Richard Rios debuts in the Colombian soccer team. At 23 years old, without having played in any team in the local league, as he has already done with other recent football figures in the country, he is one of the first-timers called by the coach Nestor Lawrence to integrate the team that begins the path of the South American qualifier for the 2026 World Cup in North America.
Perhaps the name of this country born in Vegachi, Antioquia, 23 years ago, not be identified by the bulk of the fans that next Thursday, at 6:30 in the afternoon, will see the debut of Colombia in the World Cup qualifier against Venezuela, in Barranquilla.
(Scandal! Strong accusations of a woman who would have been assaulted by Antony) (Panama National Team player died in a shooting in confusing facts)
your start
But Ríos is not a first-timer in calls to national teams: he was part of the futsal team that participated in the 2018 South American U-20. However, his conditions with the 3.5 ball (the number of the size of the ball) did not call the attention of any Colombian soccer team, the one that is played with the number 5 ball.
But Ríos, barely 18 years old, jumped from the Banana Alliancechampion of the local futsal league, to the powerful and traditional Rio Flamenco, team he joined because the scouts saw him in the South American and considered that he could play on the soccer team. The Colombian arrived and did a test in the minor divisions, where he carried out the process.
In Brazil it is not uncommon for futsal players to switch to soccer. It is enough to remember just two illustrious names that began in the living room and reached the lawn: Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.
Ríos, a front-line or right-wing midfielder, played his first professional soccer game during the pandemic, as Flamengo suffered an outbreak of covid-19 and had to use several of its youth players. This is how he made his debut as a professional footballer, on September 27, 2020.
Later, Flamengo decided to lend him to Mazatlan of Mexico, who did not make an option to purchase his rights due to a knee injury. Upon his return to Brazil, the Guarani de la B acquired him last year and, due to his performance, in March of this year he was signed by Palmeiras, one of the strongest teams in Brazil, current semifinalist of the Copa Libertadores and recent champion of that tournament, the most important of clubs on the continent, in 2020 and 2021.
Ironically, Ríos made his debut on a professional soccer field in Colombia just 13 days ago, when he was part of Palmeiras that thrashed 4-0 against Pereirain the first leg of the Libertadores quarterfinals.
That day, after the win and in the mixed zone of the Hernán Ramírez Villegas stadium, the young Ríos spoke modestly of an eventual call-up to the senior national team: “If things happen for (being called to) the National Team, well . If not, well, (I have to) continue working”.
The primiparous Ríos arrives as a substitute in case of need for the positions occupied byr Jefferson Lerma or Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, one of the captains and references of the Colombian National Team.
(Colombia National Team: what will be the formation to play with Venezuela? Possible ‘sticks’)
Yesterday after the game we asked Richard Rios about a possible call up to the national team and today it comes true, he also talks about Pereira. pic.twitter.com/BU15JemsD2
– Tertulia Matecaña (@TertuliaMate) August 31, 2023
#Richard #Ríos #meet #firsttimer #Colombian #National #Team #futsal