By Humberto Viera
Jun 26, 2024, 2:56 PM EDT
Salomón Rondón, captain of the Venezuelan soccer team, assured that La Vinotinto “does not have stage fright” when it comes to facing major challenges such as the Copa América 2024, where it shares group B with Jamaica, Mexico and Ecuador.
In an interview with Marca, the Venezuelan forward spoke about the goals that Venezuelan football has, Venezuela’s role in the Copa América and what is expected from the match of the second day of group B against Mexico on the night of this Wednesday, the 26th. of June.
“I have been good in terms of goals with Pachuca, Jhonder Cádiz is arriving well, we have several young players like Kervin Andrade and Telasco Segovia, a wide selection of defenders and midfielders. It is a difficult issue for the coach, but it is something good for us as footballers because we are showing that we are going for more in terms of football. In the Copa América we can show that we do not have that stage fright and that we can give 110%,” said the Venezuelan forward.
The 34-year-old forward came to this Copa América in one of the best moments of his career with 19 goals scored in total: nine in the Concachampions, and 10 in Liga MX. Rondón was also crowned Concachampions champion with Pachuca.
“It is true that the men’s senior team is missing the World Cup, because I think we have never stopped making it to the Copa América qualifiers, we have done very well. In the qualifiers we have not stopped competing, we are fourth, although that does not mean anything yet. But we have to keep working and improving. We will use this Copa América to continue strengthening what we have consolidated as a team and to continue with that faith because reaching the World Cup would be something fantastic not only for the team and the federation, but for the country,” said the forward.
However, Rondón has his feet on the ground: “A realistic goal for me would be quite disrespectful to others because we are facing Ecuador, which has a team that in recent years has been growing and has fought in the qualifying rounds and has achieved get into a World Cup like Qatar 2022. In Jamaica, most of its players are between the Premier League and the Championship, they are very competitive leagues in which the physical and technical level is very high. And, finally, in Mexico they have young but very talented players on their list. Although we also have our own thing, there is a reason we are fourth in the qualifying rounds, we have to keep in mind that it is a short tournament, which is very intense where we have to know how to solve it in a matter of days.”
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