Venezuela is serious about this Copa America. Two games, two wins and a fourth-place finish. La Vinotinto overcame a bad first half to beat Mexico thanks to a penalty goal from Salomón Rondón and the miracles of Rafael Romo, at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Mexico will play for qualification on the last day against Ecuador, which today defeated an already eliminated Jamaica 3-1.
The team led by Argentine Fernando Batista is rapidly improving its level. It is already winning even when playing regularly and knows how to suffer, because the pressure from El Tri in the final minutes was total. In the first match of Group B, it surprised Ecuador (1-2) and today it was the turn of a Mexican team that forgave and missed its captain, Edson Álvarez, who is out for the entire tournament due to a muscle tear.
Orbelín Pineda had the tie from the penalty spot five minutes from time but Romo, the hero of the afternoon, avoided it.
And El Tri started better. He had a plan and he followed it to the letter. The first minute had not passed when a long ball was dropped by Antuna and given to Giménez, who missed it by a hair. Shortly after, the same thing: ball behind the defense and run by Julián Quiñones. One of the Tri’s best chances would come from the boots of the 9. The naturalized Colombian left a candy for Carlos Rodríguez, who shot Romo’s body. The other great opportunity for the Mexicans was missed by Santi Giménez in the umpteenth long delivery from behind. The Feyenoord attacker did the most difficult thing and missed the easiest thing. Perfect control with his chest and shot into the air when he had everything in his favor. Romo, well advanced, avoided the goal.
After the storm weathered, Vinotinto lowered the Mexican euphoria in the stands with two sparks. The first, a shot by Soteldo on the edge of the area that went high; and the second, a solo play by Rondón. Pachuca’s scorer went out of his way to get a cross shot that hit the post. It was the prelude to what would come later.
The reaction was led by Batista from the bench. The Argentine coach took Savarino off the field, a novelty in the eleven and inconsequential in the first half, and opted for Cásseres. More creativity and less explosiveness.
And Venezuela improved. Soteldo forced Julio González to intervene decisively for the first time; Rondón was inches away from the goal after another good run from the 10th; and Bello appeared on the right. Mexico did not see that reaction coming. And, in the end, after insisting so much, Aramburu found a hole, entered the area and was run over by Quiñones from behind. Raphael Claus whistled instantly. The VAR blessed the decision of the Brazilian referee and Rondón converted from the penalty spot. Mexico’s response was immediate, but there was Romo again, who appeared again to take out a poisoned center that Antuna almost missed on the rebound.
Lozano’s team, pressed by the clock, locked the Venezuelans in search of a tie and found themselves with a penalty for handball inside the area that the VAR had to whistle. But there was Romo. The goalkeeper of the Universidad Católica de Ecuador would work a new miracle in a point-blank shot in injury time to certify Venezuela’s ticket to the quarterfinals and get Mexico into trouble.
Datasheet
1. Venezuela: Rafael Romo; Nahuel Ferraresi, Yordan Osorio, Jon Aramburu, Miguel Navarro; Yangel Herrera (m.89, Christian Makoun), José Martínez, Eduard Bello (m.71, Darwin Machís); Yeferson Soteldo (m.82, Wilker Ángel), Jefferson Savarino (m.46, Cristian Cásseres); and Salomón Rondón (d.82, Jhonder Cádiz). Selector: Fernando Batista.
0. Mexico: Julio González; Jorge Sánchez, César Montes (d.46, Israel Reyes), Johan Vásquez, Gerardo Arteaga; Luis Romo, Carlos Rodríguez (m.61, Alexis Vega), Luis Chávez; Uriel Antuna (m.73, César Huerta), Santiago Giménez (m.61, Guillermo Martínez) and Julián Quiñones (m.78, Orbelín Pineda). Selector: Jaime Lozano.
Gol: 1-0, m.57: Salomón Rondón, penalty.
Referee: Brazilian Raphael Claus. He cautioned Ferraresi, Santi Giménez, Miguel Navarro and Alexis Vega.
incidences: match of the second day of Group B played at the SoFi Stadium, in Inglewood, on the outskirts of the city of Los Angeles (United States), before 72,773 spectators.
2024-06-27 04:19:55
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