Colombia National Team begins its path in the Pre-Olympic, with the dream of going to Paris

The Colombian U-23 National Team soccer debuts this Saturday in the South American Pre-Olympic Tournament based in Venezuela. The champion and runner-up of the championship will qualify for the Paris Olympic Games, which will be held between next July and August. The first rival, at 3 in the afternoon, is Ecuador (Caracol TV, RCN and DSports).

The Colombian coach, Hector Cardenas, has admitted that despite it being a difficult task to qualify for Paris, his goal is to achieve it. From the outset, the favorites to obtain the two spots are Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, the powers in the area.

“More than an obligation for us, there is our desire to want to be there. For the country, the Olympics are important events, and to be able to compete in them again. We go step by step, working on each game: there are seven games we want to be in,” he said, referring to the fact that four games are played in the group stage and if they qualify for the final quadrangle, they will play three more.

Colombia and Ecuador are in group A with Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela. In group B are Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Peru.

Cárdenas called up a strong team, but it does not bring together all the possible players in the category, since there is no loan obligation from the clubs. That is why, for example, players like Yáser Asprilla or Jhon Jáder Durán, already with experience in the Senior National Team and who play in the English Premier League.

Regarding the match, Cárdenas said: “There are enough arguments and recognition of what we should do on the field and what we know about the opponent. The preparation we did the last two weeks allows us to have enough elements for the competition.”

The team, which suffered three recent reliefs due to injury, has its backbone in center back Cristian Castro Devenish (Nacional), midfielder Juan Castilla (Cali), attacking midfielders Daniel Ruiz (Millos), Andrés Gómez (Salt Lake , MLS, ex-Millonarios) and Óscar Cortés (Lens, France, ex-Millos) and forward Óscar Perea (Nacional).

There are barely two places and Colombia has enormous hopes of breaking the bank and getting tickets to Paris. “The expectation is to be in the Olympics again. It is not easy, but we have a good team and something to compete with,” added DT Cárdenas.

SPORTS

More sports news