By Gerardo Romero
06 Jul 2024, 08:31 AM EDT
The coach of the Venezuelan national team, Fernando ‘Bocha’ Batista, regretted the defeat of the Vinotinto against Canada in the penalty shootout after achieving a masterful draw that gave them hope to dream of qualifying for the semifinals of the 2024 Copa América that is being held in the United States.
During the press conference after the match at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the coach stressed that they came to North American soil with the objective of playing a total of six matches to reach the final of the Copa América; despite this, he assured that the team should not be affected by the result against Canada because their only objective should be to advance in the first positions for the World Cup that will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
“The reality is that we are leaving with the anger of not having won in the 90 minutes,” said Batista. “We were looking forward to playing all six games, but now we have to think about what is coming, which is our main objective: the knockout stage. More than learning, I am proud of the players, a team that is increasingly gaining personality, that the rivals are not getting ahead of them and has a lot of character… we are leaving without losing in the 90 minutes,” he said.
“We must continue working and setting goals. All Venezuelans have a dream, which is to qualify for the World Cup. This Copa America gave us the opportunity to continue consolidating many things. Playing against Venezuela today is not easy for any rival and that strengthens us a lot,” added Bocha Batista.
Batista also expressed his gratitude to the millions of Venezuelans who supported the Vinotinto team every day in this 2024 Copa América and especially to all the people responsible for allowing him to lead the Venezuelan national team. He said that he feels like just another Venezuelan and is fully committed to achieving the goal of leading the country to its first FIFA World Cup.
“I am just another Venezuelan in search of the World Cup dream… There is more and more potential in Venezuela, that is what we are working towards from the grassroots,” concluded ‘Bocha’, who took the opportunity at the end to give his full support to Yangel Herrera after the criticism he received for missing the penalty.
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