An unappealable defeat for the under-23 team, thrashed 5-0 by Santiago Wanderes in a friendly match held to benefit the victims of the fires in Valparaiso, revived criticism against the Chilean national coach, the Argentine Eduardo Berizzo, who seems increasingly questionable.
The numbers do not accompany the former Paraguayan coach since he took over “la Roja” last May: a total of nine matches between the seniors and the Under-23s, conceived as the basis for the renewal of the “golden generation”, with a devastating balance sheet: 1 win, 2 draws and 6 losses.
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No victory with the absolutethat played with teams of his level or lowerand with a rough game, little effective, nothing showy, with weaknesses in both areaswhich according to experts and the local sports press is what worries the most.
Above all looking forward to a year in which the playoffs begin for the next Copa América and in which Chile will host the Pan American Games.
A divergent diagnosis to which the coach himself gave on Wednesday, after the defeat against Santiago Wanderes, a historic team that sank the Chilean second division, by assuring that I look forward to this project, with a desire to rub. I want these players to gain experience with games like today’s”.
HARD CRITICISM ON SOCIAL NETWORKS
However, both during and after the match, the fans issued a verdict that has been repeated since Berizzo’s debut on the bench of “la Roja”, with a 3-0 defeat in a friendly match for the World Cup with South Korea.
Then they lost to Tunisia 2-0 in the semifinals of the Kirin Cup, a tournament organized in Japan as a prelude to the World Cup in Qatar, for which Chile did not qualify.
“La Roja” also played very badly that day, surpassed by the African team -which was preparing to participate in the World Cup-, and also in the next match of the same tournament, in which they did not go beyond a goalless draw against Ghana.
There then, the networks were filled with insults against the Argentine and petitions for termination or resignation.
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The most repeated messages this Thursday were “Berizzo a failure” and “Get out Berizzo”while others pointed also to the U-20 coach, Patricio Ormazabal, who is not having an outstanding performance in the Copa América in the category eitherwhich has been held since the 19th in Colombia.
“Let Berizzo and Ormazabal resign or they will end up burying Chilean soccer,” it was also read on the networks.
“La Roja de Berizzo does not score goals even with a B team from the local media,” assured another fan, alluding to another of the team’s great evils: with the “toto” on the bench, Chile has scored three goals and conceded 15 .
WITHOUT SIGNS OF AN UNPONPELABLE REGENERATION
What worries Chilean soccer experts and professionals the most is the “absence” of quality players that they can take over from the “golden generation”, the team led by stars such as Claudio Bravo, Alexis Sánchez or Arturo Vidal, among others, who won two Copa América and participated in two World Cups between 2008 and 2016.
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Since then, the chilean teamwhich still rests on his shoulders, has chained a streak of lousy results, being left out of the final phase of the World Cups in Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, and without options in the South American tournament.
This Thursday the press described the sub-23 as “scary” and aimed its sharp arrows against a group of players called to make the leap to the absolute.
Only striker Alexander Aravena and midfielder Gonzalo Tapia, both from the Catholic University of Chile, as well as attacker Bruno Barticciotto, now in the ranks of Palestino, were spared from the journalistic inquisition.
There was less mercy with the goalkeeper, Tomás Ahumada, from Audax Italiano, defender Jeyson Rojas (Colo Colo), his teammate in midfield Esteban Pavez, and Unión Española forwards Felipe Massri and Bastián Yáñez
“None really showed that they want to be an alternative for the adult. Truly worrying what the “Red” Sub 23 exhibited″, concluded the journalist Felipe Muñoz, in the renowned Chilean digital newspaper “Emol”.
