Tears of joy: Yunaira López paves the way for the Colombian national team at the U-20 Women’s World Cup

Before Colombia’s debut at the U-20 Women’s World Cup, all the spotlight was on Linda Caicedo, the second best player in the world in 2023 and one of Real Madrid’s stars. But the one who ended up unlocking a very tough debut against Australia started the match 30 meters further back.

Yunaira Lopeza 19-year-old girl, born in Carepa and who plays as a defender, dressed up as a goal scorer to open the way that Linda sealed minutes later. She hit it with her soul, after taking a rebound in the north goal of El Campín. How can you not be excited?

Yunaira herself broke down in the middle of the field once the match was over. She sat on the grass and shed a few tears. Until Liz Katerine Osorio, a teammate at Nacional and the National Team, arrived and jumped on her to hug her. And then, more and more players.

Amidst the applause, Yunaira ended up greeting the crowd in the centre circle, in recognition of a goal that meant a lot. More than 30,000 people filled El Campín to push the team towards victory. “Happy, happy. It was what I had dreamed of. The tears are of emotion,” she told FIFA’s social media, seconds later.

Back in the mixed zone, calmer, Yunaira gave her share of victory. “It was a difficult match, but I think Colombia knew how to work hard and well, the fans who came to support us give us a plus, it is something wonderful, I think the fans represent what Colombia is in its maximum expression, so thank them for coming to support us,” she declared.

Although it is her first goal with the National Team, she is already used to scoring. Born in Formas Íntimas, she came to the Women’s League and played in the two teams with which this Antioquian club had an agreement: she scored three goals with Independiente Medellín in 2022 and this year she contributed two for Nacional.

“The goal was very important, both for me and for the country and the national team. That is the idea, to go onto the field with joy, thinking that we are going to score everything. I dedicated that goal to my mother,” she said. “Set pieces are something we have worked on a lot, it is one of Colombia’s strengths, I knew how to take advantage of it and we were happy,” she added.

Rowing from behind

This is her second U-20 World Cup. She was at Costa Rica 2022, but she was lining up behind several defenders who have already had minutes in the senior team, such as Kelly Caicedo and Ángela Barón.

She played three games: one, in which she came on for Linda Caicedo to seal a historic victory against Germany; the second, to cover an emergency, the expulsion of Yirleydis Quejada against New Zealand, and the last, against Brazil, in which the team lost and was eliminated in the quarter-finals. That day she had to play as a left back. Now she wants to go much further.

She also came to this year’s South American tournament as a substitute, but Stefanía Perlaza’s injury opened the door for her to be in the starting lineup. She is very strong in defense and on Saturday she showed that she is also good in attack, so Yunaira is calling on Carlos Paniagua to keep her position and dream of going far in the World Cup. The tears of joy are more than justified.

JOSE ORLANDO ASCENCIO

Sub-editor of SPORTS

@Josasc

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