Hello friends, good vibes to all.

Fuente!

Sixth date of the qualifiers and our team closed the day playing at the National Stadium of Peru, a match that brought a lot of fabric to cut because of all the extra-sporting situation around the Venezuelans and Peruvians that, whether we like it or not, influences the way we arrive to the field mentally. Venezuela was coming from a draw at home against a very tough and rough Ecuador, many celebrated that draw others not so much, the reality is that for that result to be of any use the Vinotinto had to leave Lima with the three points in the bag, it was not the case; but not only the result could not be given but we saw a face of the selection never seen before.

The first thing to say is that Bocha put a highly offensive starting eleven, it was a kind of 4-2-3-1 with the addition of Machis, Navarro, Junior Moreno, Savarino and even Yordan Osorio, five changes with respect to the eleven against Ecuador. I firmly believe that Batista went with the mentality of winning that game, I have no doubt but unfortunately things don't always work out. Without fear of being wrong, I think that the first 45 minutes of Venezuela yesterday were the WORST of the whole qualifying round, by far, it was incomprehensible the way the national team was playing yesterday in the first half, with mistakes in almost all its lines.

Fuente!

The match began and the only thing that reigned on the field was disorder and little possession in both teams. Peru's present is bad, very bad, but in spite of that they looked better in most of those first 45 minutes, why did that happen, were they really superior? - My sincere opinion is no, Peru did not beat us by their own merits but because the Vinotinto was not on the field, I saw some spectres wandering from one side to the other, making mistakes, bad starts, bad deliveries, poor marking, without clarity when it came to create opportunities; a totally unknown team. Many times going out with an ultra offensive scheme is not a guarantee that we will generate infinite plays and opportunities or score a certain number of goals; yesterday was a living example of this.

The central line. I saw Wilker Ángel as soft, nervous, that intensity of his marks was not seen yesterday in Lima; Osorio the same, both center backs were not connected, I saw them very lost. Alexander Gonzalez, as I commented with some friends, was the regional highway of the center, everyone was passing through that lane. He had been playing good games but those initial minutes on that flank had him crazy and he easily lost about 6 balls translated into bad deliveries. I didn't like Junior Moreno, very static in that midfield, he didn't look for balls, he didn't generate that pass to the 3/4 of the field to look for the play before the goal, I don't know why so much passivity on his part. Many want to retire Tomás Rincón but when we see games like these we understand his role on the field, for me he was missing a lot in both games.

Fuente!

The following happened with Savarino and Machís. In the first half they did not exist, we saw very little of the Salt Lake City player, if not nothing, and on the Cadiz player's side we saw nothing either, those overflows to which he is not accustomed were conspicuous by their absence. What happened then? - The second half began with a team with a different intention, with much more intensity, more ball possession, better mobility of their wingers, so that the performance began to resemble what we had been seeing. From there came the equalizing goal precisely from Machis with an impressive overflow to assist Savarino and he pushed the ball into the back of the net. Those first twenty minutes of the Vinotinto were the best in the whole match, I think they never stopped looking for the goal but in terms of play it was the best we saw.

In those second 45 minutes I consider that Venezuela was better than Peru, Reynoso Guzman's team never offered any resistance, they tried to get there but nothing with an effectiveness that could worry. I go further: Peru is not better than Venezuela, the point is that yesterday we had a very bad half of the match, a total disaster. This leads me to say that yes, that game could have been won because the Peruvian goal came as a result of a mistake by Navarro and poor marking by Gonzalez. We could have left with the three points but it was not possible. Does this mean that the draw is bad? - Let's go with the final impressions.

Fuente!

Yesterday the results helped us. Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Chile lost, which meant that we got a point against them, which is important at the end of the day. Lima has always been uncomfortable and elusive for the Vinotinto, so getting a point there is gold, despite Peru's present. Away points are always welcome and even more so against a direct rival because, my friends, remember that we have to aspire to the sixth place in the table, if we manage to finish higher than that then wonderful, but to think that we are going to finish third is risky. And be careful, this is not because I do not trust or do not have faith, it is a matter of pure and hard realism, we must put our feet on the ground.

I am not happy with our team's performance, many mistakes that cost us the draw, but I am happy with the final result, scoring when others don't is always good. Now we have to wait until September when we will meet Bolivia and Uruguay. Before that? - the Copa America.

Well my people that's all for today, I hope you liked it.
¡Hugs to all, see you next time!