With Christiane Endler at the head, the best goalkeeper in the world for the FIFA in 2021and a solid group of players from the Spanish league, Chile faces the women’s Copa América with the hope of achieving one of the places to access the World Cup.
Endler is not only the captain, but also a reference for the youngest, who see in the French Olympique de Lyon goalkeeper the model to overcome the great favorites, such as Brazil.
A responsibility that the goalkeeper does not feel as a burden, but as a sporting and moral obligation, attached to her leadership, as she made clear a week ago.
“The illusion of winning the Copa América is always there and the skills too. Hopefully we can show it on the pitch”, he said last Friday, in the days prior to the two preparation matches played against Venezuela, in which La Roja was defeated.
Coach, Joseph Letelierpresented days later the controversial final list, with a notable absence: Sonya Keefe, who is currently the top scorer in the Chilean national championship, was left out of the squad that will travel to Colombia.
An absence that has generated controversy and criticism in a team with an obvious lack of goals, especially by isabel berriosone of the founders of Chilean women’s football and the first national selector, who hinted that some of Letelier’s decisions are not related to purely sporting issues.
“There are wonderful and spectacular players in the national team, and the girls have done an incredible job in the national team, but for my taste there is always the flavor that we could have done more, scored more, had the players more established in each position”Berrios pointed out.
“I think that wasting important players, like Sonya, I would have left her the same or I would have looked for an alternative for her. We have to take advantage of all the great talents we have. There aren’t that many and we should use them all”, said the former player, now in charge of the University of Chile youth team.
Yes they have entered the payroll Carla Guerreroanother of Chile’s referents, despite recovering from a serious injury, and María José Rojas, the only striker who plays outside the country, at Salisbury Inter, in Australia.
In the team there are four who play in the Spanish league: the Villarreal midfielder Francesca Laraher linemates nayadet lopez opaque (Spanish Barcelona) and Yanara Aedo (Rayo Vallecano), and the defense Camila Saezalso in the discipline of the aforementioned Madrid club.
The list is completed by players from University of Chile, Colo Colo and Santiago Morningthe two teams that contribute the most players to the national team, and two assigned to the federation’s high-performance program.
Players summoned for the Chilean national team
Goalkeepers: Christiane Endler (Olympique de Lyon-FRA), Natalia Campos (University of Chile) and Antonia Canales (Colo Colo).
Defenses: Camila Sáez (Rayo Vallecano-ESP), Carla Guerrero (University of Chile), Daniela Pardo (Santiago Morning), Rosario Balmaceda (Santiago Morning), Geraldine Leyton (Colo Colo), Fernanda Ramírez (Colo Colo) and Javiera Toro (Federation of Chilean football).
Midfielders: Yanara Aedo (Rayo Vallecano-ESP), Karen Araya (Chilean Football Federation), Francisca Lara (Villarreal-ESP), Nayadet López Opazo (EspanyoL-ESP), Yessenia López (University of Chile), Yastin Jiménez (Colo Colo) .
Front: María José Rojas (Salisbury Inter-AUS), María José Urrutia (Colo Colo), Javiera Grez (Colo Colo), Daniela Zamora (University of Chile), Yenny Acuña (Santiago Morning), Mary Valencia (Santiago Morning) and Valentina Navarrete ( Santiago Morning). EFE
