro was able to direct his first training sessions, impossible in the midst of the new coronavirus pandemic, was disastrous for a Vinotinto lost in attack and fragile in defense. Things improve in Mérida against the albirrojos, with an organized team behind them, albeit in debt when it came to moving forward.
The second doubleheader opened on Friday with another 1-0 setback, this time at the hands of Brazil in Sao Paulo, but Venezuela showed defensive strength that made the five-time world champions suffer.
That match against the leader of the qualifiers, Peseiro says, instilled “confidence” in Venezuela, which with its first goals, courtesy of Luis Mago and the long-time striker of the Venezuelan team, Salomón Rondón, reacted against Chile. Arturo Vidal scored for La Roja.
Yangel Herrera, emerging leader
One pillar was Yangel Herrera.
Round-trip midfielder for Spanish Granada, where he is Machís’ teammate, Herrera was brilliant.
A member of the Venezuelan U-20 squad that reached an unprecedented second place in the World Cup in 2017, the 22-year-old midfielder became gigantic when captain Tomás Rincón, 32, passed away through suspension. He also made Vidal lose patience with a tunnel to which the experienced Inter midfielder responded with a contrast it could very well have cost him a warning, even if the referee forgave him.
Another player of that generation to which Peseiro’s predecessor, Rafael Dudamel, began to open the doors, Brazilian Santos Yeferson Soteldo’s 10th, took center stage that Rondón scored his 31st goal with the red jersey.
Belonging to Manchester City, but on loan to Granada for the second consecutive season, Herrera has had a spectacular start to the season with the Nasrids, scoring two goals in the Spanish league and four more in the Europa League.
Challenge to history
Venezuela is the only South American team that has never been to the World Cup.
On the other hand, since the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) adopted the ‘free for all’ system in the qualifiers against France-1998, no team that started with three defeats has earned a seat. Vinotinto herself failed in the preliminaries of the 2002 and 2018 World Cups, Colombia in 2006 and Ecuador in 2010.
However, even if the story weighs, the ranking leaves room for faith. With the prize against Chile, Venezuela came out of the basement of the table led by Brazil with a perfect pace of 12 points.
He is eighth with three points, to three of the teams that occupy the fourth and fifth place, which mark the limits of the direct classification of the World Cup and the playoffs, Paraguay and Uruguay. And he still has 42 units to play.
When the tie resumes in March, Vinotinto will host Ecuador and visit Peru.
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