Everything is ready for the debut of the Colombian U20 National Team in the Maurice Revello Tournament (Esperanzas de Toulon)! After a week of training at the Sports Venues of the Colombian Football Federation in Barranquilla and Bogotá, this Saturday the national team will arrive in France to play the contest, which will begin this Sunday, May 29.
The Tricolor will debut this Tuesday against the Comoros National Team in the first day of Group C, in which they will also share with Algeria and Japan. The technical director Héctor Cárdenas, who was in charge of the entire process, will remain in Bogotá working with the senior team and will only join until the last match of the group stage. Fredy Hurtado will be in charge of leading the national team for the first two games.
“We have been able to analyze that they are very physical rivals, rivals that run a lot and we have been working to counteract that and do our best. We have emphasized being a National Team that treats the ball well, that always comes out to propose and do things in the best way. This National Team has been doing an excellent job,” said midfielder Gustavo Puerta of Bogotá Fútbol Club.
The Colombian Under 20 National Team has been working for several months in preparation for the Tournament. For the final call, the Valle del Cauca coach added foreign soccer players such as Óber Yesid Almanza from Albacete from Spain, Alexei Rojas Fedorushchenko from Arsenal from England, Cristian Oswaldo Valencia from River Plate from Argentina and Isaac Zuleta Rendón from Getafe from Spain.
“I can give him game speed and intelligence with the ball, which are things I’ve learned in Europe. I’m going to contribute the goals to the National Team. My colleagues have helped me, we are a family all together. I have adapted very easily because of my style of play and because of the idea. This is a championship with a lot of prestige and a high level, we want to do our best in the group stage”, stated Zuleta.
The Colombian National Team will seek its fourth title in the Esperanzas de Toulon Tournament after those obtained in 1999, 2000 and 2011. The national team hopes to make history on its return to the competition. Kevin Mantilla, Alex Castillo Manyoma and Tomás Ángel are some of the references of the tricolor for this contest.
“This last week we have been training very hard, we have worked in the best way. We all feel immense joy and it shows in every training session. We have worked on possession of the ball because each player has an impressive technique and it can contribute a lot to the game idea that the teacher wants. We are focused on winning the first match, we are going step by step”, commented the attacker from Cortuluá.
The Colombian U20 National Team will debut this Tuesday, May 31 at 10:30 am (Colombian time) at the Stade Parsemain in Fos-Sur-Mer when they take on Comoros on matchday one of Group C.
