Venezuela defeated Mexico with “Rafa” Romo as the nice hero (+Video)

With an imposing Rafael “Rafa Romo”, the Venezuelan nationwide crew defeated Mexico 1-0 on Wednesday and sealed their qualification to the quarterfinals of the Copa América United States 2024.

The wine-red goalkeeper was a wall in his aim, rejecting the entire Aztec crew’s photographs and even blocked a penalty with lower than 5 minutes left of the regulation 90 on the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, United States.

Proper from the twelfth step got here the Venezuelan crew’s aim, scored by striker and captain José Salomón “Salo” Rondón, for Venezuela’s second victory within the event and likewise obtain the primary victory in its historical past towards the Mexican crew.

They withstood the onslaught

At the start of the sport the Mexican crew was a riot. When only some seconds had handed he had his first arrival, however the shot ended up going broad.

Jaime Lozano’s crew set the tone for greater than half an hour, utilizing lengthy passes to the edges as their primary weapon to achieve La Vinotinto’s space.

Venezuela was capable of stand up to the Aztec assault and little by little it established itself on the sector, to the purpose that Rondón had one of many clearest scoring possibilities, however his shot hit the publish and went out.

Change of chip

Within the second half, Fernando “Bocha” Batista’s crew modified their strategy. The entry of Cristian Cásseres Jr., instead of Jefferson Savarino, gave a brand new face to the crew, which started to circulation higher each in protection and assault.

Even Cásseres participated within the play that led to the penalty on Jon Aramburu at 55′, after a transparent infraction by Julián Quiñones.

The penalty referred to as by the primary referee Raphael Claus was successfully taken by “Salo” Rondón at 57′ for the 1-0 that in the end sealed the Venezuelan victory.

It was the striker’s forty second aim in 106 matches performed for Venezuela, a crew through which he turned the primary participant to attain targets in 4 completely different editions of the worldwide event. Alexis Martín Tamayo, a Spanish statistician often called Mister Chip, reported that Rondón beforehand scored within the Copa América Argentina 2011, Chile 2015 and the USA 2016.

Mexican technique

After the aim, the Mexican coach made a number of modifications to enhance his offense, however the Venezuelan protection, led by goalkeeper Romo, was stable.

The one mole occurred at 83′ when the choose sentenced the utmost penalty in favor of the Aztecs, after a play through which the Mexican Jorge Sánchez completed and the ball hit Miguel Navarro’s hand.

Oberlin Pineda was accountable for taking the penalty, however Rafa Romo guessed his intentions and stopped the shot that was going in direction of his proper hand when the 87th minute ran.

Within the remaining seconds, plus the six minutes added by the primary crew, Mexico besieged the maroon aim, however all their makes an attempt had been in useless and the three factors went to Venezuela, which secured its place within the quarterfinals.

It’s value noting that, along with Romo, Aramburu and Cásseres, together with José Andrés “Brujo” Martínez, had an important sport. Rondón, Yordan Osorio and Navarro himself additionally stood out for his or her efficiency on the sector.

Subsequent problem

With their ticket to the following spherical of their pocket, and with a excessive likelihood of ending first of their group, La Vinotinto will face their subsequent problem subsequent Sunday, June 30, once they face Jamaica on the Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas.

In the event that they obtain one other victory, Venezuela can be finishing the very best group part in its historical past in a Copa América. And never solely would she stay undefeated (one thing she already achieved in 2007, 2011, 2016 and 2019), however she would add three conquests in the identical variety of appearances.

Puerto La Cruz/ Javier A. Guaipo