While Venezuela’s national football team coach, Argentine Fernando ‘Bocha’ Batista, is trying to sound the alarm, his team is going through a dangerous moment a 2-1 defeat against Paraguay has taken them out of the qualifying zone for the 2026 World Cup.
“Anyone who doesn’t trust this group, that’s their problem. I trust the boys to the hilt,” Batista told reporters after Tuesday’s defeat at the Defensores del Chaco Stadium in Asuncion.
“There is still a long way to go. There are 24 points left to play for and that is why the boys and I are calm. We are very angry, we were winning, but that is how the tie is,” said the coach.
It was a crucial match for a Vinotinto team that had been in flux for some time, having drawn 1-1 at home five days earlier against world champions and two-time champions of the Americas, Argentina. A double by Antonio Sanabria, who came off the bench for Gustavo Alfaro’s Paraguay, turned the score around after Venezuela had taken the lead at half-time.
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With 11 points, the Venezuelan team has dropped to eighth place in the South American qualifying table.
Argentina, with 22 points, Colombia with 19, Uruguay and Brazil with 16, and Ecuador and Paraguay with 15 occupy the first six places, which will give direct places in the World Cup. Bolivia with 12 is in seventh place, which gives a ticket to the playoffs.
Peru and Chile close with six and five units, respectively. “We have to turn the page, look forward, and be positive,” Batista said.
Venezuela will host Brazil and visit Chile in November, forced to react at all costs. After having collected 7 of the first 12 points in qualifying, which raised the hopes of the only South American country that has never been to the World Cup, ‘Bocha’ Batista’s team has only managed 4 of the last 18. It did, however, have a good Copa America, in which it won all three of its first-round matches before being eliminated in the quarter-finals by Canada in a penalty shoot-out.
“We have to be out (of the places that distribute World Cup quotas), but yesterday we were not qualified and today we are not eliminated. We have to face up to what is happening to us and turn the situation around,” said Jon Aramburu, who scored the goal for the Vinotinto in Asuncion.
Aramburu put his team ahead in the 25th minute after taking advantage of a precise pass from Yeferson Soteldo, but Sanabria’s goals in the 59th and 74th sealed the painful defeat.
“There’s still a long way to go and I have faith (…). I think football has been a bit unfair to us,” continued the Real Sociedad right-back in a post-match interview on the Venezuelan national team’s YouTube channel.
Venezuela had a debutant center back Ruben Ramirez (Cusco FC, Peru), who took Yordan Osorio’s place in the lineup due to his teammate’s injury. Ramirez looked solvent.
The Vinotinto did miss their usual ‘5’, Jose ‘El Brujo’ Martinez, in the middle of the field, who had to serve a suspension for accumulating yellow cards. Batista took risks in search of a victory that has been elusive, by preferring to play without a pure midfielder and betting on a double pivot of good players with Cristian Casseres Jr and Yangel Herrera. Things did not go his way.
There is already a significant absence in the upcoming match between Venezuela and Brazil at the Estadio Monumental de Maturin Soteldo, which will be suspended this time.
