Néstor Lorenzo, coach of the Colombian National Team

Néstor Lorenzo, selection coach.

Photo: EFE – Juan Ignacio Roncoroni

Colombia has already secured its place in the next World Cup after beating Bolivia 3-0 in Barranquilla, but the road does not end there. This Tuesday, in Maturín, Nestor Lorenzo's team will close his participation in the Qualifiers facing Venezuela, in a duel that will have two opposite readings: while the tricolor faces the challenge with the tranquility of the insured classification, the vinotinto plays the historical possibility of accessing the repechage for the first time. In the previous one, the Argentine coach spoke of the present of the team, what this qualifying closure means and what awaits for the future.

On the celebration for the classification, Lorenzo left a message of calm and responsibility: “The euphoria was a little the satisfaction we had contained in previous matches, how well we came gave us the possibility of still, without good results in an important stage, of being with great possibilities and always depending on us. We were sure that we were going to achieve it, there is no time to relax, there is already a great responsibility for the World Cup And this is an important game because Venezuela needs the result and is a good team. ”

The coach was also clear in pointing out that, despite the classification, the match against Venezuela will face seriously and without underestimating the context. On the possibility of changes, he explained: “In the matches when one summons players one imagines their role in the field and their relationship with the classmates, the connections within the field is already good to try them, we are going to take this game with all the seriousness, perhaps there is some change and we know that everyone is willing and are potential holders, it will not change the scheme or the claim of the team.”

Colombia wants to improve its place in the qualifiers table

The position in the table does not take me out of the process, according to DT itself. In his analysis, he insisted on the importance of collective performance beyond the final place: “The objective was fulfilled in a very good way, beyond that we are fifth or as we can finish, the good way is the way in which it was played on the courts impossible for the history of Colombia, where I had never won, or where we had never made a goal. That prominence and game and what they show within the field is what gives me hope and makes me Seconds or fifths because that is what will lead us to play the World Cup.

Thinking about the rival on duty, Lorenzo emphasized that facing Venezuela has never been simple and asked to stop the excess of confidence: “I think the team has made many believe that it is the winning machine. No game is easy, the one that says that it is easy Venezuela has to improve the analysis. They said that we had to make four goals to Peru or Paraguay in successful processes, even at home, make memory and re -remember; The team was armed from zero and the team plays well, that is the secret of having a claim to compete, you have to play well.

“Analyze the statistics matching. The one who says that Venezuela is easy to be wrong, it is a very competitive team and it has always cost us. In 2014, which was the best culmination in a World Cup, we lost in Venezuela 1-0 against Peru we tied in 2018, and we needed the draw and they passed to the repechage and with Paraguay we lost at home. Now Paraguay comes and we have to make four goals Poquito exitism because it does not do us well and when false expectations are generated, it becomes frustrated and that did the players badly because they consume what you say.

On the possibility of seeing Juan Fernando Quintero and James Rodríguez together in the country On the other, but of course they can play together, good players can always play together, we will see it. ”

“It is easy to criticize and say that we have to be world champions”: Néstor Lorenzo

The coach also dedicated a few words to the difficult moments that football is going through and what happens outside the field: “From what happens outside the field I have no chance of intervening. We have to have a cold head and think about the ball. Within the field we have that kind of control that we can exercise. The referee will also have to be cold and direct. Everything that happens outside is alien and we cannot dominate it, we hope that they are not aggressive in any way. Play the ball. ”

Finally, Lorenzo was critical of those he calls “Postposters of failure”, defending the value of the classification: “He is the person who speaks badly a priori even seeing a situation that began not in the best way. In the last World Cup we did not go and this we have to be champions, they do it to put pressure. I mean the person who wants to be right or always look for the bad. Please, these people do football badly, you have to take care of those people and honesty is to have your feet on the ground and work to win. Arranged to give the best in that important instance, it is not a failure to classify a World Cup.

In this way, between warnings, self -criticism and called to humility, Nestor Lorenzo made it clear that the objective of the classification does not mean that the task is finished. Now, Colombia faces the challenge of maintaining solidity and seriously prepare a World Cup that reaches renewed illusions and with the requirement to transform words into results.

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