"Colombia twice fell behind early on, with Telasco Segovia's opener in the third minute cancelled out by Yerry Mina, before Josef Martinez quickly restored Venezuela's lead. Then four goals without reply from Suarez sealed the win, with Colombia finishing third in the CONMEBOL standings, behind Ecuador and Argentina. Colombia and Venezuela played out the joint-highest-scoring match in the history of South American qualifying, tied with three other games that took place at least 60 years ago."
"And Lorenzo's side were worthy of their win, ending the match with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.14 from their 13 shots to Venezuela's 1.21 from their 11 attempts. But the Colombia boss, who has now won 23 of his 38 games (D10 L5) since taking the reins in 2022, acknowledged the difficulties of sealing their spot at the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the United States."
""We are in the place we deserve to be," Lorenzo said. "It's been two and a half years where there were undoubtedly some ups and downs." "Especially in games that escaped us on the hour. However, the team was always the protagonist and went out looking for the games.""
Colombia concluded CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying with a nine-goal victory over Venezuela, propelled by Luis Suárez's four goals. Colombia twice trailed before scoring four unanswered goals to secure the win and finish third behind Ecuador and Argentina. The fixture equalled the joint-highest-scoring match in South American qualifying history. Colombia scored 28 goals across 18 qualifiers, second only to Argentina, and led South American nations in expected goals (xG) with 28.76. Nestor Lorenzo has recorded 23 wins in 38 games since 2022 and acknowledged the challenges of clinching a 2026 World Cup berth.
Read at Soccer News
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]