Finally, after much speculation, The coach of the Colombian National Team, the Argentine Néstor Lorenzo, announced this Thursday the call for the matches against Venezuela and Chile, on September 7 and 12.
Lorenzo called up 26 players and maintained the base that he had been working with since the beginning, including the experienced James Rodríguez and Juan Fernando Quintero, who return to the National Team after missing out on the Fifa date in March.
The list has several surprises, which are out of what was expected by the coach. These are the five ‘suits’ of the call:
The return of Santiago Arias
Santiago Arias returns to the National Team after almost three years. He had not been there since the first game of the tie, when he suffered a serious injury that took him out of competition for two years-
Arias, 31, is today in Cincinnati, of the MLS. A month ago, in a chat with EL TIEMPO, he revealed that he was hoping to return. “Now I am focused on my team, continue to grow, continue with continuity. If a call is given, I am happy, but if not, I will always support them, ”he said then. Now, Lorenzo puts it back on the list.
The opportunity for Jhon Córdoba
The Chocoano striker got tired of scoring goals, first in Germany and now in Russia and a while ago he was deserving of a call. He even complained publicly on more than one occasion about not appearing in the calls. He only ever called him Carlos Queiroz, but he didn’t play.
With 22 goals in 44 league games with Krasnodar, Córdoba finally has the opportunity to be in the National Team, at the age of 30.
Ríchard Ríos, from the micro to the big team
Ríchard Ríos is unknown in his country. He was part of the Colombian U-20 futsal team and as part of that team, he caught the attention of Flamengo, who took him to try out for the soccer team and later signed him in its minor divisions.
Ríos debuted with the red and black in 2020 and, after going through Mazatlán and Guarani de Campinas, signed this year with Palmeiras, with which he became a key part of the team that just eliminated Deportivo Pereira to reach the semifinal of the Cup liberators.
The local League, almost without representatives
Despite all the follow-ups made by the coaching staff of the National Team and showing up in the local League matches, Lorenzo only called up one player who plays in Colombia, and most likely he will not start.
The only local on the list is Álvaro Montero, goalkeeper for Millonarios, who, although he has already played games with Lorenzo, lines up behind the experienced Camilo Vargas. Kevin Mier, goalkeeper for Nacional, who was on the list, did not stay: the DT called Devis Vásquez.
Kevin Castaño, Lorenzo’s great promotion, outside
Lorenzo surprised by removing Kevin Castaño from the squad list, who had emerged as a starter and that became the great discovery of his stage in charge of the Selection.
Castaño was transferred from Águilas Doradas to Cruz Azul of Mexico, where he had started as a starter and now lost his position: in the last two games of the cement team he stayed on the substitute bench. However, Lorenzo did call other players without minutes, such as Yerry Mina, who has not made his debut with Fiorentina, or Rafael Santos Borré, who has not yet defined his future and does not play for Eintracht Frankfurt.
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