Colombia eliminated from Qatar 2022: the tragic cover of local media after what happened with its selection

The Colombian national team won 1-0 against the Venezuelan team on the last date of the South American Playoffs . However, aspirations to enter the pre-World Cup repechage in Qatar 2022 vanished with Peru's victory over Paraguay. This event deprived them of attending the World Cup event after the last time they did not arrive in Germany 2006. In that sense, the newspaper 'El Tiempo' in his country published a tragic cover after this elimination.

The news was taken from Movistar Deportes, who on their Twitter account published the following: “A little 'calm' the Colombian press”. And the fact is that the message they gave was quite strong and almost like a funeral. “Our team, the Colombian Football Team, rests in peace from elimination”, so began the text that was accompanied by a cross.

They then appointed each of the members of the board of directors of the Colombian Football Federation, the coaches they have led in these qualifiers (Carlos Queiroz and Reinaldo Rueda) and the players called up throughout the qualifying process. “The president of the Colombian Football Federation, Ramón Jesurún Franco, its vice-presidents, Fernando Jaramillo Giraldo and Álvaro González Alzate, and the remaining members of the Executive Committee; the national coach, Reinaldo Rueda Rivera, and his teammates the coaching staff; the former national coach Carlos Queiroz and his teammates on the coaching staff, and the 42 footballers who played in the South American qualifier for the 2022 Qatar World Cup invite fans to the World Cup wake-up and funeral will be held from today throughout the country,” they wrote, until they ended with a: “Please do not send flowers.”

In addition, Gabriel Meluk, journalist and editor of the aforementioned media outlet, spread this dramatic publication through his Twitter account with a “Y yes”, clearly reflecting the annoyance that there is in the Colombian press at the failure of his selection in these qualifiers.

REASONS FOR DELETION

Now, one of the explanations by which this terrible event can be understood is the rough patch they went through in the final stretch of the qualifying process. And they had 7 games without winning and without scoring a single goal. Yes, between draws to zero (with Uruguay on the road, Brazil at home, Ecuador at home and Paraguay at home) and defeats (against Brazil 1-0 away, with Peru 1-0 at home and Argentina 1-0 at home) they lost any chance of fighting for World Cup qualification.

With top players such as James Rodriguez, Duvan Zapata, Luis Fernando Díaz, Luis Fernando Muriel, Yerry Mina, Radamel Falcao, among other important elements, they could not score a goal that kept them in the race. Hence, part of this collapse is explained.

Although the fact that the standings remained even until the last moment, gave him some slightest option to get into the repechage. In that sense, the 'coffee growers' imposed 3-0 on the Bolivians in Barranquilla on the penultimate date, a result that ended this bad streak and put them back in the race, although depending on the result that Peru obtains against Paraguay in Lima. However, the 'bicolor' won by 2 to 0 and, by placement in the table (Peru was 21 points, one more than Colombia), it qualified for this phase prior to the World Cup.

Another fact that was also controversial than the cessation of José Pékerman as coach of the 'coffee growers' after the 2018 Russia stage. Instead, they named Portuguese Carlos Queiroz, who had better numbers in Copas Americas than in Qualifiers, so Reinaldo Rueda took the lead after the payment of his decision clause for the Chilean national team. The rest will be left in anecdote with this surprising outcome.

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