CARACAS.- A reality bath: Venezuela deservedly fell in Uruguay on Tuesday by the last last date of the South American tie to the 2026 World and the illusion of direct classification fades.
The Vinotinto relaunched that possibility after getting two wins in a row with Peru and Bolivia in the previous matches, without showing a brilliant football.
But in Montevideo he did little or nothing to the Celeste, which was virtually classified in the absence of two days for the end.
“When you lose, you usually don’t play well,” said coach Fernando ‘Bocha’ Batista, who insisted again and again on the chances of going to the World Cup through intercontinental repechage.
“The self -criticism and the things we do or that we do not try to do are inside,” he added. “We talked between the players and the coaching staff.”
Venezuela remains with 18 points in the seventh position, which gives way to the play. He has a unit more than his direct rival Bolivia, which eliminated Chile by imposing 2-0 on Tuesday at 4,150 meters in El Alto.
The 2-0 victory last week against Green in Maturín was fundamental to Venezuelans.
Next, three keys to the situation of Vinotinto towards what would be his first World Cup:
Missing association
Batista has failed to print a style of play to Venezuela, the only selection of South America that has never gone to a World Cup.
“Associative football has been the great debt of our selection,” said Richard Páez, the coach who managed to beat Uruguay in 2004 in what is known as the ‘Centenariazo’. “That style of play is not the brand of the selection.”
The midfield is critical, the lack of associative football passes.
The “Bocha” has not achieved a game driver. He tried with Yangel Herrera without success against Celeste and then opted for Fablasco Segovia and Jefferson Savarino in the second half with a better face, but the 2-0 on the board.
“We weren’t feeling comfortable, especially with the ball,” Herrera said after the game with Uruguay. “I think we have to be more attentive and more playing visitors,” said Miguel Navarro.
Individualities
Batista gave the ball to the rival and opted for defense and counterattack. The team normally seeks long passes, immediate centers or rushed auctions. Little tries to break through the center or overflow through the bands.
And also bets on individual flashes of Yeferson Soteldo or Solomon Rondón, top scorer of the team.
The first leaves an injury; The second, isolated and without food, could not make goals.
Being Venezuela a team with little creation, many times Rondón, 35, has had to go looking for the balls.
Uruguay came with four games in a row without triumphs, including defeat 2-0 against Paraguay in the last date.
It was difficult to beat the Charrúas at home, but Vinotinto did not even raise the possibility. He began to defend the draw, win a point and left with nothing.
It is not the first time that Venezuela wasted opportunities before a place that crosses a bad streak. The most alive memory is the defeat by comeback in November against the Alicaída Chile in Santiago.
The Vinotinto, in fact, has not won a visitor victory on the way to the World Cup in North America.
Repechaje
The last double qualifying day will be played in September.
Venezuela first visits a leader and already classified Argentina. A draw would be ideal because a victory against the world champion seems out of reach.
It receives Colombia on the last date, which before facing Bolivia in Barranquilla: if the coffee growers win, they will play in Maturín already classified.
“Today we are two games to be able to go to the repechage, where Venezuela was never,” Batista insisted.
A clarification: the possibility of moving forward comes due to the expansion of the number of teams in the World Cup of 2026, from 32 to 48, which consequently gave more quotas to South America (from 4.5 to 7.5).
