Futbol Venezuela

Havana, July 1 (RHC) - The Venezuelan national team advanced as leader of Group B of the Copa America football tournament with all the points for the first time in its history, by beating Jamaica 3-0 on Sunday in Austin (Texas) after its previous victories against Ecuador and Mexico, and avoided Argentina to meet Canada in the quarterfinals.

Goals by Eduardo Bello, Salomón Rondón and Eric Ramírez launched the team of Argentine Fernando Batista, suspended and replaced at Austin's Q2 Stadium by his assistant Leandro Cufré, in an afternoon in which the only negative news was the yellow card seen by Darwin Machis, who will miss the quarterfinals.

The Vinotinto's journey, supported in Austin by nearly 20,000 fans in the stadium, will now take them to AT&T Stadium in Arlington (Texas) for the quarterfinals against Canada, second behind Argentina in Group A.

Venezuela dominated their group and finished with nine points. Jamaica, which had already been eliminated, finished fourth.

Machís misses the match against Canada

The Vinotinto had four players suspended (Machís, Christian Cásseres, Nahuel Ferraresi and Miguel Navarro) for the match against Jamaica and 'Bocha' Batista only started one of them, Darwin Machís.

The winger committed a serious mistake in the ninth minute. He committed a hard foul on Joel Latibeadiere that could have even cost him a red card. In the end, the Italian referee gave him a yellow card, which will prevent him from playing against Canada.

It was the only downside of the afternoon for Venezuela, who played "at home" in Austin, in a stadium tinged with vinotinto color, and feasted in the second half after a goalless draw in the first.

Vinotinto Festival

Machís shook the opposing defense with his change of pace and could have put La Vinotinto ahead on the verge of halftime with a cross from the left flank that almost surprised the goalkeeper, who made a meritorious intervention to keep the ball out of the corner of the net.

But it was just a matter of waiting for Venezuela. Four minutes after the restart, Jon Aramburu put in a perfect cross from the left flank that Bello took advantage of to break free of Ethan Pinnoch's marker and head in for the 1-0 lead.

The Vinotinto were released from the tension and seven minutes later came the blow on the table of Salomón Rondón, who fulminated the goalkeeper after receiving a good pass to the hole from Yangel Herrera. The Gladiator celebrated his second goal in this Copa América and left Jamaica in a bad mood.

Rondón, a Pachuca striker, has 43 goals for Venezuela in 106 games and is his team's top scorer. When he scores, his team wins. This has been the case in the last 16 precedents.

Everything works for Venezuela. El Gladiador came off in the 81st minute, replaced by Eric Ramirez, and received a long ovation from the crowd. Less than four minutes later, he faced the goalkeeper in a one-on-one after a great assist from Kervin Andrade and beat him to make it 3-0.

The match at the Q2 Stadium ended in a festive atmosphere for a Vinotinto that knows no limits.