He is at an age where he still has to get permission from his parents to leave the country, but what he has done is Luisa Agudelo The achievement in her career is enormous. She already helped Colombia reach the final of an Under-17 World Cup in 2022, and now, at 17 years old, she will seek, with the team led by Carlos Paniagua, to reach the semi-finals of the Under-20 Women’s World Cup, in her city and with the crowd on her side. In front, this Sunday, will be the Netherlands (4:30 p.m.).
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“I am very happy to be at home with my family and my fans. It is a team effort, without my teammates up front I don’t think I would be able to defend the goal. I think we all fought hard and worked hard,” she said after the 1-0 victory against South Korea, also at the Pascual Guerrero stadium, last Wednesday.
Luisa’s dream
On those fields in Valle del Cauca began a career that many would envy at an older age. But it has not been easy for Luisa, who just seven years ago set the goal of fulfilling her dream of playing soccer.
Luisa Agudelo
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At 10, she entered the Balón de Oro school in Cali, which was next to her house and where she had to train two hours a day, from 4 to 6 in the afternoon. She was the only girl. She wanted to be a forward, but her coach there, Juan José Yepes, didn’t see any potential in her.
“We started to push her back a bit, we put her in the midfield, but she didn’t have the quality to distribute the play and pass the ball forward. So, we put her in defense, and although she was brave and very strong, her strength led her to commit many penalties, since she was quite rough,” she told Gol Caracol.
Luisa’s enthusiasm for football was stronger than ever and it was her father, Elkin, who, without warning, said to her: “What if we put her in goal?” This is how this story began, which, however, was almost cut short on two occasions.
The first was when she was still in the Ballon d’Or. The rivals, all children, with whom she shared the field bullied her a lot and one day Luisa got tired and did not want to return. Yepes had to convince her because, in addition, she was the only goalkeeper she had and the other children at school paid her monthly fee. Together they made her respect them and that is how she was convinced to return.
Luisa Agudelo: the undefeated goalkeeper who shines at the U-20 Women’s World Cup.
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With Luisa in goal, Balón de Oro began to win things and the goalkeeper was called up to the Valle team, where she also stood out by scoring goals from goal to goal. The last one she scored was very recently, representing her department in the final of the National Games, in November of last year, when they beat Risaralda 4-0 to take the gold medal.
There was a second occasion when her career could have ended. Luisa herself recounted it in a video on the official channel of the Colombian Football Federation. “I remember that time I got injured and thought I wasn’t going to continue playing football: I had a bone bruise on my hip, I didn’t play for a year and a half. At that time the pandemic came, so I didn’t miss much either,” she said.
The debut
From Ballon d’Or she went to Sportings Club de Cali, where, now yes, she competed against girls. And in 2022, when she was barely 15 years old, she made her debut in the Women’s League, in the goal of Cortuluá, in an away match against Medellín, which at that time had an agreement with Formas Íntimas. They won 0-1 and Luisa did very well, against a rival that had some who are now her teammates in the U-20, such as her substitute, Valeria Candanoza; in addition to Yunaira López and Yésica Muñoz.
Luisa Agudelo, goalkeeper from Colombia.
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2022 was a great year for Luisa. Carlos Paniagua called her up for an under-17 national team that made history by becoming the first Colombian team to reach the final of a FIFA tournament.
He had already stood out in the South American Championship in Uruguay, where he was a starter just days before making his professional debut and without having turned 15. And in the World Cup he also shone, especially in the semi-final against Nigeria, where he brought out another of his virtues, that of saving penalties: he stopped the decisive shot from Comfort Folorunsho.
Nelson Abadía had already considered her for calls to the senior team, although she has not yet made her official debut. And this year, with a good part of the base of the world runner-up team, she made the jump to the U-20.
Luisa Agudelo, goalkeeper of the Colombian National Team.
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Meanwhile, Luisa continued to advance in the local League and in 2023 she moved to Deportivo Cali, with whom, this year, she played a fundamental role in helping that team achieve its second League title, beating Santa Fe in the final. She will surely not be in the Copa Libertadores, because in those days she will be preparing for a new World Cup, the U-17, in the Dominican Republic.
In addition to her game, Luisa is also a sensation on social media, especially on TikTok, where, through football, but also through videos in which she sings and dances, she has 1.4 million followers. And there she has also appeared with her partner, the also footballer Camilo Nieva, who until last year was part of Orsomarso.
She is only 17 years old and is the youngest in this team. But she is 1.73 metres tall, very sure-footed and has also shown enormous progress in the aerial game. “It is something that I have always had since I was little. It is a step by step process, every day you work to keep improving,” she said. Luisa Agudelo has a great future.
JOSE ORLANDO ASCENCIO
Sub-editor of SPORTS
@Josasc
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