Salomón Rondón (23) is La Vinotinto’s top scorer in the tournament with two goals / Photo: Fvf_oficial
The Venezuelan national team will face Canada this Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Copa América being held in the United States.
The Vinotinto will try to qualify for the semi-finals of the continental tournament once morest the Americans, which would be the second in its history, following doing so for the first and only time in the 2011 edition in Argentina.
Venezuela coach Fernando “Bocha” Batista has almost all his players available. The only one who will not be in the game is striker Darwin Machís due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
The Canadians will also be missing one player, but this time due to injury. It is right winger Tajon Buchanan, who suffered a fractured tibia in his left leg during training.
Keys
“Bocha” Batista said in a press conference that the main key for his team is to go out and win in regulation time and avoid going to a penalty shootout.
He also stressed the importance of the players keeping their feet on the ground, because, despite having had a very good group stage with three wins in three games, “nothing has been achieved yet.”
The Argentine coach pointed out that from the quarter-finals onwards another tournament begins where the margin for error is minimal, since a defeat means elimination.
To repeat the feat
Venezuela will be playing in this round of the eight best teams in the Copa America for the fifth time. They only surpassed it in 2011, in Argentina, when they beat Chile 2-1, so now they will seek to repeat the feat.
It is worth noting that from that team that finished fourth in the continental competition, the footballers Salomón Rondón, Tomás Rincón and Alexander González are still active, although only the first is an undisputed starter.
The challenge starts at 9:00 pm this Friday (Venezuelan time) and can be seen on Televen and heard on FM Center, according to the press department of the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF).
Puerto La Cruz / Javier A. Guaipo
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2024-07-06 00:02:12