Talk about Yoreli Rincon is to talk about one of the most emblematic soccer players in Colombia. The ’10’ who plays in Sampdoria in Italy is not changed by anyone, as well as many Colombians these days, and all because of the women’s team that competes in the U-17 World Cup in India. For the first time the country is a finalist in a World Cup and she lives it intensely.
Taking advantage of the conjunctural moment in women’s football, FUTBOLRED spoke with Yoreli Rincón about the process that her generation went through, the performance of the U-17 National Team in India, and of course, some false promises by managers. The ’10’ spoke clearly to those who manage football in the country. You just don’t want any more “warm wipes.”
“For us it is a great pride. All this was unimaginable about 10 or 12 years ago. We fought when we became fourth in the world and We knew that we were not the ones who were going to make history for the country, but we did want to open a path for the new generations, so that they would not suffer so much with women’s football as it had happened to us”, said Yoreli when remembering that fourth place in the world in the U-20 category that they signed in Germany 2010.
And he added: “We wanted that at the time that they were there, there would be a league, more open paths and people would really support women’s football and that is what is happening now. For us it is a great pride what they are doing, with an impressive talent“He said about Carlos Paniagua’s Colombian National Team, which will fight the world final against Spain next Sunday.
This new achievement of women’s football had been taking shape for a few years with the appearance of the Women’s Professional League, the same one that has even lasted three months and that has kept dozens of footballers in suspense in the process. Will it be the final awakening? Will the managers come to their senses? Will they end so much false promise? Yoreli Rincón was forceful.
“We have always said about awakening. When we were South American champions in 2008, which was unimaginable, everyone said now yes they are going to pay attention to it and nothing, we qualified for the first time to a U-17 World Cup, to a U-20 where we went fourth in the world, we qualified for the Olympics and the Senior World Cup for the first time, then we reached the second round of another World Cup, and we always said this will finally be the awakening of women’s football,” she told FUTBOLRED.
The player from Santander recalled that at the club level the country also made history on the continent, but in the end, not much happened. “We achieved the feat with Huila of being continental champions with only two years of having the Professional League and we said this will be the great awakening, but really they are all warm water wipes. We hope that this is not a boom, because now it is and when they arrive in Colombia it will be bigger, but since everything has lasted two weeks at most.”
Yoreli, who did not appear again in calls for the Colombian National Team and who has suffered due to alleged “vetoes”, threw a hard dart at the directors, yes, taking into account his experience. With the tricolor and with Huila champion of Libertadores he lived it. “The managers will come out and they will be in all the photos, but later they will come out to say that there is no money for women’s football and that unfortunately there will be no League. We keep hoping this is going to be the big awakening but we really don’t know.”
Finally, the Colombian midfielder from Sampdoria left a message of support for the Colombian U-17 players and said that she will not miss the final against Spain. “They are fulfilling the dream of an entire country, of us and also of any soccer player. They are doing it at 15 and 16 years old. As a woman, that it is a women’s team that fulfills this dream, it is a joy that does not fit in the heart. We are going to do a lot of strength to the National Team”.
