“They have magnificent players and a great coach”: the analysis of Venezuela, Peru’s next rival that surprises in the Qualifiers

*At pre-boarding. With 12 points in just 4 dates and with 6 and a half places at stake, it can be said that Argentina has already checked the plane ticket and is having a coffee during pre-boarding. The Albiceleste is at an exceptional level, if the World Cup were tomorrow they would be a candidate again. It works like a precision device and, as Daniel Garnero pointed out a week ago, “if he is winning it is very difficult to take the ball away from him.” He begins to circulate it and the rival wears himself out running without touching it. On top of that, he almost always keeps his goal clean, his defense is iron. He had no problems with Peru.

*Always Messi. On Monday, Messi turned 19 in the First Division. And he continues putting on the superhero cape. He returned from an injury and scored two great goals to make it 2-0. He does the most remarkable things with incredible naturalness. He has been giving away genius for nineteen years every week. Football has never seen that. They say that in the MLS they give you goals. Here too…?

*Little goal. Lionel Scaloni’s team is offering authentic football festivals, however there is a dark, almost invisible point: he has few goals. He plays for 5 to 0 but wins by the minimum. Leo’s goals hide it. Lautaro Martínez scores for Inter, wearing the light blue and white he is at odds with the net. They are dog and cat. And Julián Álvarez provides mobility, assistance, pressure, but he is also denied the goal.

*Evolution. If Ecuador is the soccer with the greatest progress in recent decades in South America, Venezuela is the second. Until about fifteen years ago, many did the math and said: “You have to beat them to have a good goal difference.” Now they are racking their brains to see how they can match him. La Vinotinto passed over Chile with a very celebrated 3-0 and an unstoppable Yeferson Soteldo. A meter 59 of talent and mischief is Yeferson. Venezuela has only 2 goals against in 4 games. In other times he would have been 14 or 15. Fernando “Bocha” Batista is an irreparable loss for the Argentine National Team. He left because Venezuela offered him a better contract and to be commander in chief. He is a magnificent coach and is already beginning to be idolized in the land of Bolívar. “Venezuelan soccer was like a submarine, no one saw it,” doctor Richard Páez, one of the country’s top soccer figures, often says, first as a great soccer player, then as a successful coach. He now he is on the surface.

*New face. The one from Uruguay. A young team, messy as always, but eager to play good football and attack. With those premises quickly established by Marcelo Bielsa, they beat Brazil 2-0 after 22 years without being able to beat them. Many Uruguayan coaches, upset at not being chosen for the position in the Celeste, criticized Bielsa, as well as many fans because he did not call up Suárez and Cavani, but the “Thank you, Marcelo” are already appearing. He is a more modern Uruguay, without a doubt.

*Normal. “Every day worse” and “A disaster called Brazil” are some of the headlines in the Brazilian media after the loss to Uruguay. They were already being critical when they beat Peru undeservedly in stoppage time and then with the draw against Venezuela at home. Fernando Diniz is an interim coach, however, the background is different: Brazil has been filled with average players. There are many good ones, but no phenomenon like those of other times. And, despite all his technical conditions and his ability, Neymar cannot be the leader of a group. Of course, he will have more than enough to qualify for the World Cup, but something else is asked of Brazil, more play, to be the regional power that it always was. “Brazil is living a nightmare,” Placar headlined. And Globoesporte was also lapidary: “Montevideo was the scene of a horror show where the coach has a great responsibility, not the only one.”

*Zero. In the worst historical moment of its football, Bolivia lost again – fourth defeat in four presentations – and there is already talk of dismissing coach Gustavo Costas. But there is no money for compensation, and hiring a replacement would also cause a disbursement. The problem is more fundamental: there are no players. And there are none because there is no work on training or infrastructure. “We all complain because we are trying to reverse this situation, former players, coaches, fans, journalists… the only ones who never speak are the leaders, no one opens their mouth,” Carlos Borja, former captain of the 1994 World Cup team, commented on television.

*Discomfort. The “Every day is worse” used by the Brazilian press has also been repeated in large numbers by Ecuadorian journalists and fans on social networks, but talking about the poor performance of the Tri and pointing to the Catalan driver Félix Sánchez. Colombia, whom Ecuador beat 6 to 1 in the previous Qualifier, this time earned a draw and deserved the victory. Ecuador very possibly will reach the 2026 World Cup, that does not seem to be in danger, but people want to see a highly qualified team play better, with which something else could be tried. The speed with which the Ecuadorian Federation hired Sánchez after his calamitous performance with Qatar in the last World Cup remains surprising. More audacity was demanded of Gustavo Alfaro in the previous cycle, but at least he put together a team from scratch, discovered players and knew what was being played. Ecuador was, with Alfaro, a team. You might like it more or less, it is no longer seen that way, at this start of the Qualifiers it has been reduced to simply good footballers.

*Open. This is the outlook for everyone in the classification. There are 42 points ahead and exactly two years of competition. Many things can happen. Even Bolivia has possibilities if it reacts in time. Between last and seventh there are just four points of distance. But anyone who wants to change helmsman should think about it now. Paraguay decided on the second date and already achieved its first victory, which can give it a new look. Peru and Bolivia are surely thinking about it…