Everything went very fast with the arrival of Carlos Paniagua that there was no time to really set the goals with the youth teams. Beyond the missions that the former Deportivo Independiente Medellín coach had with the U-17 and U-20 to qualify them for the World Cup in India and Costa Rica respectively, the preparation for the South Americans was not much.
He took the reins at the end of 2021, exactly in December. However, at Christmas time, he really took the reins of the Colombian Under-17 and Under-20 National Team in 2022 with the aim of leaving good performances in the respective World Cup qualifications.
First, it was the turn of the Colombian Under-17 National Team in Uruguay. Carlos Paniagua who arrived, and at once he had to prepare for the great challenges of taking a national team in a matter of two months for the South American of the category. With rivals such as Ecuador, Chile, Uruguay and Peru, the coffee growers qualified for the next round with a perfect score at the top of the Group with 12 units.
In the final phase, they again faced Chile, Paraguay and Brazil. With the Brazilians they played a final in search of the title, but the ‘canarinha’ kept the trophy, while Carlos Paniagua and Colombia took second place that sent them to the World Cup in India to be played from October 11 to 30 in India.
Second, with the U-20 they had a similar scenario, with a little more work, they used a similar base as the U-17 in Chile, and they left excellent impressions again, also qualifying Costa Rica as runners-up. On Costa Rican soil, the Colombians will face Germany, Mexico and New Zealand in Group B. The contest will be played from August 10 to 28.
This being the case, Carlos Paniagua’s challenges will be much greater, especially with the U-17, since in four participations to date, Colombia has never managed to advance to the World Cup in that category. For this reason, Paniagua and his summons, long to strike a blow to history and get into the quarterfinals of the sports fair.
That as a starting point, must also consolidate a group of summoned similar to those used in March that remain with the age to be able to play the tournament, and raise the name of the country as they did in Uruguay in the South American with a Linda Caicedo intractable, like Karla Torres who jumped to professionalism at the age of 15 in Independiente Santa Fe.
Conserving them will be key, and preparing them to face tough coconuts like Spain, Mexico and China. Nothing more and nothing less than the finalists of the contest in 2018 in Uruguay when the Iberians beat the Mexicans, and a power in women’s Asian football such as the Chinese.
The statistics against these three teams that accompany Colombia is negative in the World Cup events in which the coffee makers have played. In the 2014 World Cup, they faced Mexico and China. Against the Mexicans, they lost with a loose score of 4-0, while against the Asians they also left a balance in the red with a 1-3 defeat. The Colombian goal was scored by Andrea Rodríguez. That was the third World Cup they attended and again it was all sadness at not being able to qualify for the next phase for the third time in a row.
Against Spain, it was a better result. In the last World Cup held in 2018 in Uruguay, Colombia had the luxury of drawing against those who were champions in said competition. The score was 1-1, the Iberians went ahead with a goal from María Isabel Okoye, and Gisela Robledo appeared instantly to set the equality to one goal.
That group in 2018 was similar to the one fate paired up four years later with a mix of UEFA, CONCACAF and AFC. Thus, the mission and the great challenge without a doubt is to beat history by defeating three strong coconuts, dancing with the most complicated ones and qualifying for the next round for the first time.
